I had the most ever Ofcom complaints on Love Island – but here’s why Movie Night should NOT be axed, says Faye Winter
LOVE Island legend Faye Winter may have racked up a record number of Ofcom complaints during the Movie Night challenge in 2021 – but the star has revealed why she doesn’t want the iconic task to be axed.
It comes after it was revealed yesterday that more than 1,000 people have complained to Ofcom over Love Island’s explosive Movie Night row and Molly Marsh’s return.
Perhaps the most infamous Movie Night moment of all time came courtesy of Devon beauty Faye, 28.
She ripped into then boyfriend Teddy Soares, and her outburst racked up a record 25,000 Ofcom complaints.
The stunning star exclusively told The Sun that her reaction at the time was “horrendous” but said she now “owns” it and believes other Islanders will learn to “not be as open with their emotions” as she was.
When asked if Movie Night should be axed following the huge number of Ofcom complaints this year, Faye told us: “Movie Night started with our series, it was the first Movie Night.
“Obviously my reaction was terrible and horrendous, but I feel like I’ve apologised enough for that and now I just have to own it.
“And I feel like nothing can be as heated as that moment, so I feel like they can keep it going forever now.
“I don’t think anyone is going to ever react the way I reacted or actually feel or be as upset as I was or show how upset they are because they know what the outcome can be.
“So I think everyone is always going to protect themselves to a point and ensure they are not crossing a line or being as open with their emotions as I was.”
The former estate agent has since apologised for her outburst and expressed regret at how she handled it.
Faye went onto say that she fears some terminology, like “gaslighting” and the phrase “narcissist” is being thrown around too freely on this series.
She continued: “I honestly believe there is a name or a phrase for everything, you can’t just have an argument or feel an emotion.
“There is always got to be some reasoning behind it or some name that you can be called.
“It’s really sad really, you don’t see everything that happens, so we don’t actually know what their true relationship is like in that villa, so it is really hard.
“I think the word narcist and the word gas lighter gets thrown around so much when people don’t actually, especially from younger people that have probably never been in those types of relationships.
“Because if you’ve been on them you’d know the difference between a narcissist and a gas lighter compared to just having an argument with somebody or just showing your emotions, or being wrong and strong with your opinions.
“Sometimes you can get it wrong and sometimes even though you are wrong you are strong with that reaction – but people don’t want to see that and to see the lighter side and soft side when actually it’s reality TV, it’s just an argument, let’s get on with it.
“They really want to make sure there is a crude and awful meaning behind it which is really sad but you’ve just got to try and ride the wave.”
The TV star added: “They’ve got therapists in there, so if there was any true sign of that – they’ve got welfare, they have trained professionals in there that would be able to pull at that behaviour.
“So you just have to accept that it’s reality TV, they are just trying to get drama and actually you enjoy watching it, just enjoy watching the drama and that you don’t have drama in your life – let someone else bring it to you through your screen.”
It comes after there were a total of 466 complaints about Molly being allowed back in the villa after being dumped, as well as 957 complaints about the Movie Night episode.
Fans had threatened to report the show to the TV regulator after claiming the girls were “bullying” Scott.
It came after the explosive Movie Night scenes aired, and things got very heated as Scott defended himself after they showed a clip of him saying he would turn his head in Casa Amor.
This prompted a fiery row between Scott and Catherine, while Leah also piped up to defend her friend.
Scott was hurt when Leah told him that none of the Casa Amor girls wanted him.
Meanwhile Faye has been busy working on various projects including her passion for animals.
She has teamed up with Asda Money Pet Insurance to help raise awareness about companion care, and why adopting pets can change your life and theirs.
She said: “It’s such a personal growth and milestone for me that I am so excited to team up with Asda Money to bring awareness to such an important case is so unreal.
“The more people speaking about adoption and animals and welfare the better, we’re a country of animal lovers.
“We need to speak about it more, people want to turn a blind eye to it.”
It was revealed that 7 in 10 Brits would rather adopt a pet than buy a new on, while 41 per cent believe that mistreated pets deserve a loving home more than those from a breeder.
Brits would be happy to pay £702.70 for a dog and the average price for a puppy is £1,382.41, making adoption a much more cost-effective – and rewarding – experience.
Faye continued: “The campaign is very much about animal welfare, there is no stigma or judgement. I know some people can’t adopt.
“I’m from a family of animal lovers and rehomed many golden retrievers, for me until the justice system is in place for animals, it’s a vicious circle and I think there needs to be more in place and stricter rules.
“I don’t think enough has been done to prevent others doing the same. Every single animal deserves love.