Ever since she left the Love Island villa last week, Casa Amor bombshell Diamanté Laiva has been doing the rounds discussing her experience on the show and let’s just say she’s certainly hasn’t held back when it comes to giving her opinions.
As well as joining us at heat Towers – where she exposed her secret connection with Joey Essexand revealed why she’s got beef with fellow Casa girl Jess Spencer – Diamanté’s been giving interviews and appearing on podcasts left, right and centre.
One interview in particular has stirred up a bit of controversy after she spoke out about OG girl Jess White following their fire pit clash during the Casa Amor recoupling.
Jess accused Diamanté of laughing at Uma Jammeh discovering Wil Anderson hadn’t been quite as loyal she first thought.
Following the incident, Diamanté branded Jess a “bully” and said she “needs to stop bullying people”.
“If Jess was here right now, I’d sit myself in my seat, and I would just tell her, ‘Listen, you’re not the prize you’re a bully. You need to stop bullying people because it’s not a good look,’” the Beckenham-based business owner said during an appearance on KISS Fresh.
“I don’t know if she feels like doing this is giving her props, making her feel like the big girl. But the girls in the villa are intimidated by Jess and I don’t think that’s a good dynamic to have when you’re supposed to be getting along with people. You’re just being a bully.”
Diamanté was called out by winter Love Island 2023’s Olivia Hawkins soon after the explosive interview, with Olivia claiming that her remarks were “disgusting”.
“Calling someone a ‘bully’ on a big radio show can be so detrimental,” Olivia wrote on her Instagram story. “There’s definitely better ways you can articulate yourself. Jess and other Islanders don’t deserve the nasty comments they’re getting.
“Let’s not add fuel to the fire… especially someone who’s been on the show and knows how it can be coming out.”
Diamanté’s since addressed Olivia’s post and revealed that she chose to block her on social media rather than respond.
“People are saying, ‘Oh, deal with her too’, but I just don’t see it necessary because I don’t know her,” Diamanté told The Shade Borough.
“I just blocked her.”
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Nathan Katnoria is heat and Closer online’s senior digital writer. He became obsessed with Love Island when Malin Andersson came back to confront Terry Walsh in series two and hasn’t looked back since. When he’s not interviewing former Islanders, Nathan is scrolling through their Instagram feeds for relationship updates and piping hot tea.