On last night’s episode of Love Island, Shaughna Phillips seemed to be getting a well-deserved break after weeks of turmoil. Not only did bombshell Jamie Clayton call-out Callum Jones for how he treated her in Casa Amor, but Luke Mabbot was clued up that she has a thing for him during a challenge that reveals press headlines to the Islanders.
The thing is, none of it felt particularly natural – at least not to viewers. In fact, most people were wondering why the hell Jamie was even getting involved in the Callum drama since he has only just entered the villa. Is he just a stickler for good manners and treating women with respect? Or, is he playing a game?
Shaughna is a fan-favourite of the series, that’s clear. So it stands to reason that in the vein of the Amber Gill and Greg O’Shea Coupling Of 2018, any guy that comes in will want to hop on Shaughna’s train and ride straight into the £50,000-prize. But is that the case? Jamie hasn’t been shy about expressing his interest in Demi Jones either, and even showed a liking to Natalia Zoppa last night.
If he were trying to secure Shaughna, chatting up her best mates isn’t exactly the best way to go. So, was it staged? Was it producer intervention to give Callum his much-needed talk-down since none of the other guys in the villa have stood up for their supposed ‘little sister’? Fans certainly think so. Either way, we can’t say we're not here for it. That plus seeing Shaughna finally pull the boys for not standing up for her in Casa Amor has to be our highlight of the series so far – and, to be honest, proved how much she doesn’t actually need Jamie to fight her battles for her.
The speculation on producer intervention doesn’t end there, though. The coupling of Shaughna and Luke would seemingly throw together our two favourite underrated Islanders, and producers seem to know that. Because, of all the salacious headlines they could throw into yesterday’s challenge, they chose ‘Love Island fans want Shaughna and Luke M to get together’.
First of all, no one remembers actually tweeting that they want them together (they did, we checked) but it is also suspicious timing given Luke clearly has no idea about Shaughna’s feelings. That, coupled with the fact the other headlines ripped apart the two favourite couples to win – Finley Tapp and Paige Turley, and Luke Trotman and Siannise Fudge – has everyone scrunching their eyes in bemusement at what game producers are playing here.
Now, whether some intervention is happening or not to get Shaughna on the path to win, we can’t help but question – do we even care? Yes, producers shouldn’t be emotionally exploiting other contestants in favour of another, but in terms of how they are helping her narrative along, isn’t that what she deserves after such a horrible journey so far?
The name of the game is finding love - and giving Shaughna a helping handing in that after everything she’s been through doesn’t feel that unfair. Plus, let’s be honest, should the other couples fair okay in the wake of yesterday’s challenge, they’ve already won the game by finding love. In the same way we all rooted for Amber to win last year – coupled up or not – don’t we want Shaughna to experience the same redemption?
It might not be fair, but while her face in the Casa Amor episode is still burned into our memory, we’re happy for her to have a bit of preferential treatment.
Read More:
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