Dumped Love Island contestant Elicia Bailey has branded her co-star Priya Jaswal ‘bitter’ following her ‘personal attack’ about her National Rail job.
Reality star Priya was branded ‘vile, classist and tone deaf’ by ITV2 viewers for ‘job-shaming’ her co-star Elicia’s £30,000 role on last night’s show.
And Elicia has also now revealed she was unimpressed by her comments, explaining on the Love Island Debrief podcast that she thought remarking on her job was ‘crazy’.
Priya’s rant was a reaction to being shown a clip of Elicia on Aftersun calling her the ‘biggest game player’ on the show but Elicia has insisted it wasn’t personal.
Speaking to hosts Shakira Khan, Toni Laites and Yasmin Pettet, she explained that there was no ‘attack on Priya’s character’ and she was merely answering a question.
She said: ‘The comments that she made tonight, she said that I attacked her character, but I was asked a question on Aftersun.
‘I didn’t call them like begging them to get me on. Everybody goes on Aftersun.
Dumped Love Island contestant Elicia Bailey has branded her co-star Priya Jaswal ‘bitter’ following her ‘personal attack’ about the ex-Islander’s National Rail job
‘I was asked a question, it wasn’t an attack on anyone’s personality, anyone’s character but the comments she made was a personal attack, like where I work.
‘That’s crazy, I’m the target. She also obviously hasn’t seen other interviews of other people saying the exact same thing, I’m the easy target tonight because I was there.
‘I’m really surprised by the bitter and jealous comment because her reacting the way she did seemed quite bitter – I called out what everyone else was thinking,’ Elicia divulged.
Priya, whose role could see her earn around £43,000 based on national averages, took aim at Elicia’s job as a team organiser on last night’s show, saying: ‘I don’t care what Elicia says. I don’t care. It’s cringy…
‘Go back to the National Rail. Elicia, you work for the National Rail, why are you f***ing sitting in Aftersun?… But just go back there and save your breath.’
Viewers took to X with outraged responses, with one fan writing: ”Go back to the national rail’ may seriously be one of the most disgusting things said on love island, get priya off now #loveislanduk #loveisland’.
Priya was branded ‘vile, classist and tone deaf’ by viewers for ‘job-shaming’ her co-star Elicia’s £30,000 role on last night’s show
Priya was left raging after seeing a clip of Elicia calling her the ‘biggest game player’ on spin-off show Aftersun
She was seen launching her tangent after the ‘Graftie’ awards showed clips of Elicia talking about Priya and her union with Aidan Murphy.
During her rant, Aidan’s brother Kavan interjected by saying: ‘There’s nothing wrong with working for National Rail, alright?’ yet fellow Islanders Jasmine Müller and Mica Harris giggled at the remarks – leading to further backlash.
Reaction from various X users read: ‘Priya job shaming people and their jobs? What’s wrong with working on a railway?? What does Priya even do???… There’s absolutely nothing wrong with working on the railway…
‘Every honest job deserves respect, and judging someone’s career says more about the person doing the judging than the person earning a living…
‘Your profession doesn’t determine your worth… Damn she just messed up any potential brand deals with that comment… Railway workers literally keep Britain running and Priya’s job shaming them?? Girl what do YOU do Get a grip…
‘She’s so f***ed up for saying that… This is so out of pocket. Hardworking people are the backbone of society. Acting like a railway job is ‘cringy’ just shows how shallow Priya’s mindset is. No job that puts food on the table deserves disrespect!’
Fans swiftly voiced their fury over the comments made on last night’s show
Jasmine and Mica were also referenced while Kavan was praised, with another user writing: ‘Mind you it was Kavan who pulled her up on that comment while Mica and Jasmine condoned it by laughing at the nasty comment.’
Priya’s partner Aidan later called her out on the comments, as he took her aside to underline the problems with mentioning Elicia’s job.
Further adding to her fury, Priya remarked: ‘She’s bitter, she can keep that sour taste in her mouth. Jealousy is a disease – get well soon.’
While she has not specified exactly what her job is, a job listing on UK train company Southeastern’s website for a team organiser describes Elicia’s day-to-day job.
The role is Monday to Friday with an average pay package of £30,000 per year and free rail travel. The job calls for a ‘high level of IT knowledge’, ‘excellent written and verbal skills’ and ‘general knowledge of the rail industry’.
The scandal comes a week after Love Island was hit with 533 Ofcom complaints.
Viewers of the ITV dating show have reported to the regulatory body about four episodes over the past week, following calls to complain over ‘women-hating’.
In Ofcom’s weekly report – in which any show garnering more than 50 complaints is reported – Love Island dominated with four episodes, while the only other shows were The Saturday Five, with 586 complaints, and Alex Armstrong Tonight, with 257.
Movie Night received a whopping 197 complaints, as predicted by viewers who alleged that Jasmine became a ‘target’.
Ringing in with 167 complaints was the boys’ return from Casa Amor, which saw Angelista Gunda and Jasmine devastated by Simba Kudyiwa and Kavan’s decisions.
