Danan: 'Reality TV f***ed up my career'

Former Hollyoaks actor Paul Danan has admitted that reality TV has "f**ked up" his acting career.

Danan, who played Sol Patrick on the Channel 4 soap between 1997 and 2000, said that casting directors have refused to consider him after he appeared on ITV's Celebrity Love Island in 2005.

"I spent three years auditioning in LA and never got my big break, which is when I agreed to do Love Island," he told Love It magazine.

"Instead of thinking 'this might f**k up my acting career', I thought 'yes, of course I'll do it!' For several weeks I had a great time, albeit with loads of ups and downs. I was plied with booze by producers, I'd get crazy or angry because I was frustrated.

"I didn't think my fellow celebrities liked me, and I became paranoid. I wasn't thinking how I was being portrayed on TV, I thought of it as an excuse to get drunk and have a laugh so I treated it like a normal lads' holiday."

He continued: "I had spent years training to be an actor and all people thought of me was as 'that crazy drunk guy from Celebrity Love Island'. Casting directors weren't touching me because I was on a reality show."

The ex-soap star, who has filmed cameos for the second series of The Kevin Bishop Show, said that he returned for the second instalment of Love Island because he believed that he had already "screwed up" his career.

He added: "If I am offered another reality TV show, I'll just have to be a bit more careful what to say 'yes' to, instead of just thinking about the money."