Love Island’s Joe has been sent to a safe house after controlling behaviour towards Lucie!

Last night’s episode showed Joe Garrett being dumped from Love Island after fans voted him off for showing signs of controlling and manipulative behaviour toward Lucie. Alarm bells were ringing when he told Lucie that he didn’t want her hanging around Tommy Fury anymore and said “it’s time to start making friends with the girls.” Bitch please!

But now Joe’s friends and family have come forward and slammed Love Island producers for “unfair editing” and have blamed them for Joe leaving. Here’s what his family had to say:

After that nailbiting vote, Joe has unfortunately left the Love Island villa. We want to wish the remaining islanders the best of luck in the rest of the programme, especially @lucierosedonlan who Joe genuinely cares for and enjoyed his time with.

Speaking on behalf of Joe’s best friends, we acknowledge Joe will come out to some warranted criticism. However, we deem the majority of it to be unfair and non representative of Joe’s true character.

The producers have the ability to show someone in a particular light, choosing just 45 mins of footage from 24 hours to tell a certain narrative.Joe will know he is coming home to the best family and group of friends about. We are all buzzing to see our boy. But from #thesandwichman…. that’s a wrap.

Here’s what fellow islander Anna Vakili had to say about Joe’s exit:

I don’t think he was in any way controlling. When you have real feelings for someone, a bit of jealousy is natural and normal. He was nothing but real!

Joe’s mum Rachel is also backing her son and has branded the abuse claims as “sheer rubbish.” She says:

I know my son and he’s not like how he’s being portrayed. Both myself and his sister are his best friends. He doesn’t emotionally control anyone. That is not my boy.

However, not everyone seems to be taking his family’s word, as the comments and complaints about Joe’s “abusive” behaviour have been coming in thick and fast. There’s been so much heat on Joe that ITV bosses are currently keeping him in a safe house until the backlash dies down. Producers have also cancelled his post-exit interview.

Damn, I can’t help but feel a little sorry for the guy. Yeah he shouldn’t have been jealous and controlling over Lucie’s friendship with Tommy but I feel like that’s something a 22-year-old needs to be taught. I was a crazy jealous bitch as 22 and it took many years and relationships before I realised it’s not the way to go. While I don’t condone Joe’s actions, I also don’t agree with a witch-hunt of a 22-year-old naive boy who still has an awful lot to learn about life and love.