People didn’t take me seriously as a sports presenter but four years later I’m still doing it, says Chris Hughes

HE first shot to fame as one of the biggest stars to come out of series three of Love Island in 2017.

These days Chris, 29, is still entertaining legions of dedicated fans on screen by covering sports including horse racing and cricket for the likes of ITV and the BBC.

But unsurprisingly life-long sports fan Chris confesses he had to work hard to prove to people that he deserved to be there.

Speaking exclusively to The Sun, he says: "A lot of people at the start thought I was only on because of Love Island but I’ve been doing ITV racing now for nearly four years.

"I’m essentially part of the furniture for these channels with sports now."

But Chris insists he's been playing sport even since he was little - and could never work out which was his favourite to take further as a career.

He says: "My issue was that I wanted to play every sport professionally.

"I wanted to be a jockey, a footballer, a cricketer, a golfer… I never focused on one."

Despite his passion for sport there were always going to be doubters when it came to Chris's reality TV background.

But he adds: "You do have to convert people at first but then they understand you do know what you’re talking about. You’re not going to be presenting live on mainstream channels if you can’t do it."

At the moment keen golfer Chris is supporting the is supporting The 150^th Open Claret Jug Tour, in partnership with HSBC UK, which will see the trophy travel around the UK and Ireland.

Revealing why he decided to get involved, Chris says: "It’s a great opportunity to build the excitement for the 150th open, it’s going to be the biggest one yet.

"And it gives the public the chance to see the Claret Jug - one of if not the most historical trophies in world sport. In golf it’s iconic. 

"Golf is a niche sport so you need the younger generation to get into it. Anything you can do to help attract a younger audience to sport is great."