Will Young’s mother has defended the hunky Love Island farmer after he received death threats and was branded a ‘disgusting creep’ by animal rights group PETA.
Will, 23, has been trolled over his controversial videos posted to his one million TikTok followers showing reality of life on a farm.
One of the videos that sparked criticism showed Will, who often appears shirtless in his content, coming to the rescue of a pregnant sheep using his bare hands.
Defence: Will Young’s mother has defended the hunky Love Island farmer after he received death threats and was branded a ‘disgusting creep’ by animal rights group PETA
But his proud mum Jenny Young insisted Will, who is looking for love on the ITV2 series hosted by Maya Jama from Monday, is ‘one of the most caring men you could ever meet’ and trolls attacking the influencer over his treatment of animals are ‘completely wrong.’
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline from the family farm in Buckinghamshire, Jenny, 53, said: ‘Will is a lovely, caring, young man. What people don’t realise is that he has had animals as family pets.
‘He once kept a lamb in the house for the first three weeks of its life and it slept in the dogs’ basket.
Close: Will, 23, has been trolled over his controversial videos showing reality of life on a farm but his proud mum Jenny has insisted Will is ‘one of the most caring men you could ever meet’
‘Those people making all those nasty comments are completely wrong. He is such a caring person.’
Another clip that has caused controversy showed Will aiding a sheep during the birthing process after the head and hooves of the calf became stuck.
According to The Sun, PETA reshared one of the videos of Will helping a sheep give birth, and wrote: ‘This farmer is a disgusting creep. He’s dancing over her body as she gives birth.’
His father, Andrew, 55, added in defence of Will: ‘I know some of the videos attracted lots of nasty comments, particularly one where he was lambing.
Getting ready to sow his wild oats: One of the videos that sparked criticism showed Will, who often appears shirtless in his content, coming to the rescue of a pregnant sheep
‘It was set to music and people assumed this was all happening at the time but William had added the music when it was all over.
‘He would never trivialise something as important as lambing. People have taken the video completely the wrong way.
‘He is a modern generation farmer. I may not approve of all the videos but he knows what he is doing and has built up a big following.
‘He is simply showing what life is like working on a farm. That is the reality of being a sheep farmer.
‘He wasn’t dancing around the sheep. The music was all added in the edit when he had finished work. Some people have no real idea of what a sheep farmer has to do.’
History: The farmer, 23, who regularly posts shirtless lambing videos to his social media platforms, has been attacked by trolls over the content
The new Love Island contestant, who Andrew says was approached by producers, works on the 230 acre farm where his family have between 3,000-4,000 sheep.
He confirmed that the sheep are used for their wool rather than slaughtered for meat.
Will’s dad says working on the farm, which has been in their family since 1870, wasn’t his son’s first career choice but now he’s garnered almost 130K Instagram followers as a result of his profession.
His eldest son Thomas, 26, opted for a different path and lives in London, working as a property manager.
Andrew said: ‘I wanted both boys to go to University and decide for themselves what they wanted to do,’ said Andrew.
Proud: Speaking exclusively to MailOnline from the family farm in Buckinghamshire, Jenny, 53, said: ‘What people don’t realise is that he has had animals as family pets’
‘Thomas did a degree in bio-chemistry and William was looking at accountancy. Then one day when he was in sixth form he said he wanted to work on the farm. Of course, I was very happy.’
He says any assumptions made about Will not having anything but the utmost care for the animals he keeps is wrong and viewers will likely see that once they get to know him on the dating show.
Andrew added: ‘He is very caring and has two pigs that are his pets. He calls them Timon & Pumbaa, like in The Lion King.
‘People have made comments that he is only keeping them to kill and eat, but they couldn’t be wider of the mark. They are his pets and he looks after them.
Shirtless: Will’s dad said: ‘He is a modern generation farmer. I may not approve of all the videos but he knows what he is doing and has built up a big following’
Together: The family estate is worth over £1 million, with Will regularly sharing videos from his vast acres on social media (pictured with his parents and brother Andrew)
‘Same of the alpacas and some of the sheep. He becomes very attached to them.’
