ITV has denied claims that Love Island contestant Jacques O’Neill was removed from the villa for impersonating deaf contestant Tasha Ghouri after allegations circulated on social media.
The unsubstantiated allegations went viral on social media after the 23-year-old rugby player quit the Love Island villa early in shock scenes. A series of shock messages, alleged to be from someone who worked on the ITV2 dating show, claimed Jacques was removed from the villa for misogynistic behaviour and mocking Tasha for being deaf.
ITV has denied the claims, saying they are completely false. At the time of Jacques’s exit, a Love Island spokesperson said: “Jacques has made the decision to leave the Villa.
“He will explain his reasons to the Islanders during tonight’s episode. We fully support his decision and look forward to seeing what’s next for Jacques.”
This comes after furious fans accused Jacques of bullying Tasha in a video of him reacting to the final, which fans have claimed was posted to the rugby player’s private Instagram Stories.
In the clip, Jacques is heard impersonating 2022 show winner Davide Sanclimenti as Tasha reads her declaration of love to Andrew Le Page during the last night in the villa.
In the video, he can be heard laughing with a friend as he shouts at the TV: “You are a liar, an actress, get the f**k out”.
Love Island fans subsequently took to social media to accuse the 23-year-old of bullying the finalist, despite opening up about his own mental health struggles.
Tasha’s dad Tarek Ghouri was among those that reacted to the viral clip, taking to Twitter to respond to a post about the video.
He appeared to make a dig at Jacques' behaviour as he wrote: “Some people grow and mature from their Island experience, some don’t. It is what it is.”
In Jacques’s exit scenes from the Love Island villa, he told the remaining ITV2 hopefuls that he felt he wasn't being himself.
“I'm trying my best but I'm not a fake person and I'm not going to start faking things and act like I'm okay when things inside aren't actually okay,” he said.
In a subsequent interview with The Sun, Jacques spoke about his mental health struggles with ADHD and said he “couldn't cope” in the villa, adding: “Doing Love Island was the worst decision of my life.”
Since leaving, Jacques appears to have found a new lease of life and has been active in keeping his one million Instagram followers up to date, including with a series of now-controversial Instagram Lives with fellow ex-Islander Luca Bish.
