Love Island star on his beloved Cheltenham, the ITV family and mental health

Chris Hughes went to the island looking for love and eventually he found it, albeit most unexpectedly with Ed Chamberlin, Oli Bell and Matt Chapman.

Three years ago they would have seemed most unlikely relationships, but three years ago Hughes was living a very different life to the one he lives now.

By appearing on the hit reality show Love Island in 2017 he achieved celebrity status and a colossal following on social media. He also became part of the ITV family, as a result of which he will spend all four days of the Cheltenham Festival broadcasting for ITV Racing from what was his local track when growing up and still the one he adores most.

Hughes is living the dream – but for racing it is also a dream scenario.

The 27-year-old connects with a young demographic that would not necessarily be naturally drawn to the sport. In Hughes they see someone who rides racehorses, someone who took part in a charity race, someone who talks about racing on television and someone who defends and promotes racing through Twitter and Instagram. They see Hughes and they see racing. Crucially, they also see racing portrayed in a positive light.

Chris Hughes is now a regular part of ITV's racing coverageCredit: Edward Whitaker

"When people ask me what I think is my best achievement since Love Island, I always tell them it's that I'm now part of the ITV Racing team," says Hughes.

"We're able to show that racing is such a brilliant sport, which is an amazing thrill, and at the end of every day there's an incredible sense of achievement. ITV Racing is a proper team, both in terms of the people in front of the camera and those behind it. It's a real family environment, which is typical of ITV."

His first sighting on the network's racing coverage came in June 2018 when he was interviewed on The Opening Show just hours before finishing fifth in York's annual Macmillan charity race. Twelve months ago he was paired with Chapman for coverage of the festival's third afternoon and thereafter became part of the squad on a regular basis.

This year he will front The Social Stable – in which viewers are alerted to how the racing action is being discussed on social media – throughout the festival. After signing off from Cheltenham he can then look forward to resuming his role at the Randox Heath Grand National meeting, the Investec Derby festival, Royal Ascot, Glorious Goodwood, York's Ebor festival and Qipco British Champions Day.

Recalling his opening shift as a member of the ITV Racing team, Hughes says: "I'm very self-critical, and I'll often think something is going to come across as horrendous, but this felt good right from the start.

"The Social Stable is brilliant because we can portray what people are thinking at home. On the Thursday of Royal Ascot, when it looked as though Frankie Dettori might go through the card, we were able to show how everyone watching the programme was feeling excited and nervous. That was great, and so was the magical hour on the festival Thursday. You didn't need to be a racing fan to appreciate it because what happened during that hour could have converted anyone to racing. Racing tells stories and the stories that day were amazing."

Chris Hughes with Matt Chapman on ITV's Social Stable at Aintree on Grand National dayCredit: Itv

Hughes has an impressive story to tell himself. He grew up in the heart of the Cotswolds, "literally a stone's throw from Jonjo O'Neill's gallops", and started riding at the age of seven. There were ponies called Nutmeg and Rita and also a horse called Earth Summit, the Grand National hero who lived in retirement with his groom, Marcella Bayliss, in Naunton.

"He was the first proper racehorse I ever sat on when I was probably 12 or 13," says Hughes. "He was an absolute legend. I was just a little boy at that stage, whereas he was a big unit. I would ride Marcella's point-to-pointers to pay for Rita's upkeep. I have ridden all my life and always loved it."

Hughes's father, Paul, was called in to Jackdaws Castle for electrical work, while the electrician's son was called in to the castle by Jacqui O'Neill for a 16th birthday meeting with the then yet-to-be-knighted Tony McCoy and Black Jack Ketchum, at that point Hughes's favourite horse. For many years up to then his favourite friend had been Sam Twiston-Davies.

"Sam is a softie, a really lovely kid and one of the best jockeys you'll find," says Hughes. "I don't think he would mind saying, though, that his brother was the one who would ride anything in those days. Sam was always the shy, timid one, whereas Willy was mad and fearless."

