Love Island’s Luca Bish has admitted he was “controlling” towards Gemma Owen in the villa, and “took things too far” with Tasha Ghouri.
The 23-year-old shot to fame on the 2022 series of the dating show, and finished in second place alongside the 19-year-old dressage rider.
But during his time on the show, Luca’s actions sparked serious backlash online, as fans called out his “controlling behaviour” towards Gemma.
During a candid new interview with Grazia, the former fishmonger agreed that his behaviour towards Gemma was wrong.
When asked if he’s watched the show back yet, he said: “I’ve watched bits. I really wanted to after seeing what people were saying. Watching it back, I can hold my hands up and agree with that – I was.”
“There are parts where I’m thinking this is not how I behave on the outside world. Why did I do that?”
Luca continued: “When you feel so strongly for someone and then you’re still getting put in situations because they [producers] are making us do challenges, throwing new people in there to play with your emotions and your feelings – I’d genuinely just had enough of it.”
“When you’re falling in love with someone you don’t want to see another boy come in and talk to them and vice versa. Obviously, your emotions would be heightened and everything’s so intense in there.”
The 23-year-old revealed he’s spoken to Gemma about his behaviour since leaving the show, and said: “She’s a strong woman so she would never let herself be in a situation like that.”
“However, a lot of those moments where I lost it came at the end of the show and by that point, my emotions and everything – I was drained of it all.”
One point of contention on the show was caused by the controversial ‘Mad Movies’ night, when Gemma’s supposed “flirty banter” with Billy Brown was exposed.
A clip shared on the big screen showed Billy asking Gemma for a hug in the kitchen, as they poked fun at Luca watching them from the bean bags in the garden.
At the time, Luca took aim at Gemma for flirting with Billy, but the 19-year-old insisted there was nothing going on between them.
Looking back, Luca has admitted his anger towards Gemma was misplaced.
“I was more annoyed about how Billy went around things. I ended up getting wound up and taking my frustration out on Gemma – which wasn’t fair,” he confessed.
“I don’t think this was shown but I apologised and said sorry for that. Billy said he was ‘confused,’ about Gemma intentions but everything I’ve seen is black and white. There’s no chance you should have been confused.”
Luca also addressed how he treated dancer Tasha Ghouri in the villa, as he accused her of “playing a game” with her partner Andrew Le Page.
Fans slammed the 23-year-old for “bullying” Tasha at the time, and Luca has now admitted he “took it too far” with her.
“With my controlling behaviour it took me watching it back to realise what I had done but with the Tasha situation, I realised I took it too far whilst I was still in there,” he explained.
“When you’ve got a girl crying, I realised I was wrong. For once in my life, I thought – you need to shut up now, your opinions aren’t needed.”
“When my parents came into the villa and told me I was wrong in my approach – nothing’s hit home or affected me before like that.”
Luca insisted he’s apologised to Tasha since, and the pair are now on really good terms.
“I told her I was sorry for how I behaved. We’ve made up and we have a double date with Gemma and Andrew coming up. I’m glad it hasn’t affected our friendship,” he said.
Looking back on his time on the show, Luca confessed: “The last few weeks took it’s toll on me. I didn’t feel like the Luca I was before.”
“Everyone that’s close to me – my parents and friends – could see the last two weeks in the villa I wasn’t myself and that’s why certain situations, like Movie Night, got the better of me.”
“Even when I first came out I still felt like that so, when it comes to all the hate desperately I just wanted to get back to feeling like myself so it was best to ignore it.”
“There are certain situations that I definitely regret. I know I was in the wrong at times. It’s there on TV for all to see, there’s no getting away from it,” he added.
“However, I’ve learned from them and now it’s going to mould me into a better person.”
