‘People are quick to judge – the level of abuse is OTT!’
He was the Lothario of last year’s show, slammed by viewers and even a women’s charity for the “abusive” way he spoke to Rosie Williams. And as Tommy Fury is dubbed a “snake” for breaking up a couple, Adam Collard tells Closer how being typecast as a villain made him a hate figure.
Adam, 23, says, “I dated a few different girls on Love Island, and I was ‘the villain’ for taking Kendall [Rae Knight] from her partner and dumping Rosie. I’m not defending what I did, but everything is so amplified, your actions are made out to be the worst in the world. Tommy [Fury] has been criticised for taking Lucie [Donlan] from Joe [Garrett] – but it had only been two days!
“When I came out of the villa, I saw the hate first-hand. I was called a ‘c**t’ at the airport when I landed, had vodka thrown in my face on a night out, and people hurled things at me in public.
“I’m thick-skinned, and it didn’t bother me too much. But I can see how terribly that could affect someone. The viewers go so OTT – they see a few minutes of a conversation and are quick to judge every tiny action. My conversation with Rosie was about an hour long, but you saw five minutes of it. It’s crazy that you can be made out to be a certain way, but that’s what you sign up for. The show is about heroes and villains, and that’s why it’s popular – so the producers must make sure the contestants can handle that level of abuse.”