Love Island has new rules, but not everyone got the memo

Ella and Leah are putting up with some rubbish behaviour from semi-professional footballer Tyrique. Ellie Muir thinks he needs to brush up on his manners

(ITV)

Love Island has new rules, but it seems not every contestant has got the memo. The Mallorcan villa has a resident a bad boy hiding in plain sight.

The ITV2 dating series returned earlier this month for its 10th season, with a new group of singles competing to find love and win the £50,000 prize.

In Wednesday night’s episode (15 June), 24-year-old semi-professional footballer Tyrique Hyde and 27-year-old Leah Taylor have a lacklustre conversation where Leah gets absolutely nothing out of Tyrique, apart from a few flirty remarks.

Tyrique is currently coupled up with Leah, but is also getting to know Glaswegian model Ella Thomas, whom he was previously paired up with. As both girls put pressure on Tyrique to make a decision and pick one of them, he has attempted to remain mysterious about matters of the heart. Unfortunately, it’s been coming off in the worst possible way.

In one scene, Leah asks Tyrique where his head is at – Love Island speak for, “what are you thinking?” He shuts down the conversation with a blunt: “Nah.” When Leah applies more pressure for a fully-formed response, he answers back: “Look at you getting a backbone!”

This seems to be a classic example of negging, a flirting technique where a person deliberately gives a backhanded compliment to undermine someone else’s confidence.

Tyrone later turns his attention to Ella by the fire pit, having fobbed her for the entire day. Yet, he tells the islander that she is his “priority” and denies ignoring her. Ella appears relatively calm during the conversation, but he accuses her: “All you do is shout.”

In the short history of Love Island since its first episode in 2015, there has been a willingness to let foul play slide in favour of drama-filled antics. Slowly, though, there have been calls for change.

In 2018, Women’s Aid issued its first statement about emotionally abusive behaviour being presented on Love Island (the charity has done this again since). This year, ITV has made further provisions to root out foul play on screen, with contestants trained in unconscious bias and recognising coercive behaviour in the villa, and in an afford to equip them with some aftercare, lessons on how to handle their finances after they leave.

Tyrique and Leah discussing the direction of their relationship (ITV)

You’d be forgiven for assuming that Tyrique has never seen the show, or been briefed on the rules. He doesn’t want to talk about his feelings when asked to – which is basically the point of Love Island – nor does he seem to have any intention of coupling up with one of his fellow islanders. Which, again, is the programme’s entire plot.

There’s another layer to Tyrique’s dismissive communication style; he delivers each throwaway comment with a smile and laughter. His replies are deliberately short, vague and masked as jokes.

There’s no doubt that ITV’s producers are keen to keep Tyrique in the series because, at present, he is harmless, somewhat entertaining and makes for great telly. But his communication reeks of the damaging behaviour we have seen from contestants (of both genders) for 10 series now.

It seems Tyrique has not taken note of the unsuccessful Islanders that came before, nor ITV’s attempts to create a more positive environment for the contestants. Place your bets on him causing the most chaos at Casa Amor (when the islanders are split up and introduced to new contestants of the opposite sex halfway through the season). Here’s hoping Ella and Leah will continue to see behind his jokes before the next recoupling.

The Independent has contacted ITV for comment.

Love Island continues tonight at 9pm on ITV2.