Love Island contestant Harriett Blackmore has hit back at claims she ‘defended’ a Premier League football player after he was accused of allegedly ‘attacking a group of women.’
A resurfaced video of Harriett, 24, who was announced as one of the new Islanders on Monday, shows her telling an unnamed female ‘He’s a Premier League football player, please leave him alone’, with one social media user saying she ‘hurled abuse at us because her brother and his mates attacked us on a night out in Brighton.’
The new signing told MailOnline she was merely attempting to ‘defuse’ the situation, which she says took place ‘years ago’ in her hometown.
However, the dancer and personal shopper insists the people involved were ‘antagonising’ the mystery sportsman, as well as her brother, and she didn’t think it was ‘fair’ they were ‘putting cameras in his face.’
She said: ‘The video was so many years ago if it’s the one I’m thinking of… there’s not anything to say about that story.
‘If you have seen it, you can see all I’m trying to do is defuse the situation, it was actually one of my really good friends, who is in the public eye, he’s a football player, and my brother, and these fans… people were antagonising him, we were just trying to enjoy our night and I didn’t think it was fair people were putting cameras in his face.
‘I was just trying to mediate the situation and get them away from him.’
In the social media clip, a woman, whose identity remains unknown, said, ‘You beat up my friend’ before Harriett replied, ‘He’s a Premier League football player, please leave him alone’ with the female reiterating, ‘I don’t care, he beat up my friend.’
After Harriett was confirmed for the show this week, one Instagram user added, ‘Love Island, do better (yes, I have a video of it).’
But sources close to the contestant, who has been told about the backlash by ITV as she isolates ahead of the show’s launch without access to the Internet, say she is ‘upset’ and feels the situation has been blown out of proportion.
They added: ‘Harriett can’t wait to arrive at the Love Island villa but this hiccup has affected her, it’s the last thing she wanted to happen.
‘She stands by there’s no bigger story here and viewers will hopefully see she’s the type of person to defuse the drama rather than create it.’
Speaking about the possibility of drama and run-ins with her future co-stars, Harriett insists she’s a ‘girls’ girl’ and wouldn’t get in the way if she and a friend were interested in pursuing the same man.
She said: ‘I am a mediator, of course I will always stick up for what’s right and I’ll always be a good friend but no, I wouldn’t be involved in drama, I would try to defuse the situation.
‘I am a proper girls’ girl so I feel like saying now, I wouldn’t want to step on their toes but at the end of the day, we are all in there for the same reason and you don’t know these people before… your ultimate goal is to find love, if you have to step on a few toes to get there, there’s nothing wrong with that.’
The Islander has also squashed reports she is in a secret relationship, confirming she is ‘newly single’ after her last romance ended four months ago.
Sources revealed to The Sun Harriett had told her ex-boyfriend ‘I love you’ and gave him a scrapbook of photos from their relationship just days before she was announced for the ITV2 series.
She said: ‘So, I am recently single, in the last four months. The show is always something I have been open to and considered doing so I think that door closed and this one opened and that’s why I’m here.
‘I didn’t tell my ex because obviously we have to keep in confidential, so I don’t know what his reaction is… I imagine he will be surprised but he ended it with me so he will have to deal with anything that comes after that.
‘Nothing went wrong… there’s not much tea there. He went away with his friends, came back home and decided he didn’t want to be with me.
‘He works in London and I’m in Brighton, which isn’t that far but it was kind of long distance and he was always travelling away for work and I was here, it was the wrong time I guess.’
While Harriett will be looking for the man of her dreams in the Love Island villa, she has ruled out having sex on the show, saying, ‘I’m a lady and I like to keep things private. I wouldn’t have sex on TV, that’s not really me.’
She added: ‘Growing up with people in the public eye, the fame aspect of things, I have had a taste of what it’s like and how people will react and the trolling, it’s nothing I am scared about… it’s all exciting and it’s all new.’