Curtis Pritchard has spoken out to address the backlash over his comedy routine for Channel 4’s Stand Up And Deliver for the first time after being accused of making “degrading” remarks about his ex Maura Higgins and other female Love Island stars.
The reality star faced widespread criticism online after comparing the women on the ITV2 dating show to “dogs in season” and “used cars”. Curtis also accused Maura of cheating on him following their split in March last year.
Stunned viewers took to social media to criticise Curtis after the show, with one fuming, “You don’t deserve the screen time you’ve received since Love Island. Zero respect for women.”
Responding to the backlash on his podcast AJ vs Curtis, he claimed that his funny jokes were edited out of the show and only the “worst bits” made it to air.
Curtis said, “I was watching this on Thursday night and I know I wasn’t the funniest, I know I wasn’t the best, but I am telling you I was better than what they showed on that night.
“Or they just showed the worst bits, sorry Channel 4.”
CHECK OUT the definitive guide to which Love Island couples are still together (and which very much aren't)
Love Island: The definitive guide to which couples are still together (and which aren't) - slider
1 of 40Paige Turley and Finn Tapp: TOGETHER
They made their romance official within the Love Island villa, and 2020 winners Paige and Finn are still going strong back in the UK!
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2 of 40Siânnise Fudge and Luke T: TOGETHER
They melted hearts in the Love Island villa when Luke T asked Siânnise to be his girlfriend, and now the couple have moved in together in London.
3 of 40Demi Jones and Luke M: SPLIT
After leaving the villa in third place, Demi and Luke were continuing to get to know each other, but in May 2020 reports suggested the pair had split.
4 of 40Jess Gale and Ched Uzor: SPLIT
Although they never went 'official', Jess and Ched continued to date outside the villa, but the pair ended things in May 2020.
5 of 40Priscilla Anyabu and Mike Boateng: TOGETHER
Despite it taking Mike a while to find the right girl in the villa, he certainly looked smitten when he left just one day before the final with Priscilla. The pair have continued their romance back in the UK.
6 of 40Molly Smith and Callum Jones: TOGETHER
After breaking Shaughna's heart when he returned from Casa Amor, it looks like Callum made the correct decision, and himself and Molly have moved in together back in Manchester.
7 of 40Nas Majeed and Eva Zapico: TOGETHER
Nas and Casa Amor girl Eva have continued dating since leaving the villa.
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8 of 40Sophie Piper and Connor Durham: TOGETHER
Although Connor was harshly dumped from the villa, he was true to his word and waited for Sophie to return to the UK. The pair have since enjoyed a number of dates, getting to know each other in the real world.
9 of 40Tommy Fury and Molly-Mae Hague: TOGETHER
From their first ever date in the hot tub, Tommy and Molly-Mae looked a match made in heaven. With their romance growing stronger in the villa, Tommy asked Molly-Mae to be his official girlfriend, before the pair dropped the 'l bomb'.Now they've left the villa, the pair have moved in together, spent their first Christmas together, and then enjoyed a New Year's holiday to the Maldives!
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10 of 40Maura Higgins and Curtis Pritchard: SPLIT
After Amy Hart left the villa due to getting her heart broken by Curtis, Irish beauty Maura wasted no time in expressing her feelings for the ballroom dancer.Curtis chose to couple up with Maura and the pair made it all the way to the final, despite viewers thinking Maura was 'faking' her feelings for him. At the beginning of March 2020, Maura and Curtis announced their split, with Maura admitting things just didn't work out.
11 of 40Amber Gill and Greg O'Shea: SPLIT
Greg denied dumping Amber by text just five weeks after Love Island, but the pair have officially called it quits. Greg has reportedly since moved on from Amber with athlete Emma Canning, but neither pair have confirmed their romance.
12 of 40India Reynolds and Ovie Soko: SPLIT
It looked like Ovie wasn't going to find 'the one' during his time in the villa... That was until India entered with just two weeks to go.However, the pair have now split.
13 of 40Belle Hassan and Anton Danyluk: SPLIT
Belle and Anton couldn't last on the outside world. However, it was rumoured the pair were still seeing each other. Anton has since said their relationship status is "complicated."
14 of 40Jourdan Riane and Danny Williams: SPLIT
He cracked on with both Yewande and Arabella, but it was model Jourdan that really caught the eye of Danny. Since the pair were dumped from the villa together, they were inseparable, attending a number of events.However, it wasn't to last, as the pair have now split up after Jourdan suggested Danny was "disloyal." Danny has denied cheating on Jourdan.
15 of 40Harley Brash and Chris Taylor: SPLIT
Despite not knowing each other for every long, Harley and Chris left the villa together, and they later confirmed to Caroline Flack on Aftersun that they are 'dating'. However, just one month later, Chris and Harley were the first couple from the 2019 series to announce their split, admitting they've just not had the time to get to know each other.
16 of 40Jack Fincham and Dani Dyer: SPLIT
Dani released a statement via Instagram Stories (how very 2018) announcing the winning 2018 couple had SPLIT, before they got back together and announced a second break-up (for good) on April 3rd 2019.Dani now has a new boyfriend, Sammy Kimmence, and Jack has recently become a father to a beautiful baby girl.
17 of 40Zara McDermott and Adam Collard: SPLIT
Zara and Adam defied the odds for a number of months, however, the pair announced they'd split on Valentine's Day in 2019! Zara is now dating Made In Chelsea star Sam Thompson.
