Former Miss Great Britain Zara Holland has said campaigning to get her crown back is “not an option” for her at the moment.

The 20-year-old, from North Ferriby in East Yorkshire, was stripped of her title after she was shown getting intimate with 24-year-old scaffolder Alex Bowen on the Love Island reality show.

She initially chose to stay on the ITV2 programme after finding out she had lost her title, but left days later when her mother, Cheryl, fell ill.

Zara and Alex on Love Island (ITV)
Zara and Alex on Love Island (ITV)

A petition set up by fans who want her to be reinstated as Miss Great Britain has garnered more than 19,000 signatures so far.

“I would love more than anything to have my crown back, but I don’t think that’s an option now because there’s a new Miss Great Britain,” she told the Press Association.

Miss North Lanarkshire, Deone Robertson, has officially been named as the new Miss Great Britain.

The Miss Great Britain organisation said the decision to remove Holland’s title was taken with ”deep regret”.

The organisation also later tweeted a message to say: ”To be clear, we have no problem at all with sex – it is perfectly natural. We simply can’t condone what happened on national TV.”

Zara Holland on Love Island (ITV)
Zara Holland on Love Island (ITV)

The model said she regrets her actions “one thousand percent”.

“If I could turn back the time in the villa that night, I wouldn’t have had sex with Alex if I knew my title was going to be taken away from me,” she said.

Alex is still in the TV show and has since gotten intimate with another contestant.

“No one has mentioned Alex to me at all since I came out. Yes, I was Miss Great Britain and yes, I’ve had my title taken away from me, but it was interesting, a lady sent me a message on Twitter saying if Alex was the equivalent of Mr Great Britain, he probably wouldn’t have had his title take away from him,” she commented.

Alex Bowen from Love Island (ITV)
Alex Bowen from Love Island (ITV)

She said one-night stands weren’t her “thing” and she went on the show in the hope of finding true love.

She said: “I’m a 20-year-old girl who has made a mistake, that’s how I feel, it’s not a mistake to have sex but on national TV… I’ve lost my title that’s why I feel it’s a mistake. I just feel like I’ve thrown it all away from one night.

“Sex isn’t a bad thing, I haven’t committed a crime, I haven’t bullied anyone, I haven’t done anything horrifically outrageous but I do feel like I’ve let my family down which I never wanted to do.”

“And that isn’t me, I don’t have one-night stands, I’m not that sort of girl.”

Since returning home from Love Island, she revealed she has been contacted by “thousands of girls” who have told her she is more of a “real role model now than ever, a lot of people have said we can relate to you”.

Zara said she is not looking to date at the moment and is taking some “Zara time and being there for my mum”.

Love Island airs on ITV2 at 7pm