The Faye bashing has to stop. She’s not the villain she’s been made out to be

Over the years there have been many divisive characters on Love Island. And, shock! They’re usually women who are often loud, opinionated and quite frankly don’t take any shit. Think of Georgia Steel, Maura Higgins and Olivia Attwood. They are trolled on Twitter for being argumentative, irrational and full of drama. Um it’s a reality show, what were you expecting? And this year it’s Faye Winter who has unfairly been made out to be the Island’s resident villain.

Let’s get one thing straight – there was absolutely no excuse for the way she spoke to Teddy. The 24,000 Ofcom complaints were completely justified and as the Mankind Initiative charity said, her behaviour was “not acceptable”. However the constant bashing of Faye has to stop, it’s unwarranted and proves just one thing – people love to have someone to hate.

Faye has made mistakes in that villa, sure, but so have the majority of the Islanders. Liam cheated on Millie, Toby has messed Chloe around and let’s not even start on Jake’s treatment of Liberty. And yet it is the “fiery and scary” Faye who is made to seem like the worst person to ever walk this earth.

After last night’s episode when Faye looked after Liberty, the tide appeared to be turning ever so slightly towards people showing support for Faye.

She’s not perfect and never will be but this is every reason why the hate for Faye has to stop:

She was well within her rights to be annoyed at her ‘friends’ for voting for her

Faye has had quite a few outbursts during her time on Love Island. And whilst many of them were overreactions and unnecessary, she was completely justified in being annoyed at her so called mates for voting for herself and Teddy as the least compatible.

Yes it’s a vote, no one enjoys doing it and naturally everyone has a chance of being picked, but it must be a real kick in the teeth to hear your closest friends don’t believe in your relationship.

During Faye’s conversation with Jake, Liberty, Kaz and Tyler she explained why she was upset and clearly spelled out she was hurting but rather than just apologising they all tried to give weak justifications. As Teddy pointed out later it they were “wishy washy excuses” and didn’t want to admit they made their decisions based on friendships.

Faye is just one in a long line of ‘explosive’  Love Island women

It’s the same tired old stereotype the Love Island producers love to orchestrate every season of the fiery, scary and irrational woman. We’ve seen it with Kady McDermott, Olivia Attwood and Anna Vakili who are given nicknames of storms or hurricanes to match their tempestuous personalities.

It appears that unless the Love Island women are crying, speaking softly and quietly about their pain it isn’t valid, respected or worthy of sympathy from the public.

The constant hatred of women who speak their minds reeks of sexism. Toby has had several outbursts and portrayed some worrying behaviour and yet come the next day all is forgiven and everyone loves him.

A fair few people have suggested Faye isn’t emotionally prepared to be on the show as she clearly has too many insecurities. And that might be so.

However if you’re acknowledging her supposed mental instability then don’t get mad at Faye – be annoyed at the producers for constantly bringing in women who might not emotionally be able to handle the show in order to create drama from them.

She is loyal to a fault

If last night’s episode doesn’t prove to you that loyalty courses through Faye’s veins then nothing will.

Faye wasn’t in a great place with Liberty after the whole voting situation but she was the only one who really looked after Liberty whilst she was having her doubts about Jake. Where were Millie and Chloe?

During their conversation she was incredibly tender and caring. She knew when to let Liberty talk and when to give advice and when not to. Faye could have easily ripped into Jake but she didn’t, instead she allowed Liberty to come to the decision on her own rather than making it about her opinion.

And it wasn’t the first time either. She’s spoken out many times about how much she loves Liberty and doesn’t think Jake is good enough for her.

Faye is incredibly honest

Say what you want about Faye but the one she is not is a gossip. You might not want to hear it but she will tell you what she thinks of you to your face rather than behind your back.

With the Liberty and Jake situation she has always expressed her opinion of Jake to him. She doesn’t act fake by acting all matey with him and then slagging him off to everyone else.

And I don’t know about you but I’d rather have a friend who tells me my boyfriend isn’t good enough than gas me up only to slag me off behind my back.

She’s become Twitter’s punching bag

Every time there’s a new challenge or even drama unrelated to Faye people are ready and waiting to jump and say something negative about her.

Take the baby challenge for example. Shortly after Faye showed no interest in a plastic baby there were memes circulating of Faye throwing her baby or as a Sim putting her baby on a BBQ. And yet Faye wasn’t the only one to show a disinterest in the fake children. Chloe was very anti motherhood as were the majority of the girls and yet where were their memes?

It appears Faye has become an easy target and people are looking for any excuse to make another “Faye is a psycho” jab all because of an outburst she has since apologised for.

Faye never pretends to be someone she’s not

The argumentative and negative side of Faye isn’t great and she knows it. But unlike many others she doesn’t pretend she’s anything different.

She owns her shit and never changes herself to become more palatable for others. She apologises when she should but other than that she stays true to herself and for that she should always be respected.

We have all been toxic and if you think you haven’t you’re lying to yourself

One of the biggest critiques of Faye is how toxic she is. And yes sometimes she can be – just like the rest of us.

Please get off your high horse and realise we have all done shitty toxic things, we’re just lucky ours weren’t broadcast on national television. Don’t excuse the way she spoke to Teddy but give the girl a break from the hate.

Love Island 2021 continues on ITV2 at 9pm tonight. For all the latest Love Island news and gossip and for the best memes and quizzes, like The Holy Church of Love Island on Facebook.

Related stories recommended by this writer:

•Quiz: Can you guess which morphed child belongs to which set of Love Island parents?

•Stormzy, Margot Robbie and Lily James: All the celebs who are big fans of Love Island

•A definitive ranking of what the Love Island boys would be like in bed