Love Island’s Jacques O’Neill apologises for his behaviour after being accused of ‘bullying’ by fellow contestants

Love Island’s Jacques O’Neill has been accused of bullying his fellow 2022 contestants, but has since apologised.

Jacques left the villa on day 37 to focus on his mental health after saying that he felt he could no longer be himself, following an argument with bombshell Adam Collard, who had his eyes on Jacques previous partner Paige Thorne.

Many fans started to speculate that Jacques was forced to leave the show, after they accused him and his mates, Dami Hope and Luca Bish, of bullying Tasha Ghouri throughout the series.

Luca and Dami, who often got involved in Tasha’s relationship with Andrew Le Page, were seen apologising to Tasha for their actions shortly after Jacques quit.

However, during the Love Island final, Jacques posted a video of himself from home once again picking on Tasha and calling out her feelings towards her boyfriend.

As Tasha did her emotional speech to Andrew, Jacques recorded the television screen as he shouted a well known line from Davide “You’re a liar. You’re an actress. Get the f*** out.”

Since this Andrew has spoken in a Youtube interview with Heat Magazine, saying: "Tasha is my priority and obviously there was a video that came out. We’re trying to move away from it all and just be ourselves and get on with life."

After the series ended, Jacques and runner up Luca Bish were on an Instagram live when a fake Remi Lambert account wrote on the live “what you boys been saying about me and my rapping”.

The two boys seemed to be laughing about Remi’s rapping skills, with Jacques jokingly saying “it’s really really good, you should turn pro.”

Remi later shared the video to his own Instagram, clearing up that it was a fake account who asked the question.

He wrote: “Don’t know why they wasn’t kicked out for their behaviour to be honest. It’s not banter, it’s clear signs of bullying.

“Everyone said I lied about the way I was treated in that villa, but this here is an example of what was going on whilst I was in there. Don’t know why they wasn’t kicked out for their behaviour to be honest. It’s not banter, it’s clear signs of bullying.

“I wish everyone could see all of the crap I went through. There’s 24 hours in a day and yous only seen like about 3-5 10 second clips of me out of the whole day, so you could never tell what was truly happening.

“Jacques said bad things about my appearance and the way I speak, whilst Luca was encouraging it. After about 3 strikes from Jacques I told him I won’t be speaking to him anymore in the villa. Later on he tried apologising to me but like 10 minutes after he started with the snide comments again. I’ve tried to avoid this guy multiple times but he always ends up starting again. I don’t know when it will stop.

“Worst person to represent mental health and ADHD campaigns. He’s still out here mocking not just me but other islanders too. You’d think with such a big platform they would use it to promote peace, but they’re using it to troll and they’re loving the attention. Immature.

“These guys are not role models or good people. They have not once thought about my mental health. If I wasn’t soo strong minded I could’ve done something stupid to myself by now, but they don’t care at all.

“I want justice.”

Tasha and Andrew liked Remi’s post on Instagram, and subsequently unfollowed Jacques on the social media platform.

Jacques has since apologised for his actions, with a message on his Instagram story saying: “I just want to acknowledge the situation that’s happening right now and apologise if my behaviour has caused offence or been misinterpreted over the last few weeks. I genuinely have no bad feelings towards anyone and I’ve not meant for anything to come across that way at all. It was not my intention and I’m genuinely sorry if it has.

“Life has been very overwhelming recently and admittedly I’ve probably not handled myself in the best possible way. I take full responsibility for my actions. I’m aware I’m far from perfect and that there is work that needs to be done on myself.

“I had my first therapy session on Monday which really took me out of my comfort zone, I know I have needed this for years but it’s only now I have decided to get help. I know it’s a step in the right direction for me even after just one session.

“I’m not asking for sympathy, I just want to acknowledge the situation and move forward as positively as I can. However, I know this can be used as an important lesson for me moving forward and over the coming years. I hope I can become the person I want to be and use this new platform to spread a positive message. I’m sorry to anyone that I have let down x”

Jacques O’Neill

Love Island 2022 star / former rugby player

Jacques entered the 2022 Love Island villa on the seventh day and went on a date with both Afia Tonkmor and Paige Thorne.

Throughout his time on the series, he was best known for being coupled up with paramedic Paige and for being best friends with Luca Bish.

After his Casa Amor antics, Paige and Jacques were on the rocks and then the bombshell Adam Collard walked into the villa with his eyes on Paige.

Things between Jacques and Adam became very heated in an argument and on day 37, Jacques announced he would be leaving the villa to focus on his mental health.

Since leaving Love Island, he has begun working with The Social PR and featured on Good Morning Britain, talking about his journey with ADHD.

He has always used his Instagram platform, with a following of 1.3 million, to advocate mental health - despite claims he was bullying other contestants in the villa.

Before his reality show stint, he played professional rugby league for Castleford Tigers.

• Age: 23
• Born: 8 May 1999 in Cumbria, England
• Lives: Leeds, England
• Relationship: His ex-girlfriend is Gemma Owen - runner up in Love Island 2022
• Wealth: Estimated net worth of £1.2 million

Tonight, Jacques will return to The Mend-A-Hose Jungle to watch his former Castleford Tigers teammates play against Catalans Dragons.

Connections

Gemma Owen

Jacques was dating Gemma, age 19, for around eight months from summer 2020 to the beginning of 2021.

He revealed that they broke up because he focused too much on his rugby career.

However, Gemma and Jacques later appeared on the same series of Love Island this year - and they seemed to get along.

He even became close mates with Luca Bish who came runners up on the show alongside Gemma.

Many fans of the ITV reality show also flagged up that Gemma would have been around 17-years-old when she was dating Jacques, who is four years older.

Paige Thorne

Jacques entered the villa on the seventh day and went on a date with both Afia Tonkmor and Paige Thorne.

On day 12, Paige chose Jacques in the first recoupling since he entered the villa.

Less than a week later, Jacques had no choice but to couple up with Danica Taylor after Paige was chosen by bombshell Jay Younger.

However, Paige continued her relationship with Jacques and the pair coupled up again on day 23.

She stayed loyal in Casa Amor and decided to remain with Jacques, who also came back alone despite his Casa Amor fling with bombshell Cheyanne Kerr.

Whilst Paige and Jacques were on the rocks after his Casa Amor antics were revealed, the ultimate bombshell Adam Collard walks into the villa with his eyes on Paige.

After Jacques left the villa, saying that he would wait for Paige on the outside, she began a relationship with Adam.

Antigoni Buxton

Antigoni arrived into the villa on day 18 and was only on the ITV show for eight days - until she was dumped alongside Charlie Radnedge.

However, when Jacques left the villa on 37, he met up with Antigoni and took their mums for brunch.

This speculated a relationship between the pair, but they have both since denied that it is anything more than friends.

Antigoni is the daughter of British television presenter Tonia Buxton.

Whilst on the show; she went on a date with Dami, Davide, Charlie and Jay - and was coupled up with winner Davide, and Charlie.