In last night's episode, Zara Lackenby-Brown was left standing alone by the fire pit after Tom Clare coupled up with new girl Ellie Spence, and she was forced to pack her bags and leave the Love island villa.
However, communications regulator Ofcom has since received nearly 200 complaints about alleged bullying and discriminatory behaviour Zara faced on the show. The complaints were particularly focused on scenes featured near the end of Friday's episode, where the contestants played a game of truth or dare.
Zara became a target for derogatory answers, many of which made little sense to viewers, such as Australian bombshell Aaron Waters saying that Zara was the 'Islander most likely to talk behind your back'. She was also picked as 'bitchiest Islander' and told her and Tom seemed like the weakest couple.
The biggest shock came when Tom, who was coupled up with Zara at the time, had to choose elements of different Islanders that would make up his ideal woman. He picked former partner Olivia for her face, Zara for her body, and Lana for her personality. His answer left Zara visibly offended, and many women can understand why.
Viewers quickly took to Twitter to express concern, with one saying 'this challenge is literally aimed at her' and another accusing the Islanders of bullying. The incident was even discussed on Love Island Aftersun, with host Maya Jama agreeing it's hurtful to be picked for 'best body' over face and personality by your partner. Grazia's own Aaliyah Harry agreed, 'it doesn't seem fair that only some people's feelings are validated in the villa, whilst Zara's are consistently invalidated.'
Fans on TikTok even believe that the episode was edited to make Zara appear angrier than she was, as her lashes appear to come off during the scene (despite strong winds being a dominant feature of most evening filming in this series). Another TikTok user asked, 'have they just edited the questions in the wrong order or have they edited her reaction there to make it look worse than it is?'.
When Zara left the villa in yesterday's episode, many fans were left angry and disappointed that her experience had been cut short. One user wrote: 'If there’s no twist I’m fuming at the producers setting Zara up to get dumped. No other Islander has provided more entertainment this season.'