Former Castleford Tigers forward Jacques O’Neill has been in the limelight the past few months since joining and then exiting Love Island.
O’Neill has now signed up to The Social PR – the UK’s fastest growing Public Relations company – to be mentored with former Islander Scott Thomas.
Since his exit from the villa, the Cumbrian enforcer has been inundated with messages of support from far and wide, with his Instagram following burgeoning to a massive 962,000 as it stands this Monday.
If O’Neill’s following hits a million, then he could earn as much as £10,000 per post for an endorsement! That figure is even more remarkable when considering that the former Castleford man had less than 10,000 followers before he went into the Love Island villa.
Such a popular figure will always be given offers to appear on other reality shows, but O’Neill has turned down the offer of £60,000 to go on Celebs Go Dating, according to the Daily Mail.
There is also a chance that the Cumbrian could return to rugby league, with O’Neill returning to training at Castleford Tigers last week to check in on his former teammates as well as making an appearance at the West Yorkshire club’s fixture against Warrington Wolves at the weekend.
A source told The Sun about him signing up to The Social PR: “Jacques is on track to make a fortune after being bombarded with offers since leaving the villa.
“He’s been in talks with some big sports broadcasters to be involved in presenting work off the back of his rugby career.
“He’s had a lot of interest from fashion brands and some potential TV opportunities presented to him too.
“All of this could add up to him becoming a millionaire in the near future, but Jacques is most passionate about becoming an ambassador of ADHD and Mental Health.
“It’s issues like these that are close to his heart and he wants to help youngsters dealing with the same struggles.”
Scott Thomas starred in series two of Love Island and is ready to mentor O’Neill into the world of social media.
Scott told The Sun: “We’re really excited to be representing Jacques at The Social PR.
“We were big fans of him on the show and we really respected some of the courageous decisions he made to protect his own mental health. His honesty and vulnerability was admirable.
“I’m personally really excited to help guide Jacques through his journey after being through the whole process myself and learning so much along the way.
“I’ve managed to build an incredible agency and team over the last 8 years. We feel the future is bright for Jacques and we’re looking forward to giving him the support he deserves.”
“He’s just out there spending cash,” Radford told BBC Radio Leeds.
“I spoke to him on Sunday, but it was just general chat really, a catch-up about the life of a superstar.
“We’ve not really spoke about him returning – he’s got an awful lot going on and I think what’s important is that he does everything while he can. I don’t know how long that will last.”