I’m calling it now, Tasha is the new queen of the villa and does not deserve your hate

“Fake”, “I don’t understand why she’s so upset”, and “there’s a reason why she’s in the bottom two”. Those are just some of the insults which have been thrown at Love Island’s first deaf contestant Tasha Ghouri in the six weeks she’s been in the villa, in which she has been constantly vilified by both the public and her fellow Islanders.

On day one she entered the villa, full of smiles, excitement and fabulous cowboy boots. Now 43 episodes later she has been mocked, bullied and appears to be a very different woman than the one who first arrived.

Last night’s episode appeared to be a turning point in the public’s perception of Tasha, after Dami and Luca’s incessant digs and insults at her were just too much to watch. On Twitter everyone is voting for Tasha as their favourite woman in the villa. However, it shouldn’t have taken us this long to realise the treatment of Tasha is completely unacceptable.

She may not have been perfect throughout her time on Love Island, but this is every reason why Tasha deserves all our praise and none of our hate:

You’re allowed to be pissed off if you think the public hate you

Let’s consider this, imagine you are on a TV show for eight weeks in which you have no contact with your friends or family, and have no idea what is going on in the outside world. The only thing you do know is every week you are voted the least likeable or least compatible with your partner by nearly 4 million people. Imagine knowing that many people actively dislike you? Well this is the situation Tasha has had throughout her time on Love Island.

Sure, you can say she knew what she was signing up for and the potential hate that comes with it. But nothing can prepare you for the feeling of thinking the entire world hates you. Even the strongest, most emotionally mature person would struggle knowing that. Tasha is completely within her right to be upset and emotional hearing this. What’s more, her fellow Islanders, some of whom have been in her position, should be comforting her not saying she doesn’t have a right to be upset, especially now she has a boyfriend. Sorry but when did being in a relationship mean you can’t care what the rest of the world thinks of you?

Her emotions and reactions have been constantly policed by her fellow Islanders

Speaking of being told how to feel, throughout the season Tasha’s reactions and emotions to certain events have been constantly belittled and policed by her fellow Islanders, mainly the men.

When she was voted one of the least favourite of the Islanders yet again, the majority of the Islanders said she shouldn’t be upset as she had just made Andrew her boyfriend. Davide said: “She didn’t even cry when Andrew came back with Coco,” and Luca said he needed to go and “have a word”, as if he has every right in the world to tell Tasha how she should feel in that situation.

When she found out Andrew had said to Coco he wanted to “ruin her”, Tasha was obviously quite upset and shouted and yet all Davide had to say in a sarcastic tone was: “What’s the problem now?”, as if she had no right to be upset.

The boys all have a weird vendetta against her

If last night’s suck and blow challenge wasn’t enough evidence to know the male Islanders extremely dislike Tasha then I don’t know what is. Dami and Luca, in particular singled Tasha out for the most horrible dares such as “Give a piggyback to the Islander you think is most hanging onto the coattails of their partner.”

After the challenge they way they spoke and laughed about her was honestly chilling to watch. And this wasn’t the first time they’ve thrown hideous digs at her. Like a 12 year old boy, throughout the movie night challenge Luca kept saying “Tasha who?”. To Tasha’s credit she handled it like a pro and said she found it funny.

Throughout the series, Luca in particular, has been rude and disrespectful to Tasha, treating her with little decency and constantly disregarding her feelings over Andrew. He’s also encouraged Andrew to leave Tasha or engage with the other girls. He’s become incredibly invested in a relationship that has quite frankly nothing to do with him.

Tasha hasn’t actually done anything wrong

All of the boys hatred of Tasha’s has come down to one thing – she wasn’t 100 per cent loyal to Andrew from day one. Am I missing something? It’s Love Island, just like her male counterparts, Tasha has been interested in getting to know the new people that come in. And what is so wrong with that?

From what I can recall she never really crossed any lines, sure she went on a date with Charlie, when he asked her, and she flirted with Jay when he first came in. But she never did anything that could be perceived as cheating or unfaithful to Andrew.

Ok, yes she was undecided about her feelings towards Andrew, but she’s allowed to question and consider if there’s someone better suited to her. Unlike Luca who has stuck to Gemma like velcro since the first week.

Just like the boys she got to know new people, because she genuinely wanted to get to know them as people, not because she wanted a cheeky snog to “test her relationship”. And yet for doing less than the boys, they’re still mad at her. The double standards are actually laughable, and deeply concerning at the same time.

The trolling she has received is disgusting

As Love Island’s first ever deaf contestant Tasha has faced additional pressures during the show. Over the weekend Tasha’s dad explained why Tasha will be finding things hard in the villa.

He said: “It’s mentally draining for her trying to compute what’s been said, lip reading people who’s lips aren’t facing her or whose mouths are covered with bottles, who said what when many are talking.

“Staying involved in conversation when you can only hear robotic sounds in only one of your ears is mentally draining. This leads to tiredness and sometimes tears.

“It’s a pressured environment for all but she has an extra pressure no one seems to recognise apart from anyone who is deaf or heard of hearing.”

Ever since she appeared on the show on TikTok people have been making “jokes” out of her voice and making sketches imitating her voice.

And this hideous trolling is part of why she went on the show. Her dad said Tasha wanted to go on Love Island to “represent and show deaf kids, teens and adults that they have nothing to fear by embracing their deafness or hearing aids. It’s why hers is bright white!”

He also highlighted that if Tasha won the show she would be donating half her winnings to a deaf children’s charity.

She’s a gem of an Islander

On a more light hearted note, Tasha is a bloody queen. She goes after what she wants, doesn’t settle for less than she deserves and has the coolest orange cowboy boots. Tasha, I am fully on your team.

Love Island 2022 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. 

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