Love Island 2023 star Olivia Hawkins has slammed online trolls, after receiving “a lot of hate”.
Ahead of the winter season, ITV confirmed new duty of care protocols to protect both the Islanders and their families while they were in the villa.
Contestants were asked to pause handles and accounts on their social media platforms for the duration of their time on the show.
Their accounts remained dormant while they were in the villa, so that nothing was published on their behalf.
The social media ban was a bid to stop the trolling of contestants, and Olivia has since admitted she is “conflicted” as to whether it actually worked.
During her appearance on Capital XTRA Breakfast on Wednesday, the ring girl said:Â “It is hard because obviously I have had quite a lot of hate when I came out so I wouldn’t have wanted my family to have seen that.”
“But then again, when I switch my phone on, I had to see it all by myself. Yeah, so it’s conflicting, but I get it completely because it’s my choice to go on the show. It’s not my family’s, so I wouldn’t want them to deal with all that hate.”
Speaking about the messages she’s received, Olivia admitted: “Some of the comments have been really nasty. I think people feel like we’re like characters on TV. But we are real people.”
In the same interview, the actress addressed her feud with Zara Lackenby-Brown, insisting any beef between them had been “squashed”.
She said: “Any drama from my side has been left in the villa. It’s been squashed.”
“I saw Zara last night, had a really long conversation, we’re good. Last night we just talked about everything, we’re honestly good, I think she’s a great girl.”
