Love Island’s Paige Defends Herself Against ‘Mean Girl’ Accusations

Paige Thorne has defended herself over accusations she was ‘standoffish’ with female bombshells entering the villa… but hasn’t denied the claims.

Despite making a great first impression in the villa with her fellow Islanders and viewers alike, the tide didn’t take long to turn on Paige with the public swiftly branding her a ‘mean girl’ and ‘fake nice’ after perceived slights against Danica Taylor in week four.

But even after placing fifth alongside now boyfriend and first-ever returning Islander Adam Collard, the drama continued to bubble for Paige who was embroiled in a row with Casa Amor bombshells Coco Lodge and Summer Botwe. And after Paige admitted earlier this month that she’d been sent a bunch of flowers and a ‘sorry’ note from Coco after she said Paige ‘had a problem with her’, she’s now addressed Summer’s claims that she was less than welcoming.

‘Coco dragged me a bit and I came out on the Monday night to the commercial party and I had flowers sent to my room with like a "sorry" note and everything and I was like, "OK, cute, I didn’t think it was that deep but anyway, that’s cute thank you",’ she told Made in Chelsea’s Sophie ‘Habbs’ Habboo and Melissa Tattum on their podcast Wednesdays We Drink Wine.

‘And obviously I’ve seen the bit with Summer, but what it is with Summer is she will just say it how it is and, yeah, I was standoffish with the girls. I’m not going to be everyone’s best friend. What do you want me to do, roll out the red carpet and kiss your asses as soon as you walk in?

‘It’s not my vibe, it’s not that I’m being a bitch, it’s just that I’m keeping it real, do you know what I mean?’

The comments are a slightly less inflammatory version of what she said on Toby Aromolaran's podcast earlier this week, when she said, 'Do you know what? People have got to do what they've got to do, haven't they? Do you know what I mean? And if you've got to talk sh-t about somebody else to keep yourself relevant, then OK, that's fine. That's absolutely fine, but that's not my vibe.'

Ouch.

It comes after a producer on the show tweeted in response to the online backlash against Paige, writing, ‘As an editor for Love Island, I have to say, Paige is one of the nicest and most genuine people and everyone I know on production is completely baffled by the lies that have come out about her.'