All the Love Island bullying claims—here's what Coco Lodge and Remi Lambert have shared

A series of shocking Love Island bullying claims have slowly been emerging over the past few weeks, just as accusations of Love Island misogyny have also continued to swirl. Two contestants in particular, Coco Lodge and Remi Lambert, have alleged that they were subject to poor treatment from other contestants during their time in the villa. 

For those who missed it, let's first recap on their Love Island 2022 journeys. Remi was the first to appear on the show—entering the villa as a bombshell in the second week of the series alongside Jay Younger. However, the 22-year-old model and budding rapper from Manchester had a short-lived experience and became the second contestant to be voted out.

Meanwhile, Coco entered the show among the cohort of Casa Amor girls. The 27-year-old graphic designer from Surrey quickly connected with Andrew Le Page, and the pair shared some passionate moments before he decided to recouple with her over Tasha Ghouri. However, Andrew soon reversed his decision and Coco was eventually dumped from the show.

Let's see what they both had to say about their time on Love Island season eight...

Love Island bullying—what really went on?

Coco opened up about her Love Island experience in an interview with Murad Merali on YouTube, appearing alongside fellow islander Josh Samuel Le Grove. She revealed that she'd had a really "tough time" on the show. She explained that while they all ended up being friends, the girls were not initially very welcoming.

What's more, Coco learnt that comments had been made by the boys to the other female contestants about her looks. She said: “It was hard, there were comments like made when the filming wasn’t off about how I’m a ‘four out of 10’ by some of the boys.”

Merali then quizzed Coco on who had said this to them, to which she replied: “I don’t know who said it but Summer [Botwe] heard it." She added: "These comments were made and I’d already had a really hard time in there as it was and I was crying for the first few days.”

Coco then revealed that she had been made to feel even worse by receiving trolling upon her departure from the villa. She continued: "To have all these comments about my appearance, I’ve already been rejected on national TV, already feel like I’ve had a confidence knock in there. 

"So to come out and see all of that, it’s really hard. I think people just need to be kind, I’ve been seeing it with a lot of us, Jacques [O'Neill], Tasha, Luca [Bish] now and it’s just not okay. We’re not characters, we’re real people.”

Coco’s response to the cruel messages has been to encourage her social media followers to "be kind" and to poke fun at her time in the villa on TikTok—often alongside fellow islander Chyna Mills. Although the friends reportedly clashed after it emerged at the Love Island reunion that the former contestant had slept with Deji Adeniyi leading to the first Love Island split.

Meanwhile, Remi has repeated his accusation that Jacques and Luca "bullied" him in the villa and since the show wrapped up. He first made the claims shortly after departing the series, when he appeared on the podcast Reality with Will Njobvu. He recalled: "There was a lot of stuff that wasn’t aired, lots of stuff that went on. Basically, me and Jacques got into quite a lot of arguments, it made my experience s**t, it ruined it for me. People were saying it was because he has a rugby persona, but you can’t treat anyone like that."

Then, after the series ended, Jacques and Luca held an Instagram Live together. At one point, they believed that an account belonging to Remi has commented: "What have you boys been saying about me and my rapping?" This was in reference to the contestant, who is an up-and-coming rapper, being asked to perform on the show. The pair could be seen struggling to stifle laughter. In response, Jacques sarcastically replied: "It's really, really good, you should turn pro."

Their exchange prompted Remi to deny that it was his account that had asked the initial question. In a post on Instagram, he wrote: "I never joined their live so I didn’t comment actually. A fake account called remilamb0 did. Don’t know why these guys have such a problem with me, clearly got some serious issues they need to sort out.

"Everyone said I lied about the way I was treated in that villa, but this here is an example of what was going on whilst I was in there. Don’t know why they [weren't] kicked out for their behavior to be honest. It’s not banter, it’s clear signs of bullying. I wish everyone could see all of the crap I went through."

Referring latter in the post to Jacques's comments about leaving the villa early for his own wellbeing, Remi continued: "Worst person to represent mental health and ADHD campaigns. He’s still out here mocking not just me but other islanders too. You’d think with such a big platform they would use it to promote peace, but they’re using it to troll and they’re loving the attention. Immature. These guys are not role models or good people. They have not once thought about my mental health. If I wasn’t soo strong minded I could’ve done something stupid to myself by now, but they don’t care at all. I want justice."

The former islander received an outpouring of support for speaking out about his experience. What's more, fans quickly spotted that Tasha—who was herself left upset about treatment from Luca as well as Dami Hope—had 'liked' Remi's post and unfollowed Jacques on the site.