Laura Whitmore has defended herself from criticism after she was accused of “humiliating” a dumped Love Island contestant.
The presenter was hosting discussion show Aftersun on Sunday (19 June), when she introduced Remi Lambert to discuss his departure.
Remi, who was speaking live from the ITV2 villa, left the show after failing to be picked in the latest recoupling, which saw Danica make her decision after the previous episode’s cliffhanger.
While Remi didn’t get his chance to shine on the show, he did deliver one memorable moment in the form of an on-the-spot rap, which he performed for his fellow contestants.
During the Aftersun interview, Whitmore asked Remi to deliver an “exclusive rap”. He nervously accepted and started what seemed to be a freestyle rap – but was unable to think of a final line, leaving audiences watching through their fingers.
Whitmore was criticised for what appeared to be an improvised request, with one person tweeting: “Hope #LoveIsland supports Remi. He looked broken on #Loveislandaftersun. Asking him to rap was done in bad faith and to humiliate. I thought @thewhitmore & crew were supposed to ‘BE KIND’.”
However, Whitmore clarified the situation, saying that Remi had been asked to prepare a rap before the show began, and attributed his blunder to nerves created by live television.
“Remi is a rapper and asked in good faith in advance if he’d rap and prepare something which he did,” she replied, adding: “Live Telly is nerve wrecking, believe me, so maybe he was a bit nervous but he deserved to have his time. Also I want to make Remi & Afia happen!”
During the latest episode of Love Island, viewers were left confused by a detail surrounding Gemma and Luca’s sleeping arrangements.
Meanwhile, ITV has been forced to address claims of a fix after it was claimed that Danica’s decision had been pre-planned.
Love Island airs at 9pm on ITV2 every day other than Saturdays.
Episodes are available to watch the following morning on BritBox.
Find The Independent’s verdict on the latest episode here.
