'You can reinvent yourself, you can change, you can grow, you can regress, you can be any number of things at any particular time. Please give yourself permission to do that, and be equally as open-minded to others who choose to do the same. Because perhaps, with just a little more compassion and acceptance, we won't need to fit in to feel that we belong.'
Camilla Thurlow came second on Love Island in 2017. More recently, she impressed viewers in Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins. But that's not the most interesting part . . .
Camilla can do something that none of her fellow contestants can do: find, neutralise and destroy the landmines that threaten the lives and livelihoods of so many people in the world's former war zones, and which make their land too dangerous to be worked.
This is at once a memoir of an extraordinary life, and a script for living one's life to the full. Camilla Thurlow is a highly independent woman whose thoughts and experience will resonate with anyone seeking meaning in a world where women are too often discounted, or who frequently feel alienated amid the frenzy of contemporary life.
This is a book about courage - not just the courage to go out and deal with a lethal threat in some of the world's most dangerous and inhospitable places, but the courage to confront one's own fears and anxieties, and to be oneself in what too often seems an inhospitable world.
Not the Type will inspire a whole generation to dare the seemingly impossible. Although often an engaging reflection on life, landmines and Love Island, this is also a book about learning to confront one's own anxieties in a world dominated by celebrity culture and social media - and on being a woman in what is still too often a man's world.
Camilla first came to our screens in 2017 when she warmed the public's hearts on ITV's Love Island. Her openness and vulnerability proved popular, with the public voting her in second place. The most asked question - why did this explosive ordnance disposal expert apply to Love Island? She wanted to confront the fact she didn't have a personal life having spent long periods abroad with her humanitarian work. Asked what was more intimidating Afghanistan or Love Island? 'Definitely Love Island!'
Keen to bring her two worlds together, Camilla filmed her first documentary for ITVBe, What Camilla Did Next. The show followed Camilla as she returned to her pre-Love Island roots as an explosive ordinance disposal expert in Cambodia, whilst also juggling the busy London life she has made for herself since appearing on the show.
Camilla holds an IMAS Level 3 Explosive Ordnance Disposal qualification and has worked on delivering quality projects within high-pressure environments. Since 2013, she has worked in Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Nagorno Karabakh, Georgia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan.
Camilla is an activist and passionate about raising awareness of the effect conflict has on civilian lives, both during and after it takes place. Within days of leaving the Love Island villa, Camilla arranged a visit to Thessaloniki with Indigo Volunteers - putting her background in humanitarian work and new found public platform to good use. Camilla is on the board of Indigo Volunteers; she also works closely with Choose Love/Help Refugees, who she has joined on trips to Calais, Turkey and Lebanon. Through her previous work, she has a close connection to The HALO Trust.
