Coco Lodge has said she was one of the “most” trolled Love Island contestants in the show’s history.
The 28-year-old, who appeared on 2022’s edition of the ITV reality dating show, has said in a new interview that she was repeatedly mocked by viewers for her appearance and perceived as a “villain”.
Lodge arrived on the show as a Casa Amor bombshell, when new singles are brought in to stir up the already existing relationships. The former contestant found herself in a love triangle when she had a connection with Andrew Le Page, who was coupled up with Tasha Ghouri.
“I’m probably one of the worst trolled islanders they’ve ever had, and I think I’m the most trolled for how I looked,” she told The Guardian.
Lodge, who had a 12-day stint on the show, added that social media users would make videos critiquing her nose and other parts of her face.
“There were TikToks comparing me to certain cartoon characters or that footballer Jonjo Shelvey. Really evil videos and tweets about my nose, how I was the ugliest Love Island contestant ever.”
Lodge is best known for being implicated in a viral scene when Le Page admits to Ghouri that he was intimate with Lodge. Le Page famously said of their relations: “Yeah I licked her tit, or whatever.”
The scene became what seemed like a light-hearted meme but Lodge found herself being perceived as “a villain” for the rift between the couple.
“People perceived me to be a villain because I stole someone’s man,” Lodge said. “It’s misogynistic because no one had those feelings towards Andrew. I didn’t have a man; he’s the one who had a girl. But I guess because I looked like I was confident I seemed more like a villain”.
Lodge added that she was “crying” most of the time she was in the Love Island villa because she “didn’t have any friends” and alleged that ITV’s producers had “cut out” scenes where she was upset.
“They even showed me shaving my arms. I’m Italian, I have hair, whatever,” she added. “But if you’ve seen the comments, where people were saying I was ugly and like a man, and you’re still showing that clip, to me you’re trying to fuel those comments.”
The Independent has contacted ITV for comment.
Lodge said that when she left the villa and saw the negative criticism of her online, she just started “crying” and went through a “difficult time”.
“You get one phone call when you come out of the villa, and I spoke to my mum. She sounded so traumatised. I got my phone back at the airport, and saw all this stuff and just started crying.”
The new season of Love Island returns to ITV2 on Monday 5 June.
