Love Island star Brett Staniland has been forced to speak out after after fans began speculating about his sexuality in the comments of his social media posts.
Brett took to his Instagram story to address the rumours after spotting a number of comments on one of his TikTok posts, including one which read, “So he’s gay and was on Love Island,” to which he had the tongue-in-cheek response, “Tell your dad to text me back x.”
The model and PHD student, who has an identical twin called Scott, told his followers that while he wasn’t offended by the rumours, he wouldn’t tolerate homophobic comments.
He wrote, “Calling me gay will never offend me. It does not affect me one bit.
“But when you choose words in a way so that being gay is deemed as wrong, that is when I will have an issue with it.”
Brett added, “Homophobia will not run at all on here. Apologies if that didn’t come across in my response.”
CHECK OUT Love Island's most controversial moments
Love Island's most controversial moments (slider)
1 of 11Faye Winter and Teddy Soares feud
Following the Mad Movies challenge that showed Teddy talking to Casa Amor bombshell Clarisse Juliette, Faye Winter was left furious. For the majority of the following episode, that was an hour-long, Faye was shouting at Teddy, Matthew MacNabb and even Dale Mehmet. As a result of the showdown, Ofcom received a record number of 24,763 complaints from viewers.
2 of 11Love Island 2021 postcard
Love Island bosses brought the postcard challenge back during the 2021 series and it caused quite the stir in the villa. It left Millie Court in the dark about Liam Reardon's antics and Faye Winter thought Teddy Soares had kissed another girl however it was part of a game.Teddy returned (with Faye's teddy bear in hand) and was left single in the villa and Casa Amor bombshell Lillie Haynes returned and exposed Liam, which left Millie devastated.
3 of 11Love Island's lie detector test
In 2019 it also came to light that the infamous lie detector test had been axed. Ofcom investigated reality TV rules following the tragic death of Steve Dymond following his appearance on The Jeremy Kyle Show.
4 of 11Laura Anderson and Paul Knops in the final
Love Island 2018 already had a few controversial moments but it was the final episode that drew in some complaints. After Laura Anderson and Paul Knops came runners up on the show, viewers took to Ofcom and complained because they were not in an official relationship. In third place was Megan Barton Hanson and Wes Nelson and in fourth place was Josh Denzel and Kaz Crossley - both couples were in an exclusive relationship.
5 of 11Paige Turley and Finn Tapp's headline challenge
After the Mean Tweet challenge appeared to be scrapped during the 2020 series, the News Splash didn't go down well with viewers.Paige Turley was left furious when one of the headlines said, 'Casa Amor causes Callum, Finn and Nas' head to turn on tonight's Love Island'.Finn protested his innocence but Paige was annoyed and so were fans who branded the headline as "fake news".
6 of 11Love Island axe smoking area
Remember the early days of Love Island where the majority of the Islanders would gossip over the smoking area? Well following a lot of complaints, in 2018 the producers took action and removed the smoking area from inside the villa.
7 of 11Casa Amor in 2019
They say Casa Amor is one of the hardest tests and the 2019 series proved it because it received over 300 complaints. Poor Amy Hart was left devastated when Curtis Pritchard admitted his head turned towards Jourdan Riane. Meanwhile, Amber Gill was left single when Michael Griffiths savagely dumped her for Joanna Chimonides.
8 of 11Georgia Steel and Jack Fowler's kiss
During the 2018 series, Love Island received 655 complaints following Georgia Steel and Jack Fowler's kiss. While Georgia insisted that they both intentionally kissed on their date, Jack was sure that he went to kiss her cheek but she moved in for the lips. Luckily the truth came out during the reunion and Georgia FINALLY apologised.
9 of 11Tommy Fury and Maura Higgins
A lot of viewers felt uncomfortable when Maura Higgins tried to kiss Tommy Fury, despite his protests and Love Island received 709 complaints.
10 of 11Dani Dyer crying
Jack Fincham was floored when he saw his ex-girlfriend walk into Casa Amor but no one was more devastated than Dani Dyer who was left in a flood of tears. After the episode aired, Ofcom received 2,644 complaints about the show.
11 of 11Joe Garratt and Lucie Donlan's relationship
During the early stages of Love Island 2019, Ofcom received 600 complaints over Joe Garratt and Lucie Donlan's relationship. Viewers accused him of having a "controlling nature" when Lucie was left in tears and Women's Aid issued a statement about the show.
Brett only had a brief stay in the Love Island villa, where he coupled up with Priya Gopaldas before she got "the ick" and placed him firmly in the friend zone.
However, the pair have stayed friends in the outside world and were even spotted going running together after the medical student shared of love of ultramarathons.
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Brett’s post comes after he revealed he begged Love Island producers to cut a scene from the show.
The 27 year old was discussing the mental health support Islanders received in a chat on IGTV with his friend Chelsea McGeehee when she asked, “Do you think they take into account what you say to the psychiatrist when it comes to editing?”
Brett explained that while conversations with the psychiatrist are confidentially, he’d personally asked bosses not to air a particular scene after feeling like he’d “overshared”.
He said, “There was one thing that I was conscious of that I shared, and I literally went to see the psychiatrist and went to see production and I was like ‘I’m really adamant on this not being shown, please’.
“They did what they could, they said, ‘We’ve got the conversation, it’s not going to be aired, you’ve got nothing to worry about’. It gave me peace of mind.”