‘I’ve been sent a lot of sex toys’: Inside the influencer life of Love Island’s Claudia Bonifazio

She made her name and found love on reality TV – now Adelaide’s Claudia Bonifazio reveals what life as an influencer is really like.

While earning big money as an influencer is now among many young women’s dreams, for Claudia Bonifazio brokering deals worth thousands of dollars and attending exclusive events was not a priority.

After finding fame winning the latest season of Love Island Australia, Claudia was keen to progress her career as an actor, something she had been doing professionally for the last eight years.

But when international brands continued to approach the Marryatville High School alumni with offers to pay her hundreds – and often thousands – of dollars to promote their products, it started to become difficult to say no.

“I’ve just never been so busy in my entire life,” she said.

Claudia Bonifazio, the winner of the latest season of Love Island Australia, found it hard to resist influencer product offers. Picture: Supplied

Claudia lives a life jetsetting interstate for brand deals and events. Picture: Supplied

“I have to do something every single day and it’s just never been like that for me.

“It’s obviously not like work digging in the mines and stuff like that, but it’s just like you’re right next to your work which is on your phone and your computer, so it’s hard to just stop.

“I’m my own business now.”

In 2022, the Adelaide-born beauty became an instant hit after winning Love Island Australia with partner Austen Bugeja, who moved to Adelaide to be with the 23-year-old.

Fast forward to today, and Claudia has amassed 163,000 followers on Instagram, with her reels attracting over a quarter of a million views.

Her massive reach has meant multimillion-dollar brands like Pretty Little Thing, Grey Goose, White Fox Boutique and others want to work with the “Sicilian pocket rocket”.

Claudia has amassed more than 160,000 followers on Instagram since her time on Love Island Australia, which she now uses to promote products she says she genuinely uses and loves. Picture: Supplied

Working 16-hour long days, from 8am to midnight, Claudia admits she is struggling to maintain her friendships, but her friends understand. Picture: Supplied

Claudia and Austen now travel interstate “constantly”, with the 23-year-old admitting the unrelenting commitments have caused her to “neglect” her friendships.

“I have a few friends that are really loyal and I don’t need to talk to them every single day or see them every single week to be close to them,” she said.

“It has been hard though, like going to different states and being just so busy that I can’t even respond to text messages or answer calls and stuff like that.

“I’ve been really bad on my end because I’ve been neglecting them but I am new to this whole thing.

“But my friends have been great about that – they’ve been really reassuring and like just get it.”

Claudia works with international brands including fashion label Pretty Little Thing. Picture: Instagram

So what exactly does a day in Claudia’s life look like? It begins at 8am in bed where she plans her day with her partner.

“Then we get up and make coffee and we’re usually on our laptop and going through emails, going through DMs.

“I talk to my manager every single morning because she tells me what I am doing, if I’ve gotten a new deal or what I have to do that day or what’s due by today or if I need to take product images, which is great,” she said.

Then the couple spend the rest of the day creating content. They take photographs of each other, edit and post.

“I can’t complain, it’s a pretty good job,” she said.

In-between taking Instagram pictures, editing TikTok videos and attending events, Claudia will head to her local post office in Norwood, where she receives “a lot” of parcels.

“I’ve been sent a lot of sex toys,” she said.

“It’s not even funny, we're just like, we don’t even ask for them.”

Despite her busy days, there is nothing Claudia loves more than having a relaxed evening with Austen.

For Valentine’s Day, the first for the new couple, they planned to go out for dinner.

“We just couldn’t be bothered, so we stayed home and watched Harry Potter,” she said.

The couple fell in love on Love Island Australia in late 2022. Picture: Instagram

On Valentine’s Day the couple ditched their dinner plans to stay home and watch Harry Potter. Picture: Instagram

One of the many events Claudia was on the guest list for was the controversial 300-person exclusive Sam Smith concert, where an “influencer” infamously peed in the mosh pit.

“I was next to the girl that did it,” Claudia admitted.

“She was very, very drunk and she was a really nice girl. It was the most random thing in the world.”

But according to Claudia the culprit was not an influencer but rather a “normal girl”.

The incident was revealed by concertgoer Kate Woolford who posted a TikTok that called out a group of “influencers” for essentially ruining the event’s vibe.

When the video emerged, Claudia said it gave influencers a “bad name”.

Someone peeing in public wasn’t the only issue the concert created – Premier Peter Malinauskas was also called out for paying around half a million for a headliner he “didn’t know”.

“There was so much backlash for that concert,” the Love Island Australia winner said.

“I was just oblivious, we didn’t even think about it.

“We were just like, ‘oh my god, we got our first invite, this is so cool’.”

Claudia and Austen are, like so many their age, saving to purchase a home.

“We’re dying to buy a studio apartment,” she said. “But I don’t know if they have any in Adelaide.”

Staying in Adelaide is extremely important to Claudia, who loves South Australia.

“I’ve been telling everyone how amazing Adelaide,” she said.

“I wish I could show how great it actually is because then I would give people a reason to come here.”

Unfortunately, Claudia and Austen have to consider moving to the eastern states for work opportunities.

“I don’t want to go to Sydney if I’m brutally honest. I don’t want to because Adelaide is the most perfect place to live,” she said.

“There is no traffic, everyone’s calm here, the weather’s great, there’s nothing wrong with Adelaide – but there’s just not much that I can do here workwise.

“If I want to make money to be able to buy a house, I need to work.”

And that is exactly what she is doing.

Originally published as ‘I’ve been sent a lot of sex toys’: Inside the influencer life of Love Island’s Claudia Bonifazio