A family of a Love Island contestant has issued an apology after a ‘disappointing’ comment she made about allergies. Mollie Salmon - one of the new girls in Casa Amor - made the comment on Sunday night’s episode of Aftersun, when she was discussing her dating history. ‘I actually dated a boy with loads of allergies,’ she said. ‘When you go to a restaurant and you can’t eat anything on the menu, and it’s really frustrating.’
Shortly after the comment aired on TV, Mollie faced some backlash, with some thinking she was being insensitive, when severe food allergies can make life incredibly difficult - and dangerous - for thousands of people. It even prompted charity Allergy UK to issue a statement: ‘It highlights why we need better awareness around the reality of living with allergies. We urge speaking up about allergies yet such attitudes make it harder to do so.’
On her Instagram account, Mollie’s family have apologised on her behalf, saying it wasn’t her intention to offend anyone. ‘We’d like to apologise for any upset caused by the allergy comment made,’ they wrote on Instagram stories.
‘This was not said with any bad intentions and wasn’t said to purposely be offensive or upset anyone. Mollie herself suffers from an allergy to seafood. Thank you for the continued love and support.’
Mollie is one of five new girls in the main villa, and Jacques O’Neill was taking an interest in her in last night’s episode. ‘Mollie is very like myself, outgoing, fun, always cracking jokes, don’t really care what they say, not arsed about what people think. She sort of had a flirt and I liked that.’
Often family members take to Islanders social media accounts to comment on public reaction to the series. Tasha Ghorui’s dad has spoken about some of the vile ableist abuse she has endured since entering the villa. Last week, her dad Tarek said: ‘Thanks for your support everyone. People have opinions but I’ve been saddened that some stoop so low to poke fun of Tasha’s hearing loss. Let’s keep it about the quest for finding true Love please.’