Tasha Ghouri has revealed hurtful comments about her on Love Island felt like a "dagger to the heart" after worrying she "wasn't doing her job".
The 2022 contestant found love on the ITV show last summer, but received trolling from some viewers due to the fact she was wearing a cochlear implant and was emotional in the villa.
The model and activist was the first deaf contestant on Love Island and feared she "wasn't representing" her community well enough.
Tasha said the reaction she got on the show was "an 80 to 20 split, with 20% negative".
She told The Mirror: "I think that happened to all Islanders, everyone gets that kind of weird hate situation that goes on.
"I think being on a TV show that's on every night for how many weeks, you are going to get judged on every single aspect.
"So that's what you have to know you are signing up for."
However, when Tasha came home from the villa and saw the comments she found it tough.
"At first I was a bit like, oh, a little bit of a dagger to the heart. But I think I'm a very positive person and had such good support around me.
"My family and friends, they're the most important people to me.
"I had Andrew as well being there for me and be like, 'don't let it get to you and don't go looking for it'."
She added: "He was that massive support for me, I leaned on him so much and he was just there to hold on.
"I felt like on the show, the reason why I got so emotional was because I felt like I wasn't doing my job.
"I felt like I wasn't representing my community. That's why I was quite emotional in there because I was like am I failing but I'm a failure like these things were going through my head."
Tasha explained that since appearing on the show, she received many messages of support, which "massively outweighed the negatives".
She admitted she started to focus on the positive messages, adding: "As soon as I started doing that, the negatives went away."
Tasha broke Love Island history by becoming its first-ever deaf contestant but admitted she "didn't expect to find someone like Andrew".
She had her reservations about connecting with someone on the popular show and questioning if they were there for the right reasons.
But boyfriend Andrew Le Page has even been a "voice" for her since leaving the show.
The Love Islander previously opened up about the pressure to "act a certain way because I wear a cochlear implant" throughout her time on the show.
"Going into the show and really wanting to show people that just because you have a superpower, it doesn't define you - it's just part of something special that you have," the star explained to her fans on YouTube.
"And coming out of the show and seeing some of the comments that people were saying about me, that I should act a certain way because I wear a cochlear implant because I'm deaf is so stereotypical."
"There is no certain way a deaf person should act ever."
Tasha was a campaigner for the deaf community before she joined the show and has continued her work since with charities including The Royal National Institute for Deaf People and National Deaf Children's Society.
