How Euro 2024 host Laura Woods tamed Love Island’s biggest bad boy Adam Collard who made Joey Essex look like a puppy

HE was one of Love Island’s most notorious bad boys when he first was on the show – but one woman seems to have changed all that.

Personal trainer Adam Collard, 28, has been dating Euro 2024 presenter Laura Woods, 36, since last year, confirming their relationship in October 2023.

The former loverat has called her “The One,” spent Christmas with her – the first time he’s done so with a girlfriend since he was 21 – and in a break from tradition, kept their relationship relatively out of the limelight, seemingly on Laura’s wishes.

It’s a far cry from the man who admits himself he’s been “ruthless” in the past, claims to have had 25 girlfriends, and spent many years partying and juggling flings with girls including Zara McDermott and Lottie Moss.

Relationship expert Jo Hemmings says: “He’s now 28, he’s a professional with a job, and I think he just went off the whole idea of ever realistically meeting somebody on a TV show. 

“He’s now met somebody who is also a professional, and is only on TV as a byproduct of what she does in sport.

“He’s got himself in a comfortable place. Financially, he’s older, he’s more mature, he’s more settled. 

“He once played into this roguish character that people saw him as, and became a parody of himself. But look who’s laughing now. 

“He’s got a fabulous girlfriend, they’re in a long term relationship, he’s well off, he’s still in the public eye, and he’s getting on with his life in the way that I think he always wanted.”

Here, we reveal how Laura finally managed to tame Adam, whose bad boy womanising made current Island villain Joey Essex look like a puppy.

Infamous villain

Adam first shot to fame in 2018, when he walked into the Love Island villa as the first bombshell, quickly stealing Kendall Rae Knight from Niall Aslam.

He then swiftly moved on to Rosie Williams, and implied they’d had sex, when he joked he’d had a “really, really good sleep” and woken up with a “spring” in his step.

Within days – and just as Zara McDermott walked in – he decided Rosie had become too clingy.

Adam told Zara he’d “caught feelings” for her, but when Rosie confronted him about it, he suggested her jealousy over his flirting with Zara is what “pushed him away”.

Charities like Women’s Aid even stepped in, issuing warnings about his behaviour, saying he exhibited signs of “gaslighting and emotional abuse”.

Then, when Zara was dumped from the island without him, Adam moved on to Darylle Sargeant, despite promising Zara he’d stay true to her – and he left soon after.

Serial playboy

Once out of the villa, Adam managed to get back into Zara’s good books and they hooked up again, even getting tattoos of each other’s initials.

She claimed she’d “tamed” his wild ways, and they moved in together in Essex.

But just eight months later, it seemed Zara and Adam’s relationship was on the rocks as he enjoyed a drunken night out surrounded by girls, including Instagram model Brittany Archer.

Announcing the split soon after, Zara wrote: “Sometimes in life, you just aren’t enough for someone; no matter what you do for them or how much you try to be.”

Two months after the split, he got his tattoo removed – and hours after, was pictured partying with Lisa Rinna’s model daughter Delilah Hamlin, who dated Eyal Booker.

Following Zara, he had a short relationship with Irish fitness influencer Sarah Godfrey, as well as a fling with TOWIE star Demi Sims.

‘Game plan’ revelation

But Adam made a shock return to Love Island in July 2022.

It actually seemed like he was finally ready to settle down, as he coupled up with paramedic Paige Thorne immediately, and remained coupled up with her for the duration of the show.

They were together for four months after the show ended, but split in November 2022, when Paige accused Adam of cheating, and he was caught on video flirting with other girls on a night out.

Adam later admitted he chose Paige as part of a “game plan” when he went into Love Island the second time.

Speaking to Mail Online, he said: “The thing with Love Island is I’m the only one who is willing to admit it, I would completely choose the right person to stay on the show.

“That’s why I got back on the show in my eyes, they realised I didn’t care about anything.

“We all know the game. It was really hard for me the second time because I could see through everything, it is unbelievable how clear it is the second time.

“So yes, everyone comes on and says I am here to find love and that, yes you kind of are and obviously that is unreal but nobody is daft.”

‘Ruthless’

His plan worked, as he got more TV work off the back of his Love Island appearance, signing up for Celebs Go Dating after his split from Paige, on which he met Lottie Moss.

On the first night they met, Adam and Kate Moss’ younger half-sister slept together, and did this another three times throughout their time on the E4 dating show.

The dating experts Paul C Brunson and Anna Williamson then encouraged them to actually go on a date to a restaurant together.

The next day, Lottie dumped “f***boy” Adam when she found out he’d decided to kiss another girl he was dating.

But two months later, he was dating Laura Woods, and said: “Do you know what, as much as I have been a little bit ruthless in the past with relationships and yes I’ve ended things when it has started to not work out, I am actually a bit of a hopeless romantic.

“I do think there is someone for every person and I want to go and do all the things I like to do with someone else.”

‘The One’

Unusually for Adam, the couple kept their relationship private at first, meeting in secret at the Black Bull pub in Trimdon, Co Durham, and heading off for a weekend away in St Ives in early October, before finally going public later that month.

And it’s likely this was something Laura has been very keen on.

She has previously said: “For anyone to see that part of me fills me with dread. 

“It sounds like it’s a bad thing but only because I associate social media and relationships in a bad way. 

“I’m almost certain nothing good can come from sharing. Maybe I’ve learned, maybe it’s something historic, I’ve never thought it was a good idea to share them.”

I’ve met [Laura’s parents] and they’ve given me the thumbs up – luckily they don’t read many papers

Adam Collard

Even now, Laura has only posted about him on Instagram once, as part of a post about “things she loves,” while it’s Adam who is more vocal about their relationship.

He often comments on her pictures complimenting her, and has posted about their holidays numerous times – although nowhere near as many as he would’ve in previous relationships.

And it seems he’s finally found The One with her, as he’s admitted Laura has always “given him the benefit of the doubt” when it comes to his “bad boy reputation”, which has ultimately made their relationship stronger.

He told The Sun: “For someone who’s had 25 girlfriends, I’ve really only had three.

“If you actually ask the people that I’ve really been going out with, I think that they would have very different opinions based on how I’ve treated them and she’s definitely given me the benefit of the doubt with that. 

“She definitely sees through it.”

He’s even won round her parents.

Before going to hers for Christmas, he told us: “I”m going to her parents, so it’s pretty special. I’ve met them and they’ve given me the thumbs up – luckily they don’t read many papers.”

Laura’s ‘stability’

Jo says it’s Laura’s job as a sports presenter that would have appealed to Adam, and changed him.

“There is an influence of stability from Laura,” she explains. “Because she’s not on a TV show to find fame and fortune. She’s got a really good job of her own, but she does incredibly well, so I think that’s a stabilising energy for him.

“I also think he’s of an age and in a position now in his life where he’s ready to settle down, and what has gone before has just helped build him up into a situation where he is.

“His heartbreaker and player image appealed to women. They went after him as the one who wanted to tame him. But he wasn’t really ready. 

“I do think having worked towards a stable, healthy, non-reality TV-based relationship, is probably exactly what he needed, and exactly what he wanted.”

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk