Love Island UK, Summer 2025 🏝 - Started Monday 9th June at 9pm on ITV2 ... THREAD 4

[LikeWhoUsesTypewritersAnyway]

OMG, can't they all just learn to get along?! 😩

Another few weeks of snoozeworthy arguing and attention-seeking to go - from these brats!

As you were folks!

Gonna pass over the rude and unfounded slur on Burnley, but have to say no way has Shakira been fake or anything like it. She’s acted like you would in there if you have some brains and integrity, and has handled it all very well. She doesn’t want Harry back, as in she knows he’s a wrong un, but she did have more of a spark with him and got treated badly and hasn’t felt that way about anyone since. And why would she? Not everyone can go from partner to partner conjuring up kisses and feelings, especially if their ex is humping away in the same room. That is an insane environment to cope with and she’s been honest and not strung anyone along. Connor - who Megan rightly pointed out has rattled through lots of girls - surprised her with the attraction and she gave it a go but always said it came from friendship and told him she had barriers up. It’s him who fibbed (to himself maybe) that he was 200% but he’s magically got over that, and was probably more bummed to be in the bottom three than to get let go by Shakira.

She probably would and has considered going home because she’s lost heart for the constant quest for the right man, but she has found love in there with her besties and will more likely wait till she’s binned through the process and take it on the chin. She may weather a friendship couple with Blu. She certainly won’t be up for any desperate attempts to do more. There may be a situation where the show pushes her and Harry back together to eke some drama in the last days, but she’s more keen on getting beyond the show now… and maybe becoming the face of Aldi!

I know some folk here don’t like her but I don’t get why really. She’s been a good participant in the stories this year and quite refreshing, especially for someone so young.

I don’t really mind Megan being back as it’s cheered Connor up and she called him on his shit. Shame Billykiss left as I’ve little interest in Angel, but I guess it’s good that Ty got his say. Angel will surely stick with the popular boy and not be remotely tempted by Blu. There’s something just off about him, despite his nice looks. Doesn’t help that Stirling won’t shut up about his mum’s sex shop.

(Sorry that was so long!)

Opinions may differ (which is fine and let’s face it the joy of being a viewer of love island) but I still think that Shakira has the best morals of any of the girls on there. Yes she’s young and I think has said things in conversations with Toni that have been a bit shit- she’s got dragged into the bubble and the divide.

However she knows her mind and is a good friend to have as a girl I think. I’d put far more faith in her having a genuine and lasting authentic relationship with a man (though not either any of those ones in there unless she ended up with cach) than Helena, Meg etc in the next few years.

I think the fact that she not faking anything or being shallow just for ‘endgame’ also says a lot about who she is as a person It says a lot about the ones that are so obviously doing it for different reasons too.

She has her head screwed on enough to know that Dirty Harry is not the answer either. She just knows that she doesn’t click with connor in the same way - the way her and Harry get on is plain to see v him and Helena. So is bowing out gracefully (though still looked horrified as Meghan walked back in tonight - probably as much due to the friendship group she was a part of as anything else)

I did always like Toni but my opinion of her has changed in the last couple of weeks.

@pinkdelight

Yes to all of this. Our opinions are similar. However i had forgotten about B’s mum’s sexshop and Ian Stirling’s inappropriate jokes.

On a separate note. I confess to laughing out loud about one of his ‘jokes’ this evening about Connor worrying that he was missing one of his legs 😂

I've said it before and I'll say it again, where is this hatred for Shakira coming from? How can anyone say she is bitchy or a shit-stirrer? It blows my mind. I think she's one of the most genuine, moral contestants they've ever had.

I love Cach too.

But they are all pretty. Have you seen Meg's instagram pictures?? Actually stunning.... doesn't stop me thinking she's a bitch!

I don't see the point of the public voting unpopular people out if the producers are going to put them back in again. Although every part of this show is manipulated, it seems completely pointless.

