Love Island All Stars Winner Admits Ignoring Lucinda for Five Days Amid Bullying Claims
Love Island All Stars winner Samie Elishi has confessed she actively ignored fellow contestant Lucinda Strafford for five consecutive days during the recent series, addressing widespread bullying allegations that generated thousands of official complaints. The revelation came during an interview on Olivia Attwood's podcast, where Samie detailed unaired scenes and escalating tensions within the villa.
Ignoring Lucinda in the Dressing Room
Samie told Olivia's House podcast: 'There was a time, literally, where I was ignoring her [Lucinda] for five days and we were sitting next to each other in the dressing room and literally just not even speaking.' She explained that she initially felt ignoring Lucinda required 'more energy' than engaging, eventually deciding to maintain civil interactions instead. The third series of the spin-off show concluded earlier this month, with host Maya Jama announcing Samie and Ciaran Davies as the winning couple.
Movie Night Tensions and Unaired Walkout
During the explosive Movie Night episode, Samie clashed with Lucinda when the TikTok star attempted to defend her decision to pie Samie earlier in the season. Viewers saw Samie becoming increasingly loud and visibly annoyed, prompting other female contestants to tell her to 'dead it.' Samie has now revealed that tensions escalated further in unaired scenes: 'I did walk out during movie night just to calm down. That was very hard.' She admitted needing to take a moment away from fellow Islanders to compose herself.
Lucinda's Experience of Isolation
Now back in the UK, Lucinda has confirmed she agrees with bullying claims, describing feeling completely isolated in the villa. Speaking on Paul C Brunson's We Need To Talk podcast, she revealed: 'In that moment when I was talking to Maya, I genuinely had no one to look to at all, apart from Sean. There wasn't one single person in there that I felt like was my friend.' She described waking up one morning and realizing she had nobody to talk to, crying alone outside the villa's front door in unaired footage.
Specific Incidents and Complaints
Lucinda detailed specific incidents that contributed to her distress:
- Even minor intrusions like her makeup bag moving 'two inches' onto Samie's dressing table would prompt immediate requests to move it
- She avoided the girls' dressing room because she felt 'no one liked me'
- Watching clips of Belle Hassan imitating her walk was particularly painful: 'They would never do that to my face... It's not nice whatsoever'
The series generated thousands of Ofcom complaints about Lucinda's treatment, particularly regarding fallout with Belle Hassan that later involved Samie and Jessy Potts. One episode where Lucinda stormed off in tears, requiring host Maya Jama to comfort her, sparked over 8,500 complaints in a single night.
Background to the Conflict
The tension between Samie and Lucinda began when Lucinda picked Ciaran to couple up with after arriving as a bombshell. Relations deteriorated further during a game of Snog, Marry, Pie when Lucinda chose to pie Samie. Despite fellow islander Whitney Adebayo asking Lucinda during the show whether she felt bullied - to which she replied she hadn't been - Lucinda now acknowledges the bullying she experienced.
While Lucinda praised production for being 'amazing' at looking after her welfare, she emphasized the emotional toll of her experience: 'I don't know what was seen and what wasn't, but there were times where I spent a lot of time on my own.' The final also featured Millie Court and Zac Woodworth, Scott van-der-Sluis and Leanne Amaning, and Whitney Adebayo and Yamen Sanders alongside the winning couple.
