Amber Gill

After devouring 13 series and over a decade of Love Island, one glaring problem has become clear: Each series there is a female villain, pitted against the others… but who is really to blame?

Love Island is almost over and with that, the 2026 summer of love (or influencers building their brand in a Spanish villa) has come to an end. Every time it happens, I am left devastated by the loss of the ITV2 show, despite complaining to anyone who would listen about how angry that year’s season made me.

My love for the show and the bereavement I feel when its gone has not only had me going back and watching the seasons I was too young to watch the first time, but had me watching them again and again. One thing has become clear – our female villains are often born when men misstep and aren’t allowed to bounce back in the same way.

We keep entering an era where our bad girls are pitted against each other until they are relegated to the depths of obscurity after the show ends and not even allowed to be iconic anymore.

Yes, these woman’s actions are often undeniably bad. But compared to those of the men around them, who get redemption arcs, huge social media followings and get to continue working within the Love Island world, the women’s punishments rise to the top of villain lists seem unbefitting of their crimes. To illustrate my point, here is a timeline of the seasons and who their biggest villains are…

Series 1 – Naomi Ball

Bombshell Naomi is largely considered the biggest villain from the first series that aired when Love Island was rebooted. She was sharp-tongued and her confrontations with Jess Hayes were one of the reasons the latter girl won the series with Max Morley.

Her intense rivalry with Jess was was fuelled by a love triangle between the two and Josh Ritchie, especially when Josh dumped Naomi for not being willing to sleep with him.

He then brazenly asked: “Do I now carry on with Jess, get my end away, have a good three-weeks sh*gging, or do I start something with Naomi, where something can be long term and something maybe outside of the villa but not have sex, not have as much of a laugh? It’s a genuine penis/head dilemma.”

With a love interest like that, who needs enemies? Though Naomi still consistently crops up as the Villain of Series One, Josh has gone on to redeem himself on All Stars.

Series 2 – Olivia Buckland

Thankfully, Olivia is now mostly beloved, but for years after her series was released, she was painted by fans as manipulative and mean. She was blamed for Javi Shephard and Dan Lukakis fighting over her, even though that’s the nature of the game. She was blamed for hurting Dan when Terry Walsh came along, even though they’d only known each other three days by that point.

Worst of all, she was blamed for sleeping with Rykard Jenkins when he was getting close to Rachel Fenton, when it was Rykard who was pursuing a relationship, not Olivia. Olivia was not only free from any romantic attachments, she was in a couple with Rykard.

Olivia was able to regroup and rebuild after Love Island, especially since she and now husband Alex Bowen stayed together. The same cannot be said for all the women on this list.

Series 3 – Jonny Mitchell

Series three is the first where our main villain is a man. Jonny arrived on day four and was in a couple with Camilla Thurlow for most of his time on the show. Whilst in a couple, he clashed with Camilla, telling her that he thought feminists “believe in inequality” and would feel emasculated if a woman tried to pay on a date.

Jonny then went on to make Camilla cry by dumping her for Tyla Carr – and he wasn’t even going to be honest about it. Very manly, macho Jonny was too chicken to be upfront and instead decided to try and do a gradual fade out instead, until he was forced to fess up by Dom Lever. And yet, while Naomi never got her redemption and Olivia had to wait until after the show, Jonny ended his run on the series on good terms with everyone.

Series 4 – Adam Collard and Megan Barton-Hanson

Love Island has never known a villain like Adam Collard. He moved from girl to girl to girl and blamed some of them for “pushing him away” and into the arms of another. When he accused Rosie Williams of being jealous of his connection with Zara McDermott, he smirked as she cried in front of him and Women’s Aid came out with a statement against him.

Despite Adam sparking a huge national conversation about gaslighting, he was brought back for series eight, in which he was given the opportunity to prove himself a good guy after all.

Meanwhile, Megan, who also moved from guy to guy but without gaslighting them, was also labelled a villain and constantly shamed by the public for her career as a stripper.

Series 5 – Michael Griffiths

Michael is another instant where the villain ultimately crowned the winner. Prior to coming back from Casa Amor with another girl, his partner Amber Gill wasn’t viewed favourably by the public. But when he not only played away at Casa but then started calling her “childish” for being upset, Michael became the bad guy and Amber became a champion.

Since the show ended, Michael has gone down in history as one of the most iconic islanders. He spawned the ‘Destiny’s Childish’ memes, in which people who seem like players on the show are all put in a group with Michael. It’s helped him get roles on Celebrity Ex on the Beach, Eating with my Ex and MTV’s Living the Dream. He has been rewarded for his actions, in a way the women on this list rarely are.

Series 6 – Connor Durman and Rebecca Gormley

Connor had everyone talking during the first winter Love Island with his rather questionable behaviour. To the shock of his partner Sophie Piper, he bragged about having a threesome with a girl and her housemate after a first date in a game of Truth or Lie. When Sophie made a joke about it, Connor then folded his arms and backed away, telling a confused-looking Sophie “You hate me tonight. You’re hating me.”

And when she tried to keep things light, he angrily insisted, “You’re digging me out already, you are,” leaving fans begging her to head for the hills. Despite this, its Rebecca that fans remember as a villain. She a rivalry with Siannise Fudge over her interest in Luke Trotman, a storyline that is not uncommon on this show and yet was enough to make Rebecca a villain.

