Love Island UK stars Jasmine and Kavan address Priya's 'job-shaming' comment that sparked major backlash
They may have held their tongue relatively tight in the villa, but Love Island UK stars Jasmine Muller and Kavan Murphy have shared a few choice words about co-star Priya Jaswal's controversial 'job-shaming' comments.
The couple, who placed second in the series' final last week behind winners Lorenzo Alessi and Julia Mayska, appeared on the NewlyParents podcast today (3 Aug), where they discussed their time on the show.
For those who missed 'National Rail-gate', tensions rose when a clip from the spin-off show Aftersun was played in the villa, in which eliminated islander Elicia Bailey branded Priya the 'biggest game player'.
What did Priya say?
Responding to the video with fury while sitting with cast-mates Jasmine, Kavan, Aidan Murphy and Mica Harris, Priya hit out: "I don’t care what Elicia says. I don’t care. It’s cringy. Go back to the National Rail."
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Doubling down on the same remark, she continued: "Elicia, you work for the National Rail, why are you f**king sitting in Aftersun?"
How did her co-stars respond at the time?
While Mica simply laughed at the cruel comments, unhappy with Priya's phrasing, Kavan calmly told her at the time: "There’s nothing wrong with working for National Rail, alright?"
Later during the episode, Priya's partner - and Kavan's brother - Aidan also gave her a telling off.
The comments also reared their ugly head during the live finale, when Priya told Elicia in person: "At the end of the day, it was very much that I was telling you to go back to your job, like, go back to your day job, basically, and kind of keep my name out of your mouth.
"It's nothing to do with the actual where you work. I mean, I sell eyedrops for a living - whether you work for the Bank of England, you could have worked at Boots, you could have worked anywhere. I was mainly just referencing, 'Go back to your job and keep my name out of your mouth'."
The moment was brought up with Jasmine and Kavan this week, who caught up with podcast hosts Sophie Habboo and Jamie Laing.
What did Jasmine and Kavan say this week?
Discussing Aidan's time in the villa, Sophie began: "Amazing that you got to do it with him, and amazing that, like, he didn't find love, but he was in it. That just goes to show how much people wanted him in there. He really added to the villa, like, he's got such a great personality."
Jamie then chimed in to ask: "But I heard, isn't your brother maybe dating someone, or seeing someone, or hooking up with someone at the moment? As in, Priya?"
Seemingly confirming the news, Kavan smiled: "Priya, yeah!"
Revealing one of his producers had sourced the intel, Jamie continued: "Lizzy over here [pointing]..."
"Lizzy was behind them on the train yesterday," Sophie went on.
Kavan then joked: "Wait, was Priya on National Rail?"
The ex-islander was then praised by Sophie and Jamie for pointing out there's 'nothing wrong with National Rail' during his time in the villa with Priya.
"All of us were watching [Priya] like, 'Stop saying that, stop saying that'," Sophie teased.
Speaking up to defend her friend, Jasmine then added: "Yeah, that was the most - bless her. Like, she doesn't mean that stuff badly. It's just so her tongue-in-cheek way of speaking that, yeah.
"It can come across so badly, but yeah, it was good that you [Kavan] said that as well."
Did Elicia ever respond to Priya's comments?
Ahead of the Love Island final - where Priya took the opportunity to apologise, Elicia appeared on the Love Island: The Debrief podcast with former stars, Shakira Khan, Toni Laites, and Yasmin Pettet.
She recalled at the time: "I'm really surprised by the bitter and jealous comments because her reacting the way she did seems quite bitter about the fact that I called out what everyone else is thinking.
"The thing that we clashed with in the villa is any opinion that anybody had that could affect the way that she was viewed or that she didn't necessarily agree with; that was it. Like, she shut it straight down. I think that's where, as well, like, the game player card would probably be her."
Praising the response Elicia received from disgruntled viewers of the dating hit, host Toni chimed in: "People were standing up for you, though; that was really nice to see [when] you're not even there. It was Kav and Aidan who actually were like, 'First of all, what is wrong with the railway'."
Elicia then added: "That was so nice from Aidan, like I actually will give him that. That's really lovely of him because not once did I feel like, when I was in there, he had my back, as such.
"There were times where I was upset about certain reactions and things that were said, and it was really nice to see that he had my back last night."
Topics: Love Island, Reality TV, ITV, Celebrity
Rhianna Benson