The funeral of Love Island star Mike Thalassitis has taken place.
Mourners gathered to pay their respects to the 26-year-old at a private ceremony in London on Friday.
Among those in attendance at the Southgate service were many of his fellow Love Island 2017 stars, including Montana Brown, Camilla Thurlow, Jamie Jewitt, Jonny Mitchell and Amber Davies as well as the reality show’s host, Caroline Flack.
Mike was found dead in a park near his north London home last month, with police later confirming they were not treating his death as suspicious.
A crowd-funding page was later set up to help Mike’s family to raise funds to cover costs for his funeral, with any additional money going to a mental health charity.
The page quickly raised more than £5000 in just one day, but a note was later posted saying that Mike’s family had requested it be shut down, as they were concerned that fraudsters may somehow interfere and take the money for themselves.
Following news of Mike’s death, many former Love Island stars spoke out against the aftercare support they received after appearing on the show.
ITV later announced they would be introducing “bespoke” social media and financial training for future contestants, as well as being more proactive in their approach to checking in with former Islanders, following an independent review of their processes.
However, ITV’s chief executive Carolyn McCall later claimed the show’s aftercare “can’t be indefinite”, saying: “There has got to be a framework and it will come to an end.”
She added: “I would also say that I don’t think anybody has made a direct link between what happened to Mike and Love Island.
“That would be an extremely tenuous thing to do given he was very happy on Love Island and all his mates have said that and that he’s done two other reality programmes since then...”
Mike rose to fame after appearing on the third series of Love Island in 2017, and went on to take part in Celebs Go Dating last year.
He had filmed an appearance on MTV’s Ex On The Beach, but the broadcaster has confirmed it will not air the series out of respect to Mike’s family.
Meanwhile, his business partner recently confirmed he will go ahead with the opening of a cafe they planned together, prior to his death.
Useful websites and helplines:
- Mind, open Monday to Friday, 9am-6pm on 0300 123 3393
- Samaritans offers a listening service which is open 24 hours a day, on 116 123 (UK and ROI - this number is FREE to call and will not appear on your phone bill.)
- The Mix is a free support service for people under 25. Call 0808 808 4994 or email: help@themix.org.uk
- Rethink Mental Illness offers practical help through its advice line which can be reached on 0300 5000 927 (open Monday to Friday 10am-4pm). More info can be found on www.rethink.org.