Andrew admits he has never watched an episode of Love Island, with the winter series set in South Africa this year.
His son’s absence has meant that he has hired additional help on the farm and admits there might be hard decisions ahead if Will wins the competition.
He said: ‘We will have to see what happens. When he was chosen for the series we sat down and had a chat as it meant that he would be away from the farm for quite a while. It is just the two of us working here.
‘I have hired someone to help, and it might be that he becomes full time if William cannot devote all his time to the job.’
LOVE ISLAND 2023: MEET THE CONTESTANTS
Tanya Manhenga
Name: Tanya Manhenga
Age: 22
Location: Liverpool
Occupation: Student and model
Something not many people know about her: ‘I have Vitiligo, which is a skin pigmentation, you may not even notice it.’
‘It’s on my lip and I have a stripe on my hair. Not many people know that but I think it’s quite cute.’
‘I don’t care about covering it up all the time, I think it’s a vibe.’
Lana Jenkins
Name: Lana Jenkins
Age: 25
Location: Luton
Occupation: Makeup artist
Something not many people know about her: ‘In my work as a makeup artist I’ve worked with lots of celebrities.
‘Also, when I was 6-years-old I used to live in Spain and I was in an episode of Benidorm as an extra.’
Anna-May Robey
Name: Anna-May Robey
Age: 20
Location: Swansea
Occupation: Payroll assistant
Something not many people know about her: ‘I went on a date once and I never saw him again.’
‘We went for food and shared a bottle of wine. As I was speaking to him he fell asleep!’
‘I had to clink his wine glass to wake him up.’
Tanyel Revan
Name: Tanyel Revan
Age: 26
Location: North London
Occupation: Hair stylist
Something not many people know about her: ‘My celebrity crush is Channing Tatum – I don’t like pretty boys, they give me the ‘ick’ because they always have a crap personality.’
‘Channing Tatum is handsome but not too pretty. He’s manly and he can dance.’
‘If a man can dance I’m in love with him straight away.’
Olivia Hawkins
Name: Olivia Hawkins
Age: 27
Location: Brighton
Occupation: Ring girl and actress
Something not many people know about her: ‘I did a film with Jason Statham and had a nice 10-minute convo about life.’
‘I’ve been a ring girl for KSI, I played a waitress in James Bond with Daniel Craig and I’ve also been a body double for Michelle Keegan and Emma Watson.’
Kai Fagan
Name: Kai Fagan
Age: 24
Location: Manchester
Occupation: Science and PE teacher
Something not many people know about him: ‘I’m a Jamaican citizen. Because of that I played rugby 7s for Jamaica.’
‘I play semi-professional rugby now for Burnage RFC.’
‘I’ve technically got three different degrees and went to three different unis.’
Ron Hall
Name: Ron Hall
Age: 25
Location: Essex
Occupation: Financial advisor
Something not many people know about him: ‘On meeting me, you’d never know I am blind in one eye.’
‘It was the result of a football injury when I was 8. I’ve got two different coloured eyes, one blue and one green.’
Will Young
Name: Will Young
Age: 23
Location: Buckinghamshire
Occupation: Farmer
Something not many people know about him: ‘Every night I light a candle and meditate for 20-25 minutes.’
‘A girl I was seeing told me to meditate, I tried it and loved it. I stopped seeing her and carried on meditating!
‘It’s a nice way to self reflect’
Shaq Muhammad
Name: Shaq Muhammad
Age: 24
Location: London
Occupation: Airport security officer
Something not many people know about her: ‘I’m a very emotional person. It can be a blessing and a curse.’
‘Every time I watch Dear John I cry.
That’s my favourite film. Any time I’m with someone and they say, ‘Let’s watch a romantic film’, I’m like, ‘How about Dear John, how does that sound?’
Haris Namani
Name: Haris Namani
Age: 21
Location: Doncaster
Occupation: TV salesman
Something not many people know about her: ‘I’ve never found love. I think this is the show that can help me.’
‘It’s the best opportunity for me to find the girl and find the right one. I’ve obviously not found the right one myself.’