Series 7 – Faye Winter

Faye has received the most Love Island complaints in the show’s history after yelling at Teddy Soares. The argument followed the first ever Movie Night, in which Teddy was seen having a flirty exchange during Casa Amor.

The public knew the clips were taken out of context and that Teddy had been faithful to Faye. 25,000 complaints were made to Ofcom and Faye’s family had to release a statement, reminding the public that the show was edited for entertainment.

Faye received online abuse and death threats after the incident. What makes it so infuriating is that much of the public were angry with Faye for reacting to Teddy’s actions as they knew the clip was taken out of context and fumed that she should have known he was a good guy. To summarise: Fans who knew what Faye had seen wasn’t the whole truth were angry with her for reacting to it rather than those who took the clips out of context.

Series 8 – Tasha Ghouri

Tasha’s series was largely defined by both Islanders and the public deciding she was stringing her partner Andrew Le Page along. She was subjected to constant online vitriol about how she was just waiting around for someone else to sweep her off her feet, and using Andrew to stay safe.

Yet when it came to Casa, it was Andrew who played away. “I licked her t*t, or whatever,” he told Tasha after being forced to come clean about his bedroom antics with Coco Lodge. Notably, Andrew wasn’t as hated for actually doing something as Tasha was for what people thought she wanted to.

Series 9 – Olivia Hawkins

Olivia was branded as a villain after clashing with several islanders, particularly those she had coupled up with before like Kai Fagan and Tom Clare. She was branded as messy and a hypocrite for being upset with Kai for recoupling in Casa, even though she’d done the same.

By the time she joined series two of All Stars, Olivia was so known as a villain that she had to hit back at the title, telling the Mirror that she thought it was “tiring”. She was called a bad guy again when she clashed with Grace Jackson, catching heat despite no longer being on the show anymore. She has since seemed to prefer sticking to a quiet life away from reality TV and I’m not sure anyone can blame her.

Series 10 – Molly Marsh

Molly was villainised after being honest with partner Mitch Taylor. Her crime was telling him that she wanted to talk to other people just days into knowing each other. From then, both Mitch and Jess Harding accused her of using him and being two-faced… despite the fact that she’d been upfront about her feelings.

This was the start of the Love Island “divides”. In series since, we’ve seen time and time again how there is a divide among the girls as they are pitted against each other by the men and form two camps. This time it was Molly vs Jess, a battle that Jess ultimately won, as she won the whole series.

The hate Molly received has since been viewed as unwarranted, and Molly has faded into the background of many Love Island conversations, while Mitch, whose behaviour towards Molly was very possessive, has become one of the show’s icons.

Series 11 – Harriett Blackmore

Harriett Blackmore, much like Olivia Hawkins, was labelled a villain and a drama queen when she clashed with Ciaran Davies. But why did they clash? Well, just before, Harriett had told Ciaran, whom she had been coupled up with since the start, that he was her top boy.

After that, he took Nicole Samuel to the Hideaway, leaving Harriett in tears. Was Ciaran a bad guy for this? Of course not! Our sweet Welshman made it to the final of the show.

Series 12 – Meg Moore and Helena Ford

This was a season filled with villains. Meg Moore and Helena Ford were two of the biggest, with fans slamming Meg for her rude and aggressive attitude towards girls her partner Dejon Noel-Williams was talking to and Helena for constantly going after boys Shakira Kahn and Toni Laites were talking to.

Though neither behaved well, Meg’s behaviour often came amid Dejon telling her that the girls were obsessed with him and that he wasn’t open to getting to know them, even though he was. Similarly, Helena’s came as Harry Cooksley and Harrison Solomon both told her that she was their number one.

The behaviour of all three men caught the attention of the public, who slammed them as toxic. Dejon undeniably came off the worst and seems to have shrunk back from the limelight, but despite this, the season became about the divide between the girls. It was defined by Shakira and Toni’s camp vs Meg and Helena’s.

Helena did appear on All Stars, hoping for a redemption. So did Harrison, even though Women’s Aid had put out a statement about his behaviour. Since both shows, Helena and Meg have faded away, while Harrison and Harry have both gained a huge social media following for their Love Island commentary.

Series 13 – Every woman on the show

Then we have series 13. In this series, pretty much every woman has been villainised at some point, often when a man was also involved and received much less hate.

Priya Jaswal was demonised for saying Samraj Toor’s behaviour was “pathetic”, even though he was also attacking her and never apologised. Jasmine Muller was hated on for her interactions with Kavan Murphy, when his brother Aidan kept stirring the pot and again when it was Kavan who brought someone else back from Casa Amor.

Lola Deal and Julia Majchrzak have both received hate amid their feud, which was all started by Sean Fitzgerald’s conversations with people in Casa Amor. Elicia Chadwick has also been on the public’s bad side for her reaction to Aidan picking Priya, despite him having kissed his way up her body while on their date.

Even former Islanders turned debriefers Shakira, Toni and Yasmin Pettet have received more hate this season than the men on the show. And if this doesn’t summarise the modern divide between men and women, I don’t know what does. Men think they can get away with anything, while women have to micromanage every emotion so as not to come off wrong.

No wonder, when men’s bad behaviour is caught on camera and still excused, while the slightest comment or odd look from a woman is enough to make her the nation’s most hated.

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