Love Island Australia winner Tina Provis has revealed the 'sad' reason she struggled while appearing on the hit Channel Nine dating show.
The 2021 series winner, 28, shared a heartbreaking post to Instagram revealing she felt insecure on the show due to being one of the few non-white cast members.
'Looking back on my Love Island experience, the environment amplified an existing fear I can barely admit to myself: I am not as good as someone who is white,' she began.
Tina, who won the show with Mitch Hibberd, said she had worried about finding love on the show due to being the only Asian person amongst a predominantly white cast.
She shared: 'When you are stuck in the confines of coloured plexiglass and obnoxious neon signs, it does make you wonder, "Does nobody want me because I'm Asian?"
'I had a conversation with another POC islander, where we questioned whether our race made us less desirable.
'At the end of the day, it is a social experience and everything that happens is an amplification of real-world behaviour.'
While appearing on the show was a confronting and 'sad' experience for her, Tina said she agreed to do so to ensure more diversity on Australian television.
Love Island Australia winner Tina Provis (pictured) has revealed the 'sad' reason she struggled while appearing on the hit Channel Nine dating show
Tina initially found romance with AFL star Mitch, 27, while appearing on the reality series in 2021.
The pair were crowned as winners of the Channel Nine show's third season, but went their separate ways in January 2022.
In a shock twist later that year, they both returned to the Love Island franchise as singletons in season four, and sparks flew as they rekindled their romance.
However, their second shot at romance didn't work out as they went their separate ways just months after getting back together on the show.
'After the Villa, we continued to see each other for a few months. It was really tough with the distance, between Melbourne and Sydney,' Mitch said at the time.
The 2021 series winner, 28, shared a heartbreaking post revealing she felt insecure on the show due to being one of the few non-white cast members (Pictured with her castmates)
'There were a lot of challenges around that, and ultimately it hasn't worked out. I guess the timing is not right, but having said that, we have caught up recently which has been really good.
'We're both really supportive and think the world of each other. We're still friends, we still speak but we're not together.'
Tina added that Mitch was the one who initiated the split because he wasn't 'emotionally available enough to be in a relationship'.
'There was never anything I could particularly fault – apart from the fact we are the same people that broke up six months ago,' she added.
Tina later confessed she was 'shocked' at the time of their first break-up as she spoke on Hit Network's Hot Nights with Abbie Chatfield.
Tina initially found romance with AFL star Mitch Hibberd, 27, while appearing on the reality series in 2021 and they went on to be crowned winners, before splitting soon afterwards
'I didn't think three weeks ago I would be sitting here having this conversation,' she said. 'I am shocked things came to be what they were.'
She said the pair had a great relationship and friendship, but they woke up one day and realised things just weren't the same as they used to be.
Tina's current relationship status is unknown while Mitch is now rumoured to be dating Love Island UK winner Abi Moores.
