Love Island’s Olivia Hawkins insists she is ‘not the villain’ after receiving ‘nasty comments’

Love Island’s Olivia Hawkins has insisted she is ‘not the villain’ and admitted leaving the villa has been ‘hard’ after receiving ‘nasty comments’ online. 

The influencer, 27, spoke out on Thursday about the negative reaction since exiting the ITV show and said she wants people to see the real her.  

Olivia came under fire during her time on the show with viewers claiming ‘the witch is finally gone’ after she was voted out.

She was also branded the ‘villa schemer’ during drama filled scenes as she clashed with fellow contestants. 

Speaking in an interview with The Sun, she explained: ‘I’ve got a lot of strong people around me, thankfully. It has been hard on me. There’s only so much I can take.’

Olivia added: ‘When people meet me they will see the real me, I’m definitely not a villain. Now I’m out of the villa I’m looking forward to people seeing my fun side and my big heart.

As she weighed in on the arguments in the South African villa she said: ‘Maybe it was a case of big personalities clashing, it was so intense and arguments are inevitable when we were in a confined space together.’   

The new interview comes after Olivia hit out at trolls after receiving ‘a lot of hate’ since leaving the programme and gave her opinion on the social media ban. 

For the first time in Love Island history, ITV2 banned Islanders’ social media activity during the show, after their loved ones have previously taken over their accounts.

The big change was decided by producers following years of friends and family struggling to cope with the levels of trolling received as they managed their loved ones social media accounts from home.

This year, the cast members’ pages remained ‘dormant’ during their time in the villa, and Olivia has given her candid thoughts on whether or not it was a positive rule change.

The ring girl admitted it was very ‘conflicting’ as she said she ‘wouldn’t have wanted’ her family to see the hate she received, but now has to deal with it alone instead.

Speaking on Capital XTRA Breakfast on Wednesday, she said: ‘It is hard because obviously I have had quite a lot of hate when I came out so I wouldn’t have wanted my family to have seen that.’

‘Not the villain’: The influencer spoke out on Thursday about the negative reaction since exiting the ITV show and said she wants people to see the real her

‘But then again, when I switch my phone on, I had to see it all by myself,’ she added.

‘Yeah, so it’s conflicting, but I get it completely because it’s my choice to go on the show. It’s not my family’s, so I wouldn’t want them to deal with all that hate. 

‘Some of the comments have been really nasty. I think people feel like we’re like characters on TV. But we are real people.’ 

In past series, Islanders’ teams used their accounts to encourage viewers to vote for them and build up their following – but this has led to them receiving abuse from trolls and getting into spats with other contestants’ family and friends. 

• Categories
• Tags