We’ll never pass up an opportunity to throw out a Taylor Swift reference. And when it comes to Ryan Reid, current resident of the Love Island Australia villa, we must say we knew he was trouble when he walked in.
WATCH BELOW: Love Island Australia | The fallout from Casa Amor
The Terrigal tradie claims to have slept with 500 women and while we’re not here to shame anyone’s pre-show choices, there were some red flags raised in the way he approached the topic. We’ve also watched him ditch Ari for Lexy, claiming to have a connection with her, only to strike up a connection with Tayla behind Lexy’s back during Casa Amor week.
The point of Love Island is to give us great drama – which he delivers in spades – but Ryan’s treatment of the other Islanders, especially the girls, can come off as a bit too harsh to handle.
Tonight, Ryan was outed for saying that Lexy “wasn’t that good looking” – and if that wasn’t bad enough, he doubled down, saying “at least I’m honest.”
A hurt Lexy whispered in wonder at ”what she’d done to him,” which he followed again with “your personality made you look good, so at least I’m not vain.”
Zoe dropped her head into her hands, while Tayla stroked Lexy’s arm and asked if she was okay.
It also seemed to set off alarm bells for Tayla.
“To come back with those comments, he made himself look so immature,” she said. “No one think it’s funny … like I think it’s gross.”
While immaturity is forgivable, and apparently the reason Ryan twisted from his connection with Lexy to the new one with Tayla, cruelty is not.
While Ryan apologised later, qualifying that what he had meant to say was that Lexy’s strong personality enhanced her beauty, he still rolled his eyes as she walked off, unimpressed.
It’s hard to sit through, because most women have had their confidence undermined by a man who acted superior at some point in their lives. And while a lot of reality TV comes down to the edit, no one needs to be reminded of that guy who felt the need to knock her down for no obvious reason.
Ryan also comes across as acting without any worry as to how his actions will impact others.
While we’re not privy to all his interactions, it was clear that villa dumpee, Nicolas, was conflicted over his choice to get to know other girls when his partner Courtney was removed from the picture, while Ryan seemed to land on his new connection with Tayla without a second thought.
We could also understand Lexy’s confusion over her brutal dumping. Right before Casa Week, Ryan was in tears over the idea of Lexy being sent home and asked his co-stars to send home Rachael instead. Cut to Casa Amor and he’s moving on in a split second, suddenly able to rattle off faults about Lexy with ease.
Rachael, also, was not thrilled:
The reasons he gave mostly surrounded Lexy’s maturity, given that she was five years younger than him. He claimed the age gap had been playing on his mind, but if it occurred, we weren’t privy to any chat where Ryan confided in Lexy that he was worried that their age gap might be an issue in the real world.
While Ryan appears to be without guilt, Tayla already seems to be considering how her choices will affect him, after just a matter of days. Breaking down in tears tonight, she admitted to Michela and Taku that she wasn’t sure if she was sexually attracted to Ryan, and that she felt awful about it.
While Tayla seems concerned about exploring her options aside from Ryan, he openly told Chris on Tuesday’s episode that he felt he’d made everyone else happy, and that it was his turn to be happy, so we’ll be interested in the fallout if – God forbid – Tayla follows her heart.
We just can’t help but think that there’s a way to be happy without hurting so many others in the process.
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