18 of 40Sam Bird and Georgia Steel: SPLIT
You know how this one went. Sam accused Georgia of cheating on him with her ex, which she denied. It's safe to say they didn't split on the best of terms.
19 of 40Megan Barton-Hanson and Wes Nelson: SPLIT
Megan and Wes did move in together, but announced their split in January 2019. Although Wes went on to date 2019 Islander Arabella Chi, in April 2020 it was reported that the pair had called their romance a day.
20 of 40Josh Denzel and Kaz Crossley: SPLIT
Josh and Kaz announced their split in February 2019, with Kaz saying, "Sometimes things don't go the way you planned, but you have to be grateful for the journey. Thank you for everything especially showing me how to love myself again."
21 of 40Samira Mighty and Frankie Foster: SPLIT
Frankie reportedly cheated on Samira and that was that. Done. Over.
22 of 40Laura Anderson and Paul Knops: SPLIT
There's no bad blood between Laura and Paul, but they split months after making it to the final of the show.
23 of 40Kem Cetinay and Amber Davies: SPLIT
The Love Island 2017 winners split in December 2017; five months after the finale.
24 of 40Olivia Attwood and Chris Hughes: SPLIT
Since their ITVBe show Crackin' On ended, Olivia's confirmed she's back with ex-boyfriend Bradley Dack, who has now proposed.Meanwhile, Chris recently split from Little Mix singer Jesy Nelson.
25 of 40Gabby Allen and Marcel Somerville: SPLIT
Gabby dumped Marcel after he was spotted 'cheating' as they holidayed TOGETHER.
26 of 40Montana Brown and Alex Beattie: SPLIT
These two split just weeks after returning to the UK. Sad times.
27 of 40Dom Lever and Jess Shears: STILL TOGETHER
Jess and Dom are so together, in fact, they got 'married' on Good Morning Britain on Valentine's Day 2017. They then got, y'know, properly married.The loved-up pair also welcomed their first child at the end of 2019, a baby boy!
28 of 40Jamie Jewitt and Camilla Thurlow: STILL TOGETHER
An absolute success story of Love Island 2017, Jamie and Camilla and Jamie are still the CUTEST of couples.In May 2020, Jamie and Camilla announced they are expecting their first child!
29 of 40Tyla Carr and Jonny Mitchell: SPLIT
Oh it was never gonna last, was it?
30 of 40Katie Salmon and Adam Maxwell: SPLIT
Adam claimed he was '100 percent single' shortly after leaving the villa and, um, that was that.
31 of 40Scott Thomas and Kady McDermott: SPLIT
Scott and Kady managed a year before splitting in 2017.
32 of 40Nathan Massey and Cara de da Hoyde: STILL TOGETHER
The 2016 Love Island winners are now married and they've got a baby boy called Freddie together. The couple recently announced they are expecting their second child!
33 of 40Hannah Elizabeth and Jonathan Clark: SPLIT
Remember when they, like, got engaged on the show? That one didn't quite last...
34 of 40Sam Gowland and Georgia Harrison: SPLIT
Sam seems to be doing alright for himself on Geordie Shore, so we don't think he's too gutted. He is now on/off dating Chloe Ferry.
35 of 40Malin Andersson and Terry Walsh: SPLIT
He did date fellow Love Island-er Emma-Jane Woodhams eight months in actual real life before calling it a day.
36 of 40Alex Bowen and Olivia Buckland: STILL TOGETHER
Alex and Olivia are married and literally as strong as ever. We like to live vicariously through them, to be honest.
37 of 40Jessica Hayes and Max Morley: SPLIT
Still fancy Max in a huge way, not gonna lie. However, he's now dating Love Island 2018 star Laura Andersson.
38 of 40Jordan Ring and Zoe Brown: SPLIT
Absolutely DID NOT work IRL. Neeext.
39 of 40Rykard Jenkins and Rachel Fenton: SPLIT
At least they lasted 18 months. Not bad going...
40 of 40Luis Morrison and Cally Jane Beech: SPLIT
They had the first ever Love Island baby, but these two split not long after the birth.
His brother AJ then revealed that he’d seen Curtis’ unedited routine in full as he chimed in, “I do feel a bit sorry for you because I feel like the jokes that I accepted and were quite funny were not shown on TV and the jokes that I was a little bit cringed at were shown on TV.”
Dad Adrian also came to the defence of his son, adding, “I agree with you Curtis and AJ on that, we saw the whole lot and all the jokes may not be everybody's cup of tea but there were some great jokes that were funny but they didn’t want to show them for you Curtis.”
WATCH 'I didn't say which ex': Curtis & AJ Pritchard play Who's Most Likely To?
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It was claimed that Maura was left “fuming” by Curtis’ remarks about her, with a source telling new! magazine, “She doesn’t understand why he’s say those things as she assumed they were on amicable terms.
“She doesn’t get why he felt the need to reignite any feud and make hurtful comments. She thought it was in the past.”
This isn’t the first time that Curtis and Maura have hit out at each other after their split as Curtis revealed he felt “betrayed’ when Maura went public with her relationship with fellow Islander Chris Taylor.
“When I saw the pictures, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel hurt. I was upset. How long has this truly been going on for?
“At the time I was accused of cheating, but I never did. I was always faithful to Maura. Now her true colours are shown. They said they would never ever be together, and here they are,” Curtis told The Sun at the time.