Love Island star Elicia Bailey found herself at the centre of a debate on classism amongst Love Island viewers when fellow contestant Priya Jaswal told her to ‘go back to National Rail’
Love Island star Elicia Bailey has shared what it felt like to be cruelly ‘job shamed’ on national television. The Islander shared that it was shock, as she appeared at the National Reality TV awards alongside fellow contestant Ethan Ellis.
Elicia, a 23-year-old team organiser for National Rail, appeared on the 13th series of Love Island, where she found herself in a love triangle with Priya Jaswal, a 25-year-old business development manager. After being dumped from the show, she appeared on Aftersun and branded Priya the “biggest game player” in the villa.
When Priya found out, she said: “I don’t care what Elicia says. I don’t care. It’s cringy. Go back to National Rail.” She added: “Elicia, you work for the National Rail, why are you f***ing sitting on Aftersun?”
The comments sparked a classism row amongst fans, as some accused Priya of “job shaming” Elicia and using the fact that she was working class against her.
Speaking to the Mirror at the National Reality TV Awards, Elicia explained what seeing that moment was like for her. “In the moment, it was not something I expected to be fair. It was very reactive.”
But she added that they had buried the hatchet: “She’d just seen the clip, but there’s no hard feelings and we’ve put everything under the carpet.”
The bombshell entered the villa on day 32 and coupled up with Aidan Murphy, 23, who had previously been in a couple with Priya. He and Priya agreed they were more into each other than other people and Aidan told Elicia that whilst they were still in a couple. As such, Elicia was left vulnerable and by day 38, she had been dumped.
Since leaving the villa, Elicia and fellow bombshell Ethan, who had previously shown interest in Priya as well, seem to have started dating. The two admitted to kissing whilst returning to Majorca for the final and turned up to the Reality TV Awards together.
They even wore matching outfits, with Ethan in a classic suit and Elicia in a jaw-dropping strapless dress. Ethan kept Elicia close with an arm around her waist and praised her for looking amazing.
Ethan added that both he and Elicia’s working class roots made their experiences on Love Island and since feel “surreal”. He told us: “It’s surreal being back in normal life. We’re normal people, we’re working people, we come from the working class. So it’s a privilege just to be here.”
Priya, who was dumped shortly after Elicia and Ethan were, apologised to Elicia for her comment. She said at the live final: “I want to publicly apologise to Elicia because I think that comment about the National Rail, ‘Go back to the National Rail’, completely out of line, completely a catty comment.
“I really let the feelings in there, over seven to eight weeks that were bubbling up, of emotion. I think the fellow Islanders can obviously also vouch for the fact that when you get to seven/eight weeks in there, the feelings – wow the emotions – the feelings get very, very heightened.”
She continued to say that it was “very out of character” for her to have said such a thing and that she regrets it. “I do want to publicly apologise to Elicia, that was completely out of line, completely out of character and yeah I do regret saying that.”
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