Yahoo News Ex-Love Island star welcomes debate around the show
Former Love Island star Camilla Thurlow is encouraging fans to keep passionately debating the show, even if she admits she's an "unashamed" super-fan.
Camilla famously found-love on the ITV2 reality competition last year with Calvin Klein model Jamie Jewitt, and remains one of the show's most ardent public defenders.
Last week, she clashed with Good Morning Britain's Piers Morgan on Twitter, after Piers continued to rail against Love Island as entertainment exclusively for "thick" people.
"In my opinion, categorising people who you've (apparently) never watched as thick demonstrates an incredibly restricted understanding of intelligence, and the idea that your interpretation is the only one that matters - slight superiority complex perhaps?" Camilla countered.
Now, Camilla expanded on her tweet in a column for Grazia, in which she suggests that the passionate debate around Love Island is actually just a microcosm for life itself.
"Yes, Love Island is fun, flirty and at times seemingly frivolous – but that's the beauty of it," she writes. "I know there will always be debate around what some have described as 'scantily-clad twenty-somethings' trying to find love in a luxurious, sun-drenched villa but the truth of the matter is this.
"In a world where we so rarely get to see past the picture-perfect Instagram image, suddenly you are getting a real insight into the people behind them. And I truly believe it is these characters we fall in love with, or - on occasions - love to hate.
"In fact, the show in itself is almost a paradox. The initial coupling and attractiveness of the cast suggests a focus purely on the aesthetic, but the truth is no relationship based solely on mutual attraction is going to last in an environment that intense.
"At its heart, Love Island is so much more than beautiful young people flirting with each other – it's about real human connection. And really, you don't need me to tell you that – why else would you be glued to the sofa every night at 9pm, engaged in furious Whatsapp chats about whether someone has or hasn't been 'mugged off'."
Camilla concludes that the criticism of Love Island is fair game, so long as it sparks yet more good-faith debate among people on both sides of the divide.
"So, some people will criticise the show. Some people will love it and some will hate it. Some will hate it without even watching it," she argued.
"The fact that people have opinions is GREAT. The fact that people will change their opinions over the course of the series is GREAT. Because if Love Island is anything, it's real; it's certainly worth talking about, and this unashamed Love Island fan is really looking forward to the rest of this series."
Love Island continues Sundays through Fridays at 9pm on ITV2, with Caroline Flack hosting The Weekly Hot List on Saturdays at 9pm on ITV2.
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