Toni and Shakira are the reason I'm watching this series. Its been really refreshing to watch their emotional maturity which makes this worth watching. The others, with the exception of Cach, are dull with no depth whatsoever and are typical LI contestants.

Are any of the dullards even trying to pretend they aren't just after fame and sponsorship deals. I can't imagine watching the show without the atypical contestants Toni and Shakira because what would we end up watching? Contestants acting out their perceived cookie cutter way to the final - drama, exclusive, boyfriend that will end up in the most dreadful of all episodes which is the the big final date.

Baffles my cranium. I don't think some people actually watch the show properly. Maybe they're too busy on their phones to pay attention, then fill in the gaps they've missed with completely made-up fanfic. Or maybe they're just not used to direct women (from Burnley! 😱) unafraid to speak their mind. It's the only way I can see someone thinking Shakira, one of the realest women who's ever been on the show, could be fake.

Felt for her this episode. Harry's really fucked her over. And tomorrow's the Grafties, so more Shakira-bashing ahead no doubt. I hope she's okay, poor lass seems so over it.

Connor and Megan had a definite spark on that date. Loved Blu repeating "I said I was never fucking leaving" approximately 72 times.

So right after complaining about Harry squeezing Helena's thigh while S was coupled with her she took Blu into the hideaway and kissed him. How is that not hypocritical?
And Shakira is always so up in everybody else's business, inserting herself in things that are none of her business. And how you can say she isn't bitch about Meg and Helena baffles me

And Toni, emotionally mature???

The Shakira and Blu thing was what - day 2? Not even…?? If you’re raking up that and disregarding everything from Helena actually pulling Harry out of S’s bed to go to the Hideaway and afterwards, then that’s beyond selective. As for her take on Meg etc., I guess it feels different to a viewer who agrees with her, but the bigger point is that she owns anything negative she’s said or done and understands why she did it, which is the refreshing thing compared to the Megs who bitch and kick off but think they’re great. Plus she’s not faking anything to win, which is a big difference. But anyway, as a PP said, it’s good that people have different perspectives on the show and empathise with different islanders at different points. And if you hate Burnley, then you’re never gonna get Shakira and we’ll never agree. Still, it’s been a much more interesting year with these elements and will hopefully keep some interest and not become dull scripted declarations of love (for the money) hereafter.

Shakira owned comments she'd made about Helena (don't recall any she's made about Meg the MeanGirl), but some people are pretending they've only watched the Movie Night editing and none of the context or persistent, jealousy-fuelled campaign that lead her to making those comments.

Andrada was interviewed the other day and said Shakira, Toni, Yasmin etc are the ones who made new girl villa entrants feel welcome and made an effort.
I think the difference most of us here are seeing between Shakira and Helena and Meg is that H & M sit there bitching about others, whispering, sniggering and smirking. They've made nasty, personal comments about all the girls they dont perceive to be in their 'gang' (Helena's words), even bombshells who they've not even met yet.
Whereas we can see Shakira's comments were made out of frustration and reaction- Helena was gunning from her from the first week because she knew she was her biggest competition for Dirty Harryp, and we've watched her purposely wind Shakira up at points (bikinigate), then when S reacts, Helena sits back and sneers that 'it's not that deep'. She's not even tried to hide her classic bully behaviour, and yet somehow it's gone straight over a lot of the villa boys and the viewers heads. They're only interested in things they've had spoonfed to them by the producers in a 30 second Movie Night clip. Tommy admitted as much when he was whining on Aftersun about Shakira booting him out.

At only 22, Shakira's one of the only islanders that's acted with any grace or integrity, she walked away and left Helena and Harry to their games. If Helena had an ounce of Shakira's grace, she'd have taken her aside after 'securing' Harry and cleared the air.
Sorry, another long post, but I'm finding it difficult to watch the shit being directed Shakira's way. I just hope things end well for her now.

Shakira seems deflated by the whole experience, maybe she’ll perk up a bit now she’s “single”. The final dates are always excruciatingly dreadful.

