It's no secret that we only seeing a snippet of the Love Island villa action every day. An hour-long show means 23 hours of unseen footage, and naturally, producers are only going to show the juiciest parts of the day, i.e. the flirting, the arguments, the shade, the recouplings etc.
Thus, if you choose the path of chaos and confrontation on Love Island 2025, for example, chances are your rows and confrontations are going to be showcased in of favour your bedroom bants with the lads, Ben Holbrough.
Whenever Islanders pay heat Towers a visit shortly after their dumpings, we always ask them who they believe to be the most 'misinterpreted' Islander of their series as a result of the editing scythe. Who has been made painted one way because the real them has been left on the editing floor?
So when we asked whose softer, nicer side wasn't show on our screens, surprise, surprise, Ben's answer was 'me'.
ICYMI, and if you're reading this we doubt you did, Ben's appearance on Love Island was contentious to say the least; riling fans up with the way he spoke to the likes of Toni Laites, Yasmine Pettet and Shakira Khan. His interactions and comments, particularly the 'horror story' comment towards Shakira, sparked criticism from Love Island viewers, podcast hosts and journalists alike. And let's not forget him getting a grilling from Maya Jama for his disrespectful choice of words in yet another heated row.
Love Island men often face the same criticism from the fandom and Ben's behaviour made him a lamb to the slaughter on social media. But according to the OG, viewers didn't get to see his more playful, friendly side and now he's out of the villa, he plans to show he's far from a one-dimensional cliché.
He explained (with a speech that sounded like a Grafties acceptance speech), 'I'm glad now, away from the TV, I can really showcase who I am. Obviously, everyone knows no one's oblivious to it in TV world – you're living 24 hours a day and it's shortened down to a 45-minute clip with the storylines and everything, and obviously there's nothing wrong with it. But, I was in a lot of arguments and it was almost portrayed that that was all [I was doing].
'The last two weeks, luckily, my TV time turned around a little bit and people started to see the funner side of me. Which again, on Unseen Bits [you see] – it's just me being me, just having a laugh, having a joke. I'm not disappointed in anything; that's real, what happened and what you've seen. But, there was so much more to it. Now, I'm out and just glad everyone can see the real me. I'm just Ben.'
We're sure he meant 'Ken'.
To be fair, we actually believe Ben, and in other parts of the interview we did feel genuine remorse and authentic shock at watching himself back, and we're always here for some genuine awareness and growth.