Amber Gill received ‘thousands of hateful and racist’ DMs whilst on Love Island

Her friend who ran the account has revealed the impact it had on his mental health

1 year ago

Managing a Love Islander’s Instagram account while they are in the villa isn’t an easy task, with many having to deal with the vile abuse that gets sent their way about their best friend, sister or brother. Love Island 2019 winner, Amber Gill, had her Instagram ran by her friend Mart Tweedy. The plan was for him to share funny tweets and memes on her page, but instead Mart would receive thousands of DMs, calling Amber horrid names and racist slurs.

Mart has revealed that the experience was draining and took a toll on his mental health and although he was able to talk to other people managing other Islander’s accounts, he described it was the “blind leading the blind.” In a new rule change, Islanders have had to leave their social media accounts empty, with no one posting on their behalf while they are in the villa.

via Instagram @marttweedy

Speaking to The Mirror, Mart revealed just how much abuse Amber received on her Instagram while she was on the show. He said: “Earlier in the show, these messages were predominantly racist or just nasty for the sake of it. People didn’t understand her personality straight away. It wasn’t just her DMs, whenever I posted a photo it would get 50,000 comments.

“It was really draining. People weren’t giving a second thought about who was on the receiving end. I would spend hours every single day filtering out the messages so that when she came out, she didn’t have to see the negativity.”

Mart wasn’t the only person who had to filter out message on an Islander’s Instagram when they were in the villa. The messages Faye Winter received in 2021 took a massive toll on her sister, who dropped multiple clothes sizes because of how drained she was. Faye said: “When I got on the words that my sister had to block on my Instagram and you look. When you get told that your life isn’t worth it and that you shouldn’t be here, that takes its toll.”

via ITV

The comments that Mart would see when managing Amber’s account would include death threats from school children who sometimes would apologise later on. “It had a physical and emotional toll on me, I broke down,” Mart said. “Can you imagine reading messages about your friend one after the other like that?”

One message that Mart received on Amber’s page said: “No one likes her, she’s a f***ing horrible toxic sh*t. I hope she gets kicked off first, she’s a right stuck up b***h.” Mart said he and other people running the social media accounts of the Islanders “were just left to our own devices to crack on”, and although they spoke with one another, “it was the blind leading the blind.”

Love Island 2023 continues at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX. 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.