Love Island's Welsh star Paige Thorne has responded to criticism she has received from fellow Islanders since leaving the villa, in which she was labelled as “not nice”. It comes after Casa Amor bombshell Coco Lodge, whose romance with Andrew Le Page sparked friction in the villa, opened up about her difficult relationship with Paige, Mirror reports.
Fellow Islander Nathalia Campos, who was brought in to the villa towards the end of the show and lasted just days, too revealed that there was secret tension in the villa between herself and Paige, claiming the Welsh paramedic made a series of Mean Girls comments behind her back during an appearance on the Speaking on Reality with Will Njobvu podcast.
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Meanwhile, Danica Taylor also came out saying that, upon watching scenes from the show back, she wishes she had confronted her fellow contestants over the way she felt she was treated upon her arrival in the villa.
The 24-year-old Welsh Love Island star, who is now in a relationship with personal trainer Adam Collard following the show (you can read about their visits to Wales here) appeared to address the criticism during an appearance on former Love Island star Toby Aromolaran’s podcast Fancy A Chat?
Toby, who featured on the reality show in Season 7, asked Paige about her feelings regarding the post-Love Island climate of "people always talk about everyone else” and Paige replied: “People have got to do what they've got to do. If you've got to talk s*** about someone else to keep yourself relevant, that's fine. It's not my vibe. Why can't you focus on yourself and all the positive things, rather than talk s*** about anyone else? I'm not about that vibe. I like to say I'm in my little positive bubble and I stay firmly inside it. People just want to try to pop it sometimes but it's impenetrable, so no."
Toby noted: “A lot of people are going to try to drag you down,” as Paige laughed as she replied: “They try.”
Toby also asked Paige, who has recently said she wants to return to her old day job, about the experience of going from anonymity to fame overnight. Posing the question, he said: “Obviously you lived under a rock and now you're here, there, everywhere – how are you finding the transition?”
Paige replied: “It is really overwhelming but Adam's been absolutely great because he's done it before, so he's been taking it under my wing and helping me out. It's been good. I'm glad I've got him to help me out because otherwise I'd be a headless chicken. I've really enjoyed everything so far.”
This backlash comes after Danica revealed that, in hindsight, she wishes she had expressed herself more after being saved from a Villa dumping early on in the series by the boys – who picked to dump singer-songwriter Antigoni Buxton.
She told On Demand Entertainment : "Not gonna lie, watching it back, I've seen sort of the way Paige was when Antigoni left and it was very clear she wanted me to go."
Danica also said, as reported by The Mirror, that she should have approached Paige - who the 21-year-old dancer claimed to have seen "blatantly mouthing things across the firepit to insinuate like 'what the hell why is Danica still here?'" - to let her know how she felt. The former islander did, however, say she's had time to "move past" it, though states: "In the moment, looking back, I wish I'd said things."
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