She’s reacted to two women who have been vile to her since day one. Consider Meg’s foul mouthed tirade at Andrade - Shakira hasn’t done anything like that. She’s indulged in a bit of bitchiness with her friends about two thoroughly unpleasant women. One of whom literally stole the man from her bed. Who wouldn’t? She’s 22!

It was an awkward kiss with Blu which came from
nowhere and in that first week or so all of the boys were running around after Shakira. She shut it down immediately.

I agree with others that Shakira and Toni have made it this year - their friendship is real and so is their honesty. I love that they are more natural and not alll fake boobs, eyebrows, lips and teeth.

What we have watched this season is two young women trying to navigate being played by two horribly manipulative and misogynistic men. I’m not excusing what Toni did to Cach but I don’t think she’s a bad person. Harrison and Harry are bad people.

Helena is disgusting in so many ways. She may have prettied herself on the outside but she needs a lot more work on the inside. Added to which she’s such a gormless doormat with her inane grin that I have second hand embarrassment.

It’s interesting that other contestants have come out and said that Shakira is lovely and was gracious and generous to them - all the producers have shown is the opposite of that. They clearly don’t like her for whatever reason. They’ve deliberately chosen not to highlight the bitchiness of the two women who have been so awful not on Movie Night and not in The Grafties almost all of which featured Shakira and/or Toni.

I hope it isn’t that Meg and Helena and blond and pale and maybe that it is just because they are in “relationships” oh, dear I can’t say that without laughing!

How is Toni emotionally mature? She went on one date with a boy, thought it was meant to be, cried over him, let him treat her like shit and kept going back to him no matter how bad he treated her, said horrible things about the other girls he was getting to know.... She's Helena 2.0. They are all only on the show for sponsorship deals and fame! @Itstwelveoclocksomewhere

@catbathat Blu took Shakira to the hideaway and then he kissed her, and she was really surprised by it all. And besides, at that point it was so early that no feelings had developed. Whereas Helena was actively trying to get Harry into the hideaway when she knew very well that Shakira was really into him. And Meg was there going "hideaway Helena wants to play" in a creepy whisper.

Can we stop say 22 is very young! We've had teenage contestants before. Mollymae was only 20,Amber was only 20 when she won Michael Owen daughter was only 19.Even this year alone there have been 5 aged 22 or younger.

He didn't 'take' her to the hideaway she is an adult with agency and walked on her own 2 feet!

The Burnley comment was tongue in cheek, for those that didn't get that!

The comparison isn’t with past contestants, it’s with the 30 year olds she’s dealing with. People talked about Lauren being young and she was 26, so it’s not inaccurate in this season to say 22 is young.

Oh, okay, well I don’t see how as you were slagging her off so it’s not like you didn’t mean it, but I’m from there so may be just thick. (That’s how you do tongue in cheek clearly).

Just caught up on last nights. I don’t understand anything really.

But I would like them to do a series after where Toni and Shakira take each other round their homes, see Toni’s reaction to northern life and Shakira’s to Las Vegas.

I have enjoyed this series up until the last few episodes, it seems to be a very producer driven anti-Shakira narrative and its not nice. I also dont believe the public vote results from the other night 😂

@catbathat I was correcting you, who said SHE took HIM to the hideaway and kissed him. You made it sound like she initiated it all.

There's clearly a divide here between people who like Shakira and think she's behaved better than the likes of Meg and Helena, and people who are wrong. We may therefore have to agree to disagree.

Exactly this. People are talking about Shakira's age because it's relevant to her situation here, given that two of the people giving her the roughest ride in there are 30. We're not comparing her age to that of past contestants, that's in no way relevent. It's also because she's incredibly emotionally mature contestants we've seen, at an age where that's particularly unusual.

I haven't seen the votes for the Grafties but assumed they'd be more villainising Shakira/Toni and white washing for Helena and Meg. I'm surprised the producers are still persisting with this editorial though, as they had tons of Ofcom complaints after doing that on Movie Night. Love Island's almost been pulled off the air before following accusations of producers encouraging bullying, maybe they need to be reminded again.