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LOVE LOST
I was Love Island’s most trolled star – you should never be a Casa Amor bombshell… I couldn’t date after for 6 months
SHE was only on Love Island for 12 days, but her fling with Andrew Le Page sparked one of the show's naughtiest ever memes.
Coco Lodge hooked up with Andrew in Casa Amor, but it all ended in tears when the estate agent dumped her to get back together with Tasha Ghouri.
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When quizzed about what he'd got up to in bed with bombshell Coco, Andrew came out with the now-infamous line: "Yeah I licked her t*t or whatever."
But graphic designer and former shot girl Coco, 28, claims it was her who came in for the most criticism over the affair, and faced a barrage of abuse when she left the villa.
And she reveals trolls made shockingly cruel comments about her appearance, after producers "did her dirty" by using an unflattering promo photo of her.
"People actually said it looked like my face was in a house fire and a car crash," Coco tells The Sun.
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"Others claimed I was transgender, called me Caitlyn Jenner and insisted I wasn’t born a woman."
Coco claims she was surprised when the production team only took two photos of her, which "didn't capture her in the best light".
“Surely you would want the cast to look fit, especially the Casa Amor lot?" she reasons.
“They did me dirty and when I saw the photo they used for the first time when I peeked into the producers’ room at the villa, I was like,’ What the f***, it’s horrendous. How dare they?’
Most read in Love Island
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“That photo led to so much trolling, it was crazy. If they chose a better one I probably wouldn’t have been trolled as much as I was.”
'Cheated' on application
Coco - real name Chloe - says she was approached by Love Island scouts on Instagram, but at the time was already in talks to appear on rival dating show Married At First Sight.
She eventually chose Love Island, reportedly leaving Channel 4 bosses “fuming”, but admits she used the same audition tape for both.
“I remember the casting person for MAFS was obsessed with my audition tape, they said it was the best they had ever seen," Coco tells us.
“So when Love Island approached I thought, ‘Why make another when this one is so iconic?’ and kind of cheated by sending that one in.”
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But Coco claims her big villa entrance was sabotaged when she was told she couldn't wear the one-piece swimsuit she'd chosen - while other bombshells were allowed to.
“I had an orange swimsuit in a certain cut that made me look great but Love Island didn’t let me wear it and told me to wear a bikini instead," she says.
“I was absolutely fine about wearing bikinis, but when I walked in for the first time I wanted to look my best.
“Then it was annoying to see someone else in a swimsuit when I got to the villa.”
A show source told The Sun: “Islanders can always wear what they want and the team would never let any Islander go into the villa feeling uncomfortable.”
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Coco claims her confidence took another knock when the boys made "bitchy" comments.
She says: “I was told by someone in the villa that the boys were saying all of this stuff about me but acting differently.
“When I walked in all of the boys were trying to chat me up - it’s embarrassing for them because they were saying I was a ‘four out of 10’.”
Coco turned Andrew's head but, when it all went pear-shaped, she claims the scenes that aired didn't tell the whole story.
She says: “They did me wrong with that, I cried and was extremely emotional over the ‘licked her t*t’ thing, and that didn’t come across on TV.
“It looked like I was bitter and bitchy, but I was sad. It brought back up trauma from an awful, toxic relationship before the villa when I was sacked off after something sexual.”
A Love Island spokesperson told The Sun: “It is not possible to show everything that happens in the villa due to time constraints. It is always our intention to produce a show that is a fair and accurate representation of life in the villa.”
Coco also addressed the so-called "cursed" yellow bean bag, admitting it was a long-standing joke - but reckons there could be something in it as she was booted out hours after sitting on it.
She also claims there's little need for the night vision camera in the bedroom, as it's pretty light in there even when it's dark.
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‘No one’s after love in villa’
Coco says she doubts the motives of anyone who signs up to Love Island claiming to be on the hunt for ‘the one’.
She insists: “No one goes in there chasing love, ok? You don’t go on Love Island if you’re chasing love, you can find love in the real world.
“Some people go on because it will be a fun experience but I usually say it’s for the fame, money or to launch a business.”
Ahead of returning to normal life, she says the Love Island team talked her through “the good and bad press”.
“The lady told me, ‘Don’t look on Twitter’, explaining that there was ‘a bit of trolling’ over the situation with Andrew and Tasha," she recalls.
“She said there were lots of nice things though, especially about how I was a natural beauty and it was good that I had my lip filler dissolved."
But Coco claims she could "never have expected" the extent of the "disgusting" abuse she received afterwards.
"I wasn’t warned at all about the truth and what people were really saying,"; she alleges.
“I get it, it’s hard to sit a young girl down and tell them, 'They are saying you’re ugly,' it’s not easy, but I would have preferred that to finding out myself.
“I was given my phone back while on the way to the airport and went online to see all this abuse. I had a breakdown and was even crying in public at the airport.
I was given my phone back while on the way to the airport and went online to see all this abuse. I had a breakdown and was even crying in public at the airport
Coco Lodge
“Reading posts that said I looked like Caitlin Jenner and was the ugliest Love Islander while I was in a foreign country without my family, friends or support was really hard."
She adds: "I still don’t understand how someone can troll another person and actually think it’s ok.
"It’s such a big problem that it can’t be managed by the Love Island team.”
A Love Island spokesperson told The Sun that Islanders receive numerous explanations detailing the positive and negative aspects of taking part, including the response from viewers.
Welfare services including counselling, training to deal with social media, guidance and advice are offered, as well as a "proactive care package" of support.
Coco turned down the counselling offered by the ITV show, despite branding its aftercare "great", and sought help from former Islanders instead.
She says the impact of the hurtful comments took around six months and considerable soul searching, meditation and yoga to overcome.
“I had to choose to be happy and reconnect with myself by thinking, ‘Why are you sad? You have a dog you love, friends and family, own your home and have a nice car’," Coco explains.
“Instead of focussing on the negativity and all the people who thought I was ugly, I decided to count my blessings.”
Looking for love
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After her difficult Love Island experience, Coco says she “didn’t even talk to a boy for six months” - but she's finally getting back on the dating scene.
She adds: “When I first came out, I was classed as ‘the ugly one’ so I didn’t have many people in my DMs and there wasn’t much going on for me.
“I didn’t speak to anyone until the start of this year, I’ve been sitting at home with my dog like an old lady, living the single life.”
She adds there has been one major snag when it comes to trying to meet people.
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“I was banned from Hinge because they thought I was a fake account, which is annoying," she tells us.
"If they’re reading this, please can they unblock me?"
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