Both the Twiston-Davies boys went on to ride at the hallowed place they so often visited with Hughes as children. "I was a member at Cheltenham from when I was 18," explains Hughes. "I would rarely miss a day but it's actually harder for me now because of all my other work."

The work has been flooding in. Hughes has been involved in numerous television programmes and had a song in the charts, while among his commercial deals has been one with Coral, whose racing club he fronts. That has led to some winning racecourse days with the classy mare Annie Mc – due to run in the Marsh Novices' Chase – and mornings on the gallops with O'Neill and Colin Tizzard.

Prior to Love Island, his diary had been filled with days working for a legal firm and a golf clothing company. Not surprisingly, then, his Gloucestershire mates were somewhat surprised to see him topless on ITV2.

"All my jockey mates love reality TV and they're big fans of Love Island," says Hughes. "Before you go on Love Island you're sworn to secrecy, so when I came out of the programme I arranged to go out with Aidan Coleman, Richie McLernon and Sammy for food. I wanted to know what people thought. They definitely hadn't expected me to turn up on the programme – and they asked me all the standard questions you would expect boys to ask.

"When I went into Love Island I had 350 followers on Instagram. When I came out of the villa seven weeks later I had 750,000 followers. After that it went up about 120,000 followers a day for two weeks. Then it got to 1.7 million and over the last couple of years it has grown to 2.2m from me doing all different sorts of work."

People have flocked to Hughes but he has given something back. On ITV's This Morning programme he underwent a live testicular examination in order to increase awareness of testicular cancer. Remarkably, it led to his brother, Ben, discovering he had the disease. Ben is now free of cancer and helping his sibling with a BBC documentary about male fertility.

Good work was done then, as it was when Hughes was seen in an advertising campaign for a new bottled water called L'Eau de Chris. The fake product's appeal was supposed to be that each bottle contained Hughes's tears. It was soon revealed to be an effort designed to encourage young men not to bottle up their feelings and to be more open about mental health issues. L'Eau de Chris actually meant ludicrous.

"I've had my own mental health struggles and there are still days when, for no reason, I feel down, sad and depressed," says Hughes.

"I hate that feeling. It's awful and I wish I could shake it off. It's like a suffocating feeling. My mind goes into overdrive and I start thinking about horrible things. When that happens the worst thing I can do is sit on my own, so I have to go out and do something, even if it's going to the gym late at night.

"I've suffered from anxiety since I was 19 but I'm fortunate because I can talk about it. I've seen people who gave me the treatment I needed. I know myself that opening up like that really does help, so I really want to break down the stigmas about mental health that still exist."

Hughes's own life has improved considerably thanks to a light and frothy television programme, yet he has put his fame to good use, shining a light on testicular cancer and mental health. Those causes mean a lot to him. So does racing.

Chris Hughes with the Cheltenham-bound Annie Mc

"I will always defend the sport because I have first-hand experience of how racehorses are treated," he says. "We give racehorses more care and attention than we give ourselves. If I could be an animal I would definitely be a racehorse. They love doing what they are bred to do.

"Some people who follow me ask me why I'm involved in what they call a cruel sport? The problem with people today is they are very quick to criticise but they also don't want to learn. We will never convert some of those people but there are others who wouldn't normally have followed racing but who have started watching because Chris Hughes is talking about it on the telly.

"Last year a bloke tweeted to tell me his daughter was watching ITV Racing because I was on it. I only do a two-and-a-half-minute segments in between every race but that girl is not only watching me, she is watching all the races and everything else we do in between the races. She is learning about the sport. That's exactly what I want."

If you enjoyed this you might like the following pieces by Lee Mottershead

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Ed Chamberlin: "I'm very hopeful - but I'm not sure how much longer I'll be doing my job"

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British racing's power structure and how it can be improved

Kevin Tobin: "I was just staring into a black hole with no clue how to get out"

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