Every girl has been ‘Michaeled’ at least once in her life

Last night's Love Island was one of the most iconic episodes of all time. In 20 years you'll still remember where you were when Amber walked back into the villa alone, only to see Michael coupled up with someone else.

After weeks of Michael grafting Amber, professing how much he likes her, breaking down her cold exterior and getting her to let him in, he abandoned her for someone he has known a mere three days.

We all know this story. You're with a new guy and it's all going well. Like, really well. You've lost any degree of healthy suspicion you once had, you've told all your mates about him, deleted Tinder and Hinge months ago – you're in deep. And the guy you're with is doing everything right. He's invested, he's broken down your walls, your friends absolutely love him. You're deep in that honeymoon period and there's no turning back.

Then, out of nowhere, he breaks up with you. Probably for another girl. Or maybe he breaks up with you under the guise of it "not working", but will undoubtedly be in another situationship or deeper within a month. You're left absolutely blindsided, deer-in-headlights stunned for weeks and all your worst fears of abandonment have been confirmed.

And the worst part? He blames it all on you. He'll find a few small things to pin it on like little behaviours of yours or minor disagreements which he uses to make it seem like it was a long time coming. He never raised an issue with them at the time but can reel them off as a perfect list as soon as it helps his cause. Also, the fact that he's interested in someone else will never be used as a reason for the breakup because he's definitely not man enough to come clean.

So we spoke to some girls who gave us real life examples of being Michaeled:

Amelia, 21, Edinburgh

This guy I was seeing for six weeks kept telling me how much he liked me and wanted to be with me, he introduced me to his brothers and stuff. He even took this chocolate Santa I gave him as a Christmas present on holiday with him (he didn't want to eat it so took it with him to "remember me by") and was posting loads of pics on Insta of it.

We didn’t see each other for the rest of the Christmas hols but as soon as we got back to uni he started dating his flatmate, who had just broken up with her boyfriend of five years. Super suspicious. He didn't even tell me about him and his flatmate, their other flatmate had to message me because the boy was just going to ghost me.

Emma, 23, London

My ex and I were together for a year and a half. Honestly thought he was “the one” because he seemed to worship the ground I walked on and treated me with lots of respect. I obviously reciprocated this.

In the weeks and days leading to our breakup, he was saying how much he wanted to go on holiday with me and was joking around about moving into my flat after graduating from uni. 12 hours before dumping me, we went to a concert together, he kept calling me beautiful etc., being really tactile and telling me how much he had missed me. He was taking “cute pictures” of me all night.

Next morning he breaks up with me and tells me it’s because he fancies other girls. I already had pre-existing trust and abandonment issues, so it’s safe to say I lost my sanity for a good nine months because I was completely blindsided.

Annabelle, 20, Birmingham

I was seeing a guy for three months, he had met my mum, he said all the right things. One time he even drove from Bath to Cornwall to see me just for a few hours.

Then, the day after my birthday and just after Christmas holidays I get back to uni and see him for the first time and he ends it with me over text. He told me he’d been thinking about his ex all Christmas, then he went and immediately got back with her. Well and truly Michaeled.

Lucy, 20, Coventry

I was dumped so unexpectedly by this guy and then found out he was bad mouthing me behind my back to all of his mates, saying how I was the one who dumped him and I was controlling.

Then I was forced to watch him flirt with another girl (in a uni group chat of all places) and we were all in the same seminar so it was in my face then as well. Like every lesson he just pretended I didn’t exist and wouldn’t even look at me.

So it turns out that Amber is not in the minority, and regular boys can't even use Casa Amor as an excuse for this kind of behaviour. People just need to grow up, take responsibility and start raising an issue if there's something wrong in the relationship. If there isn't and you literally just want to jump ship, be man enough to own that and say sorry.

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• A rundown of all the new couples in the villa, because last night was a lot

•This is what the Casa Amor Islanders do, according to their LinkedIns

•We can guess exactly how long it’s been since you last had sex