Image source, YouTube/Samie Elishi Image caption,

Samie Elishi spoke about the cancer scare in a YouTube video

By Francesca Osborne & Iqra Farooq

BBC Newsbeat

Love Island star Samie Elishi is having tests for thyroid cancer after fans spotted a lump on her neck while she was in the villa.

The 23-year-old, who was in this year's winter series, says her mum didn't even notice it while she was on the show.

"It was only because I went on the show that fans who were so invested actually spotted it," she tells Newsbeat.

Samie's lump has been graded as a 'three' by doctors which means they don't know if it's cancerous or not.

She's now having half her thyroid removed for tests, and if the lump is cancerous she'll need to have the other half removed.

Samie, who made the final of Love Island, says she wouldn't have got the lump checked out if fans hadn't got in touch with her while she was on the show.

"After the villa, my family and friends said they'd been getting messages from girls saying I have a lump on my neck and these girls had been sending pictures saying I could have thyroid cancer," she says.