Sex symbol: Fogle is the heart-throb of the island community

In recent months there has been a string of departures from the island and the show.

Mr Fogle, a former picture editor for Tatler magazine, is reported to be fed up because some of the other islanders are jealous of his popularity.

A BBC spokeswoman said: "One of the latest programmes shows Ben threatening to leave because of one of the other residents.

"He goes through a difficult time and some people do have problems with him because he tends to attract a lot of coverage, although that's not necessarily his fault."

Earlier this year Mr Fogle said it was ironic so many women were interested in him when he was marooned on the island.

He said: "I miss having a girlfriend and spent all last year in London looking for a beautiful girl and failing.

"Then I get here and I hear I am some kind of heart-throb. I've got people writing to me and I'm stuck out here."

Gordon and Cassie Carey and their children Yoneh, five, and Aaron, three, left last month after becoming disillusioned with life on the island.

Earlier in the year, Ray Bowyer and Ron Copsey separately quit the show.

Copsey blamed "inflated egos" on the island.

There are now 30 castaways left on the island from an original total of 36 and they have four more months before the end of the year-long experiment.

The group members were selected from a total of 4,000 people.

They were given psychometric tests and a series of physical exercises and challenges to test their suitability for the programme.