Mike Thalassitis - Love Island

[JustBeenNosey]

I'm genuinely shocked to hear about Mike from Love Island been found dead..

It just goes to show that no amount of money and/or fame will make you happy.

I've read ( I don't know how much of this is true though) that he lost his friend on Christmas Eve and his Nan a few days ago who he cared for. I've also read that he was in debt.. again, whether this is true or not.

I just feel like sometimes you're not heard, or cared about or given support until it's too late and until you've actually gone through with it.

I don't know why I'm posting this to be honest. I've been feeling quite low the past few days and then seeing the news about Mike this morning has really just, kind of upset me a bit I suppose.

I feel really sad about it too. Particularly the way he did it. It always feels much more shocking to me than other methods.

To get to a place where you really feel there is no other way out is just heartbreaking. There are no words. All the people who will now mourn him will have given anything to have been able to support him instead.

@Mydressinggownismybestfriend I know! It is awful, really is!

I came off my anti depressants in March last year and ended up spiralling down over the following months. I'd self harmed a few times but in September I had to go to hospital with it.. it was an accident and wasn't meant to happen as bad as it did but I gave myself a shock and it was a massive wake up call that it could have ended really badly.

However, I find I'm slipping back into that low mood and having more frequent thoughts of self harming again. I have no idea why and I really don't want to but I feel like one days it's going to over come me and I will do it again.

I've never self harmed with the intent to end my life as I would be too scared but sometimes I just wish I could 'get away' for abit and come back

I’m really sorry to hear that
Please speak to those around you

Also.. should Love Island and ITV step up and offer more support for after the show has finished. Surely been an 'average joe' coming out of that villa with the levels of fame it can give you, must be hard!

@Mydressinggownismybestfriend thank you. I know I'll never do anything or go that far but i think it's always a though in the back of your mind

It's so sad that a young man with so much to live for (from our perspective) couldn't see any hope or a way out. Fame and all that comes with it is not all its cracked up to be

@katienana I know. He was apparently a great footballer too.

I don't know why but this has really hit me in the feelings today.

I just feel like, every day, you're reading a story somewhere about ANOTHER person who has committed suicide.
Surely in this day in age there has to be more fucking support for people who are suffering!

I actually think Love Island should be stopped because of this.

Two former contestant suicides is two too many.

Other contestants separately to these two have also spoken about how the experience has badly affected their mental health

Even Kem, a popular winner, has said he really believed he'd enjoy all the fame and the relentless reality of it has been unpleasant.

And he was popular, the unpopular contestants face huge stigma and are still held to account for youthful mistakes because they were televised and it's what people know of them

The overt sexual element of the show makes this a far tougher thing to overcome than it was for the much tamer early Big Brother lot.

@BartonHollow agreed!

I know it's easy for us to say 'don't read what trolls say to you on insta/twitter' but surely the stuff that is said to people will take its toll eventually.

The lifestyle isn't healthy either.. doing PA's, drinking, living off junk food, travelling up and down the country, been photographed for the papers and constantly been in the public eye must be awful.
They can't do right for doing wrong!

More support needs to be out there. End of.

I read as well that something 'has come up' in the case for Sophie which means investigations have been suspended?

I think her ending her life was just an insight that these 'reality TV programmes' are just not good for you at all. They're unhealthy.

I’m sure I read somewhere that they are provided support after the show but I could be wrong and I got the impression it was only immediately afterwards.

This is so sad. I agree with the OP that it often seems that it is only when it is too late that people want to help. I recently took an overdose and I have been offered very little in the way of help or support. I am sure if I had been successful some people would have been upset and wondering what they could have done - but when you actually need the help nobody seems to want to know. My heart goes out to his family. I know first hand the pain of losing a loved one to suicide.

@JustBeenNosey

At a guess the something that came up which halted Sophie's investigation was the news of Mike'a death

This then opens the argument legally that there is a wider case to answer RE negligence - that's my thought

@Mydressinggownismybestfriend I read somewhere on twitter that they're given a psych test before and after the show but I can't remember what else.. I'm trying to find it

The psych test though

I mean it's loose

Eg Big Brothers Nikki Graham, who never should have passed a psych test as she had been treated for MH/ED prior to the show

Its awfully sad, but have they actually confirmed that it was suicide?

@BartonHollow ah yes. I never thought of that to be honest!

@RisingLikeAPhoenix I'm sorry to hear that
When I was in hospital, the mental health team came to speak to me and referred me to IAPT, I don't know if there's are all over the UK or just in Yorkshire, but they're a team who offer counselling and therapies. I was in hospital on the 29th September and I first saw someone about some counselling on the 20th December.

Someone I know tried to take her own life three times to take her own life, all unsuccessfully, thank god, and she went to the hospital or tried to ring and speak to someone and was told she wasn't an urgent case.
Like.. really?! Do they need to have been brought back to life after a suicide attempt to be seen as an urgent case?!

Found in woodland, not suspicious, pretty much tells it

Extremely sad. Add good looks to fame and money and it still counts for nothing.

I think reality television has had its day. It has made ‘stars’ of many people but at what cost?

This is true - after the fact people WILL wish they’d been able to help but had he gone to someone beforehand what would they have been prepared to do for him? Friends and family I mean.

I always see people sharing things on SM about ‘my door is always open, kettle always on’ but do they really mean it?

@Schooladvicenamechange yeah it's said that he was found hanged in a park.

@BartonHollow yes the psych test will probably just be a few simple questions.. and if they really want you on the show, I'm guessing they will bypass whatever you have said.

@Mydressinggownismybestfriend this exactly!
I always see people sharing things on SM about ‘my door is always open, kettle always on’ but do they really mean it?

There's so many people who said to me when I had been in hospital 'if you ever need to talk, you can always message me or come round'
I'm not been funny and I know they mean well, but seriously if I were to message and say that I had self harmed or was thinking of self harming etc.. what would they do?

I think people just say it nowadays, it's just used so loosely and it needs to stop.

Oh

It’s silly but I’ve been really affected by this, he seemed to have the world at his feet. His poor friends and family

I imagine that if love island isn’t cancelled there will be an in depth review.

@JustBeenNosey Thank you for your kind words.
I am not trying to de rail the thread. I just feel that when something like this happens so many people who knew the person are full of - if only they had known etc. - when it is just too late. Would they have really been doing everything in their power to help if they had known? Maybe - unfortunately my personal experience is that people often just don’t want to know or can’t deal with it.

Every single reality contestant goes into with the hope it will lead to a long term media career in whatever discipline they hope for acting, singing, presenting whatever

The reality is that this only happens briefly for most and only a very very small percentage achieve long term media careers.

The others do the circuit until new ones replace them and become burnt out and disillusioned.