The Department for Education policy adviser who starred on Love Island has clarified her claim on the TV show that she “makes the laws”.

Zara McDermott, 21, said she was obliged to “dumb down” her explanation of her job so people would understand it.

She raised eyebrows on the show when asked if she was responsible for making laws. She replied: “Yeah, in essence.”

However, she told ITV’s Loose Women: “It’s difficult to explain what I do to anyone because no-one properly understands but I was trying to explain that people like me work in government and we create regulations and policy, and essentially laws in a sense, we write legislation and stuff.

“So I was trying to give a really dumbed-down version because a lot of people don’t really understand fully what I do. It’s quite complex.”

Ms McDermott, post-16 policy adviser at the DfE, was given a career break from her day job to go on television - although it is understood that the popular ITV2 show was not mentioned to her bosses.

“She said she was taking a career break to work on TV but did not give specific details,” the Sun reported an unnamed government source as saying.

Asked on Loose Women if she would return to her career now she has been given the boot from the ITV2 reality show, she said: “It is something I’m definitely open to in the future, I absolutely love my job.

“I work in education and I absolutely love it and the thought of helping people, especially children.”