Zara Defence League: you're going to want to read this one. Zara Lackenby-Brown strutted intoLove Island with enough confidence and charisma for the whole villa. From her dramatic arguments to iconic one liners and turbulent relationships, she had viewers hooked by her every move. Even though she was dumped from the island, the dancer and singer affirms that she doesn’t regret a single thing and was herself throughout. 'I think some people in there took my confident personality as being confrontational – that’s not the case,’ she tells me over the phone after a busy morning of interviews. ‘I am upfront, and I don’t let people walk all over me or treat me like I'm a doormat. Adding, ‘If you try to be sly and go around the houses, I just think it makes things worse. I'd rather be upfront - I wish more people in the villa did the same.'
In just two weeks, Zara became a main character on the show. Her rocky love triangle with Olivia Hawkinsand Tom Claredrove the storylines and kept us all on the edge of our seats. The nation became fixated on howOlivia and Zara knew each other before the show – hunting for clues and any previous drama that would give context to their fiery friendship. ‘We were acquaintances through work,’ Zara confirmed. ‘Whenever we crossed paths on film sets it was good vibes so I thought I would have a friendly face in there who would help me feel at ease – but how wrong I was.’
She explains they just couldn't see eye to eye, ‘Olivia took things very personally. She thought everything I was doing with Tom was a personal thing. I didn’t see a spark between them - in bed they would roll over and not say a word. I got to know all the boys and surprisingly I had a connection with Tom.' Zara does believe if they both didn’t have an interest in Tom – they could have been friends. She explains, ‘I did not want that tension at all it actually broke my heart because I didn’t come into the villa for that. However, every little thing I was doing in there she felt was a dig at her. I felt like I couldn't win with her - nothing I was doing was right.'
Tom had a tendency to say one thing to someone and another thing to someone else - it didn't match up.
I think we can all agree, the scene where Tanya and Zara were pondering on telling Olivia about Ellie and Tom’s kiss was a cinematic masterpiece. From Tanya begging Zara to keep her lips sealed to Zara dropping that she’s ‘sitting on a bad boy piece of information' - it was TV gold. The bombshell reveals she has watched the scene back since leaving. ‘They made that look way more dramatic than it was,’ she says playfully. But how did it play out in real time? ‘Part of me wanted to get up from the sofa and say in front of the villa, "Tom, I've heard this," but I was like "Zara collect your thoughts." I knew Ellie should be the one to tell Liv but she hadn't and Will had already started telling people.'
She adds, 'I thought me and Liv have this in common. I thought this might actually be a great moment for Liv and I to realise we actually did stupidly put a man between a potential friendship. I'm big on girl code and she needed to know.'
Of course, the show is about finding love and an un-likely pairing with footballer Tom took her by surprise. Zara says that at the start her relationship with Tom was very good. 'Our feelings towards each other were mutual and he admitted he had never had a spark with someone so quickly on the outside, ' she says. However, an amalgamation of issues ultimately led to a ferocious stand-off and breakup.
One game that added to the breakdown of Tom and Zara’s relationship was Truth or Dare. In the game Tom had to chose the Islanders that would make up his perfect girl. One for the face, body and personality. When Tom chose Olivia for the face and her for the body it really upset Zara.However, we didn't see everything that led to the tense moment.
I'm so grateful for all the support I've got since leaving
Zara reveals that they actually came to blows before that challenge. She says, 'The argument with Tom was unaired and it’s weird that it wasn’t aired actually – context wise it would have made sense why the challenge went the way it did.’
She explained, ‘Me and Tom had an amazing day – it was probably the best day we had together in the villa. We got ready for the evening and me and the girls were sitting by the firepit. Then Tom come storming over like "Zara, come here, I need to talk to you." He was literally raging, I went to touch his shoulder but he squirmed away from me.' She continued, 'He said, "The boys and everyone else have been saying all this stuff about you. Apparently, you fancy Aaron and you’ve been using Shaq to make me jealous."' Zara said she was baffled at where this came from and was trying to assure him she only had eyes for him and was in tears.
Then the challenge started, 'So, of course already I went into it feeling like other Islanders had been speaking about me and not said it to my face,' she explained. He later admitted, "I would have picked you for all three but I thought it'd be called boring." Zara explains that things went downhill from then, 'That's the thing with Tom, I think he’s too concerned about how people see him instead of just doing what he wants to do and what's right. He's too focused on being the nice guy but you're actually hurting people in the process - you can't please everyone.'
When Tom picked Olivia it was horrible - I felt humiliated
Zara says that picking Olivia who he had 'unfinished business' with really hurt. 'I don't think he meant any malice by it, because I think boys see things differently to girls. But in that moment, I thought, so you just want to plaster Liv’s face on my body? I felt like from his side it was mainly just a physical attraction - he just saw me as a hot piece of booty and body.' She affirms, 'There was no coming from that.'
Although Zara left the Island on good terms with everyone, she does still believe Ron and Olivia are ‘playing a game.’ We often saw Zara fighting her battles alone, but she reveals she had two very close friendships in the villa we didn't see. Zara admits, 'Tanya and Tanyel are my girls – they really took the time to understand me and are unapologetically themselves.' Which is why it’s hard for Zara to watch Tanyel on screen now as she appears to be ‘going into her shell.’ After Spencer Wilks was recently dumped from the Island, this left Tanyel without a love interest. Since then she's also had some clashes with Olivia.
From an outsiders perspective, Zara now sees the parallels. She shares, ‘What's interesting is I feel like Liv is kind of almost doing what she did to me to Tanyel now - which is odd. She made a comment when Spencer left about Tanyel moving on. Well, Liv what did you do when Harris left? You shifted your focus on Aaron and Tom, because you have to work with what you've got.' She concludes,' I just don't get her motives behind a lot of things we left on good terms but I do sort of watch now and I think well, now Tanyel is kind of getting the brunt of it which isn’t fair.'
Fans have also called out Ron for jumping from girl to girl and consistently hurting Lana in the process. ‘Ron was at one point, not necessarily intentionally, but he's done some questionable stuff. The other Islanders like Shaq and Tom have addressed it with him already and I respect that.’ She also recalled watching a scene where Ron ‘got in Tom’s ear’ and concluded Zara was too much for him. Zara reveals this shocked her, ‘ I thought, are you just a bit pissed that I picked Tom over you Ron? Why are you saying that? ‘Adding, ‘I just think people were very opinionated. But then when you ask them about it, they wouldn't be truthful and say, “You know what, I'll own up, I said this,” they wouldn't say things with their chest. It was all very gossipy in there – very childish behaviour.'
Despite her turbulent journey, Zara stands by every move she made in the villa. 'I can't believe all the support I've had since leaving the villa. This is such a blessing.' She adds, I've got no regrets I was completly myself. If I didn't agree with something I stood up for myself - I would do that on the outside too.'
Her fans (or the Zara Defence League) on Twitter have been begging producers and petitioning for her to return to the villa - but is she open to it? 'I would happily go back into the villa,' she admits. 'I mean, people clearly want me to do and I feel like my journey is not over. But whether that's that the journey with Love Island or just my journey in life - It's not the end for me, it's just the beginning.'
READ MORE: Sorry Olivia: Tanyel And Ron Are Allowed To Be Best Friends