"I genuinely don't feel like I was bullying her, I know what it's like to be bullied."

Irish fans of Love Island were thrilled when Dami Hope was announced as one of the first contestants on the show, with the New Ross native bringing some much-needed Irishness to the series. It wasn't long before Dami made an impression on the show, being unapologetically himself, he had a few flings before settling on Indiyah, and not to mention a few small bust-ups during his time in the villa. Finishing in third place, Dami admitted he knew he and Indiyah Polack weren't fan favourites and said it was primarily his own fault due to his antics in Casa Amor. Giving the fans what they wanted, Dami says he knew what he was doing while in the villa and knew the chaos he was causing would have memes made instantly - it was the extent of it he was unaware of. Sitting down to speak with Her.ie, Dami revealed all that went down in the villa ahead of Indiyah making her way to Ireland this weekend to visit, and told us just what he had planned for her. "I'm going to get her on camera admitting that there's shopping centres, I feel like Dundrum is probably the most attractive looking one, I can't bring her to Jervis. I'll obviously get her a chicken fillet roll, a spice bag, push her into the Vico baths," Dami joked. During the meet the parents episode of Love Island, Indiyah's mum was less than impressed by Dami's Casa Amor antics. Not hiding how she felt about him, and even calling him Deji, Dami has redeemed himself in her eyes. "They love me, it just feels like my own family. I think I already redeemed myself in the show, when she called me Deji we laughed about it. There was a part where I had to go into the beach hut and I had to take the back way and her mum and her sister were getting in the car and we were all blowing kisses to each other," he assured us. Dami was originally coupled up with Amber, but once she was dumped from the island, he moved on immediately to Indiyah. While it seemed to be plain sailing for the couple, Casa Amor changed it all as Dami returned with Summer and Indiyah brought Deji back. But Dami knew from the moment he saw her again, it wasn't over. "Everything I did was in the moment, I know I'm on a TV show, if I say this, I know they're going to love this. If I'm going to bring Summer back, let me not be boring, it should shock everybody. "You get a few minutes before recoupling, an hour to figure out what you're going to say. I didn't tell anyone what I was going to do except Andrew and Davide. I said in my speech, Summer's not over, it just started. "The showdown, that was so sexy. People thought I was angry, I was smiling. Summer's beside me so I have to kind of keep it mature and keep it cool, but I was just like 'oh wow, I'm getting back with this girl'. It was like fireworks going, it was so beautiful even the way she ended it, 'may the best heartbreaker win', I was like 'you go girl'." While his antics there worked out in his favour, we did see some clashes between Dami and other islanders, most notably with Summer and then Tasha. Dami, Luca and Jacques have all been accused of bullying Tasha during the show, but from Dami's perspective, there was a lot unseen and the aspects the audience witnessed were heavily edited. "The only scrap I regret was the Summer one. I feel like I didn't have to blow up the way I did but in my defence, I was so honest with that girl. There's a lot of stuff you don't see, I told her every step of the way that I genuinely don't think you can take me away from Indiyah. The way I blew out, I didn't have to blow out like that, I should've cooled down but that situation's probably the one I regret. "The Tasha one, I felt like the conversations with her and Andrew, it did get boring, it felt like it was the only conversation that was happening. We were sat by the pool, and they were still talking about the same thing. My reason for even pie-ing Tasha, it wasn't because of what she'd done with Andrew, it was just sometimes whenever she does something, she won't speak to me anymore and that was what annoyed me so that's why I pied her. "I feel like, because it's super edited, I could have been chilling with Tasha throughout the day, chatting about something else but then when we're in a challenge, they ask us a question 'who do you want to pie?', I have my reasons but they don't show the part when were bantering, it seems like it's ongoing and constant. "That's why I genuinely don't feel like I was bullying her, I know what it's like to be bullied and to bully someone and it did get to a point where our opinions were too much, but me and Tasha are the best of friends and were in there as well. I was always able to be honest with her so that's why I didn't think the opinions were coming off too hard but it got to a point, I genuinely felt bad and that's why I apologised." Despite most contestants these days being approached for the show, Dami said he was one of the rare few that applied and got in. And as many of the contestants go on looking for a brand deal, Dami applied thinking it would be cool if he and his mates could get into some nightclubs in London. Without ever expecting to make it to the end, Dami just started entertaining people and giving the audience some drama. Admitting that he gradually began acting more like himself, wanting to be entertaining knowing how people would react at home, but also live out the full Love Island experience. As one of the only Irish islanders this year, Dami admitted to getting in trouble with the 'voice of God' that speaks to the cast, and it was for doing a very Irish thing - sneaking more alcohol than allowed. "We get one alcohol, one glass of wine and if we try to cheat and I try to take Luca's, he wasn't drinking, so I'd try to take it and it would be like 'Dami, put the glass down'. I'd drink it anyway, what are you going to do, kick me off the show? No," he joked. And when it comes to next year's show - what was the one thing Dami wants to see happen? Irish people being allowed to vote. "Especially if Virgin Media is backing it, we should be able to vote from a Virgin Media app, Irish people are watching it. Me going on, the volume of Irish supporters pushing it, it did volumes for them as well so I feel like Irish people should be able to vote."