You can't get more uncool than Dr Alex George but, somehow, despite the odds, the awkward A&E medic has emerged as one of Love Island's biggest winners
HE was spectacularly pied in the initial line-up, plagued by a constant bright red sunburn, and his flirting was so tragic that his housemates openly cheered when he finally landed a snog.
But in a strange twist of fate, Dr Alex is fast becoming Love Island’s breakout star.
His luckier-in-love co-stars could be laughing on the other side of their faces, as the doctor has now become so popular that he’s said to have been warned against returning to the A&E department he works at in Lewisham hospital until his fame-levels die down.
On top of all of this, his geek-chic vibes have women begging him for a date.
So what’s the secret behind his transformation from dateless doc to TV’s golden boy? Here we discover why everyone is paging Dr Alex…
Without even a date to make a bid for the winner’s title - scooped by Jack Fincham and Dani Dyer - Alex, 27, now has 1.5m Instagram followers, has landed a slot on Good Morning Britain as their in-house medic while Doctor Hilary is on holiday in Benidorm - and he is rumoured to be joining Celebs Go Dating.
According to PR expert Hayley Smith from Boxed Out PR, he's likely to get a six-figure sum to appear on the dating show.
"He's likely to get a huge amount for appearing on another reality show," Hayley tells Sun Online. "I'd guess he'd get around £200,000 for the series."
A celebrity agent on This Morning told him that he could easily bag a million pounds a year as a TV personality - with £750,000 coming from Instagram - and Hayley agrees.
"It depends what brand he's working with, but he will earn anything upwards of £750/£1000 per post.
"He'll even be paid for his work on This Morning, probably upwards of £1,000 per ad post."
He’s also bagged himself a new swanky flat, has landed a sponsorship deal with BMW, and become an ambassador for mental health charity CALM - and was even recently spotted shopping for an Aston Martin, a luxury car brand whose vehicles cost hundreds of thousands of pounds.
"The sponsorship deal with BMW will be big," Hayley tells us. "It's dependent on the T&C's of the deal. But I would imagine he'll take no less that £25,000."
As well as cracking terrible jokes, such as describing London restaurant Zuaya as "raising the steaks" while posing with a sirloin, nearly all of Alex's posts gain up to 100,000 likes from admirers – despite his favourite hashtag being "#ohhell".
The restaurant is a stone's throw away from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's home Kensington Palace and has a range of pricey meals from £70 set menus to £30 steaks.
But despite earning big bucks from his social media posts, Alex isn't the smoothest when it comes to social media.
After attending SW4 Festival with Love Island co-star Sam Bird over the weekend, Alex sent Instagram into meltdown over a video he posted.
Shouting "ahoihoihoi" into the camera – while wearing a mustard-coloured roll-neck jumper in soaring temperatures - men’s mag Shortlist have even described him as "reinventing banter" with his awkward captions.
They include: “Ever tried an iced-latte? #gamechanger", and “That feeling when you are listening to a tune and know it.”
But it's not all about money for Dr Alex.
He’s refused offers to make nightclub appearances because he "prefers to stay at home with a cuppa" - and if Jack and Dani's luxury flat in London's Docklands is anything to go by his new pad will be the perfect place to chill out.
Despite his new status, Alex is much more likely to be found with family than mingling with celebs.
He recently treated his mum and dad to dinner at Savage Garden in London - a posh bar on the 12th floor of a Hilton Hotel where the average cocktail costs £18 - explaining how they have "been through and seen too much over the last few months”.
It seems like the doc will stay grounded, even if his bank balance soars.
