Joe Garratt's family and friends blame Love Island for his portrayal following Women's Aid statement on "controlling behaviour"

19 June 2019, 15:13 | Updated: 19 June 2019, 15:21

They stated that what was shown on TV wasn't "representative of Joe’s true character"

Last night's Love Island episode saw two islanders get dumped in a shock twist following a public vote.

Both Joe Garratt, 22, and Elma Pazar, 26, were both ejected from the Love Island villa after they were both deemed the least popular half of the bottom two couples, splitting them from their partners, Lucie Donlan and Anton Danyluk.

Joe has received a lot of criticism and backlash all over social media as a result of the 'manipulative' and 'troubling' behaviour he displayed when talking to his other half on the ITV2 show and his family and friends have had to come to his defence on Instagram.

Cornish surfer and model Lucie, 21, had stated time and time again that she's closer friends with the guys in the villa, in particular boxer Tommy Fury and Joe made it very clear to Lucie he found it "strange" and "disrespectful".

Fans of the show came to Lucie's defence when Joe pulled her to the side and made her cry after saying: "The whole thing with Tommy, I’m not happy with it, it is strange."

He seemed to use her feelings toward him as leverage, stating: “You know I like you so much but I do doubt things at times.

“On the outside world, I’d find it disrespectful, and I don’t want to doubt us.”

He added: “I think you should get closer to the girls" after Lucie had made it clear that she hadn't clicked with any of them and was content with her male friendships.

Viewers were already unhappy with what he'd said but he later stated in the beach hut: “I need her to understand where I’m coming from and hopefully adapt to the situation.

“I hope today is the day she wakes up and she will change.”

The way he spoke to Lucie and about her behaviour not only provoked well over 300 complaints to Ofcom because of his 'possessive' behaviour but it prompted Women's Aid to share a statement.

The women's domestic abuse charity released a statement on the matter, with Adina Claire, the Co-Chief Executive of the charity stating:

"Controlling behaviour is never acceptable, and with Love Island viewers complaining to Ofcom in record numbers about Joe’s possessive behaviour towards Lucie, more people are becoming aware of this and want to challenge it.

"Abusive relationships often start off with subtle signs of control, so it’s important that it is recognised at an early stage. Love Island viewers are now very vocal in calling out unhealthy behaviour between couples on the show, and this is a positive development".

View this post on Instagram

After that nailbiting vote, Joe has unfortunately left the Love Island villa♥️🏝We want to thank all of Joe’s followers for their endless support. We also want to wish the remaining islanders the best of luck in the rest of the programme, especially @lucierosedonlan who Joe genuinely cares for and enjoyed his time with💚🏄‍♀️ Speaking on behalf of Joe’s best friends, we acknowledge Joe will come out to some warranted criticism. However, we deem the majority of it to be unfair and non representative of Joe’s true character. The producers have the ability to show someone in a particular light, choosing just 45 mins of footage from 24 hours to tell a certain narrative. Joe will know he is coming home to the best family and group of friends about. We are all buzzing to see our boy. But from #thesandwichman.... that’s a wrap ♥️🏝🌯

A post shared by Joe Garratt (@josephgarratt) on Jun 18, 2019 at 2:00pm PDT

However, Joe's family and friends aren't happy with the catering company owner's portrayal on the show, and claim that they deem "the majority of it to be unfair and non representative of Joe’s true character."

The Instagram post continued: "The producers have the ability to show someone in a particular light, choosing just 45 mins of footage from 24 hours to tell a certain narrative."

Some of his friends have also taken to Twitter to speak on their own social accounts about the Women's Aid statement, with his friend Max Wilkins defending Joe and branding the statement "the hardest to read".

He continued to say that Joe has "always been respectful to women" which has had mixed reactions from tweeters.

One named Bethan quote retweeted Max's post, stating "they don't portray him to be possessive and manipulative, he is possessive and manipulative.

And another called Kristy said: "Let's not forget his exes both came out and said he was very controlling in their relationships telling them how to dress and act".

Heart.co.uk have reached out to Joe's representative for comment.