Concerned Love Island fans have urged online trolls to be mindful of Jacques O'Neill's mental health after he was hit with a barrage of abuse following his exit from the show.
After going into the show at the end of the first week as a bombshell, Gemma Owen's ex Jacques grew close to Paige Thorne, with the Cumbrian rugby player and Welsh paramedic being an item for a month, despite their romance suffering a few bumps in the road due to the results of the heart rate challenge and him kissing another girl in Casa Amor.
On Tuesday night's Love Island, viewers saw Jacques become irate after being told by Gemma that new boy Adam Collard had been slagging him off, with Paige look unimpressed by his outburst. And, then after sleeping on things, Jacques told Paige he'd decided to quit in a tearful exchange that had them both in tears.
READ MORE: Jacques family issue Love Island plea over 'hidden' diagnosis
There was more crying when Jacques announced his departure to the rest of the villa saying he wasn't 'being himself,' anymore and wanted to go to try and have a future with Paige outside. The scenes that aired in the closing minutes of Tuesday's show proved to be emotionally charged viewing, but trolls still took aim at Jacques as credits rolled.
However, other viewers were quick to defend the 23-year-old and take aim at those having a go at him, reminding them of the suicides of ex Love Island contestants Sophie Gradon and Mike Thalassitis and the show's popular host Caroline Flack.
Responding to some of the things they read online, one Twitter user posted: "Worried for Jacques even more now with his mental health soon as he goes back on socials and sees the whole nation judging him off a edited 45 minute show a night, it be overwhelming alone without all the negative comments. Hope he gets all the support he needs."
Echoing those sentiments, another tweeted: "Feel sorry for Jacques and I really hope ITV help him with the appropriate aftercare. His actions were bang out of order, but his mental health is clearly suffering and coming out to see all these nasty tweets will just have such a negative effect on him," with another writing: "Don’t forget. The producers make someone out to be the villain every year. Just for good TV. Jacques is a nice bloke suffering with mental health issues. We all need to support him. The producers of the show will never learn."
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