Love Island viewers debate whether men and women can ever be just friends

'Guys can be friends with girls without it being sexual'

Olivia Petter
Wednesday 26 June 2019 22:53 BST
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Love Island 2019: Molly-Mae gets jealous as Lucie and Tommy have a chat

Love Island has reignited an age-old debate about whether heterosexual men and women can ever be just friends.

As contestants took part in a game where they had to complete missing words in tweets from viewers, one had suggested that contestants Lucie Donlan and Tommy Fury were "made for each other", despite the duo being friends.

While Donlan is currently single in the villa – her former partner, Joe Garratt, was booted out last week – Fury is coupled-up with Molly-Mae Hague.

Both Donlan and Fury denied that there was anything more to their relationship than friendship, although some contestants were quick to point out that when Fury entered the villa, he expressed an initial attraction to Donlan.

Hague meanwhile, confessed that she felt envious of the friendship, prompting Fury to set out some "boundaries" for his relationship with Donlan.

Donlan then agreed that she would keep her distance from Fury to appease Hague.

Some viewers then took to Twitter to ask the question made famous in the film When Harry met Sally - namely whether straight men and women can be friends without romantic connotations.

Many people felt aggrieved by Hague's jealousy.

"Right back to not liking Molly," wrote one person. "Telling Tommy he has to put boundaries on his friendship with Lucie?!? No love guys can be friends with girls without it being sexual."

Another added: "Molly has basically guilt-tripped Tommy for being friends with Lucie and he’s clearly going to feel like he can’t be friends with her."

Others argued that Hague's concerns were completely justified given how Donlan and Fury's friendship began and concurred that "boundaries" were necessary.

"In my opinion every relationship needs to have that conversation about boundaries with friends. It prevents unneeded jealousy that can build," wrote one person.

Another wrote: "There are always boundaries when you’re dating someone and you have friends of the opposite sex".

Keep up to date with The Independent's Love Island coverage here.

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