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A FLORIST has hit back after being slammed by a Love Island star – who branded a bouquet of flowers they sold him ‘pathetic’.

Finley Tapp, who won the show back in 2020, took to Instagram to record himself buying flowers for his partner Jess Hale to celebrate her first day back to work after giving birth to their son.

But Finley was left unhappy with the bouquet he was given by the local florist he visited – admitting it was smaller than he expected.

Recording himself, the reality star told his 984K followers: “I’m not being funny, right, I’m just in the back of the car after getting some flowers.

“Since when does £20 get you that? I thought I was going to walk out of there with a big bouquet of flowers.

“Oh well, it’s the thought that counts… that’s pathetic.”

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The comment didn’t set well with the florist, who has now responded with a statement.

Taking to their own page, The Flower Boutique in Woburn Sands wrote: “Recently we served an influencer (unbeknownst to us) with almost 1 million followers. They came into our shop and requested a £20 bouquet.

“They made no complaint in the shop when the received their flowers and took them away happily. However, they then made a video of their bouquet, deeming it ‘pathetic’.”

The florist went on to list things they think are pathetic – including filming staff without consent and bashing small businesses.

They concluded: “The moral of the story… don’t attack a small business on social media because at the heart of it is a real person. Real people. A family.

“(And also, sometimes the flowers aren’t pathetic… sometimes it’s the £20 budget)”.

Finley also received a wave of backlash in the comments of his post, with many slamming him for his comments on the flowers.

The competition series fronted by Gary Lineker took an uncomfortable turn as lies told by one of the cast finally came to light

ITV’s The Box cast were stunned after learning their co-star had lied to them.

The star-studded competition series sees celebrities taken to a series of locations where they are then given a challenging task to complete. As per ITV’s synopsis: “Plunged into the unknown while enclosed in a box, 10 celebrities emerge in mystery locations to face their fears in tricky challenges.”

While the line-up initially featured 10 famous faces, that has now been whittled down to just eight at the start of the third episode, which aired this evening (September 12). Remaining in the contest was YouTuber Danny Aarons; comedian Ellie Taylor; reality star Joey Essex; JLS star JB Gill; The Chase’s Jenny Ryan; former politician John Bercow; presenter Ranvir Singh and Love Island star Shakira Khan.

The opening challenge saw the cast thrust into a debate at the prestigious Oxford Union in front of a packed audience. Their debating partner was a fellow celebrity, with reality stars Joey and Shakira going head-to-head in an argument over whether cats or dogs made the better pet.

Just before the start of their debate, Shakira revealed that not only had she been Head Girl at her school, but that she had also been “head of the debate club”, leaving the audience erupting into gasps and Joey immediately doubting his chances at a win.

“I’ve no chance, have I?” he said, before show host Gary Lineker revealed that Joey had to argue for cats being better pets, while Shakira was assigned the counter-argument during which she claimed a scar on her face had been at the hands of a cat.

Despite his passion for the subject matter, Shakira was ultimately crowned the winner of their debate by the watching audience. However, when Gary brought the cast together later on, it emerged Shakira had not been entirely honest.

“Shakira, as head of the school debating society how relieved were you not to lose to Joey Essex?” Gary asked, prompting a sheepish admission from the Love Island star.

“That was actually a fib Gary,” she started, as a stunned Gary replied: “It was a fib was it? I didn’t think you had that in you.”

“The scar from my chin is also not from a cat,” Shakira added, leaving her co-stars open-mouthed. “So a few white lies don’t hurt in politics.”

Following the admission, her co-star Aaron fumed: “Shakira has shown her true colours today. She lied to the audience and I think that shows a snake.”

The Box continues tomorrow night at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX. Episodes 3 and 4 are also available to stream now on ITVX.