Former Love Island contestant Yewande Biala has said she thinks her race may have made it more difficult for her to find love in the villa.
During her time on the show, the scientist emerged as an early fan-favourite, but often struggled in the coupling-up process, eventually leaving the show when she was dumped by Danny Williams in favour of Arabella Chi.
This prompted many viewers to suggest there was a race problem in the villa, with Yewande now admitting she feels she “struggled” more than other – as did co-stars Amber Gill and Anna Vakili.
Yewande told 1Xtra Talks: “We didn’t find anyone who liked us. It was always someone coming in and saying ‘my type is blonde and petite’. We’d just look at each other and say ‘they’re obviously not here for us’.”
During the interview, Yewande also admitted that she tried to avoid reading any news stories about herself, as she felt she was being portrayed in an unfair way by certain outlets because of her race.
“I tried not to read any articles about myself because I didn’t want to get upset,” she said. “I think they were trying to label me as the angry black woman, which was kind of insane.
“Not once in the villa did I ever raise my voice or feel like I acted in that way, even considering the circumstances I was in.”
After leaving the villa, Yewande initially dismissed the idea that the show has a “race problem”, after Love Island fans pointed out that the last three contestants to be picked in the first coupling-up of the series were all black or mixed race.
She said shortly after leaving the villa: “The race issues never crossed my mind at all. I don’t think that there is a race issue on the show at all.
“I was fortunate enough to find someone and connect with someone, it was just unfortunate that he kind of broke my heart. And that’s why I was dumped.”
However, she has since told 1Xtra Talks: “When I got into this I realised being black is hard, but being black and in the media is harder. You have to stand out and you have to do more and it can get quite frustrating.
“You feel like you’re not doing enough, but just keep pushing to keep doing what you’re doing and someone will see how amazing you are.”