This sums up how I'm feeling, but knowing I've got incredible support makes me feel very humble. Thank u so much💗 pic.twitter.com/gHh96MGWDI
— Zara Holland (@zaraholland11) June 19, 2016
Love Island is a celebrity reality show, set on an island in Fiji. Throughout the series, viewers vote on which of the scantily clad celebrities go to the so-called "love shack" for some "alone time". In this specific instance, Zara Holland and model Alex Bowen slunk off to the love shack and things got a little bit steamy.
Just a couple of days later Zara Holland was informed that she had been stripped of her "Miss Great Britain" crown, prompting accusations of prudishness against the pageant's organizers, who said in an official statement:
"The feedback we have received from pageant insiders and members of the general public is such that we cannot promote Zara as a positive role model moving forward… We wholly understand that everyone makes mistakes, but Zara, as an ambassador for Miss Great Britain, simply did not uphold the responsibility expected of the title."
The Miss GB Pageant has since come under fire from huge numbers of people on social media, who've accused the organizers of sexism and "slut-shaming".
Feel for Zara Holland! Yes she's been a bit silly but not fair to take something away from her she has worked hard for! #LoveIsland
— Dan Ferrari-Lane (@DanFerrariLane) June 19, 2016
I'm still seething they took her title. How dare a woman have consensual sex. #slutshaming #MissGB #loveisland
— Kirsty (@Kurstle) June 19, 2016
Are we ok with Miss Great Britain comp slut-shaming @zaraholland11 on #loveisland?Again female sexuality denied as a positive thing.
— laura cofield (@lauracofield) June 17, 2016
Zara Holland has since quit ‘Love Island', although not as a result of her public frisson between the sheets, but because her mother had fallen ill.
"I'm so sad to leave the villa but it's important for me to get home and spend time with my mum while she gets better… I've had the time of my life on Love Island and would like to thank all of my fellow Islanders and the production team for all their support," Holland said in a statement.
Nice one @Official_MissGB, slut-shaming a vulnerable young girl for the world to see, she did nothing wrong, u should be ashamed #LoveIsland
— Sara Bennett (@girlpunk) June 17, 2016
Hate all this slut shaming on #loveisland. What has happened to sisterhood? Stop patting guys on the back then demonising the girl!
— Jennifer Brooke (@JennniferBrooke) June 16, 2016
The new Miss Great Britain is Deone Robertson from North Lanarkshire in Scotland.
