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Love Island's Joe Garratt insists he wasn't 'manipulative or abusive' towards Lucie Donlan as he refuses to apologise

Love Island’s Joe Garratt has insisted he didn’t “manipulate or abuse” Lucie Donlan in the villa after his behaviour sparked a fierce backlash.

The sandwich man, who was dumped by the show on Tuesday night, has broken his silence on claims of “emotional abuse” levelled against him, saying he has been left "gutted".

“I didn’t manipulate or abuse her,” Garratt told The Sun Online. “I am gutted that it has been perceived in that way because it wasn’t like that at all.”

The 22-year-old said he “had Lucie’s best interests at heart” and claimed he wanted to do “anything” to help her bond with the other girls because “she had a hard time in there”.

Not sorry: Joe Garratt has refused to apologise for his relationship with Lucie (ITV)
Not sorry: Joe Garratt has refused to apologise for his relationship with Lucie (ITV)

Garratt was criticised by Love Island fans after he told Lucie that he didn’t like her friendship with Tommy Fury, who had briefly “stolen” her from their couple in week one, and urged her to become closer to the other girls.

“I am not going to say sorry,” he said defiantly. “I may have worded things wrong and the cameras are on you 24/7. I may have slipped up a bit but I am only human.”

Over: Joe Garratt and Lucie Donlan were split apart by the public (ITV)
Over: Joe Garratt and Lucie Donlan were split apart by the public (ITV)

Garratt branded himself “young and inexperienced” and said he hoped that people “would see him for who he genuinely is”.

Concerns over Garratt’s behaviour were first raised after Lucie coupled up with Tommy after his late entrance, with Garratt suggesting that he “didn’t think she would do that to him”.

Backlash against him escalated after a tense conversation left Lucie in tears over her distance from the other girls in the villa. He branded her close friendship with the professional boxer as “creepy” and “strange”, hinting it was “disrespectful” to him.

After he was voted out, his friends leapt to his defence on social media as they acknowledged “warranted criticism” but claimed he had been shown in an “unfair and non-representative light”.

They wrote: “Speaking on behalf of Joe’s best friends, we acknowledge Joe will come out to some warranted criticism. However, we deem the majority of it to be unfair and non-representative of Joe’s true character.

“The producers have the ability to show someone in a particular light, choosing just 45 mins of footage from 24 hours to tell a certain narrative.”

The Instagram post was liked by several names, including host Caroline Flack. Previous Love Island stars have also jumped to support him.

Referring to criticism of Garratt from charity Women’s Aid, series three star Kady McDermott wrote: “Being a woman myself I don’t think this is fair. He was obviously just jealous and felt insecure, as tommy and Lucy did have a bit of a past.

“Jo seems like a nice normal young boy who wears his heart and his sleeve. [sic]”

Love Island continues tonight at 9pm on ITV2