LOVE Island star Toby Aromolaran has defended his best mate Tyrique Hyde – saying he is not a "bully" after his brutal comments to Scott Van Der Sluis.
Toby, 24, said the 23-year-old Dartford midfielder does not "hate" rival co-star Scott, but in fact, wants to give him "no bulls*** advice" because he has his best interests at heart.
Former Islander Toby explained that some of his confrontations may appear "nasty" onscreen, but admitted he's only being "upfront" and said it comes from a "place of love".
Speaking exclusively to The Sun about Tyrique's bullying accusation, Toby said: "I think those remarks are silly, number one, on a bullying thing, when I’m watching I’m seeing Ty with the Abi situation, I’m seeing he's pushing Scott to chat to Abi because it's the right thing to do.
"He likes Scott a lot, the fact that he’s chatting to him a lot.
"It's one of those ones, where you care for your friend and you want the best for them, that’s what I’m seeing personally."
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Toby admitted the bullying row has been blown out of proportion, saying Tyrique values Scott as a friend and is giving him advice, even though it may come across as "nasty" to those at home.
He continued: "I think they know Scott doesn’t like Abi but are just trying to push him towards telling her and help yourself out.
"The boys know everything, from experience in Love Island, you guys chat about everything because you can’t chat about anything else. So the boys literally know everything.
"He's giving Scott advice, maybe sometimes not good advice, but I think he’s coming from a loving place.
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"I think he’s just trying to help him out but sometimes it’s not the best.
"Maybe it’s too upfront as well – in our friendship group we’ll say it how it is.
"As bad as you don’t want to hear it, we’ll say it to you.
"We’re not going to sugarcoat it – when people watch that on TV, they’re like why is he being nasty. It’s not nasty, it’s just I’m telling you how it is without no bulls***.
"I think Scott and Tyrique will be friends on the outside – I think even coming from the whole footballing world, they have similarities that make me think they’ll be friends."
Tyrique is close pals with former Islander Toby, who came second on the show with Chloe Burrows in 2021.
So there is no one better to know what Tyrique is thinking when it comes to his friendship circle.
When asked if anyone is being asked if he thinks his friendships with the boys are real, Toby said: "Ty is a really real person, he just says what he’s thinking.
"But I think that’s why last night's argument come from something.
"He’s almost got too close to the boys, in a sense that he’s so close to them that he expects what I would do, everyone else would do because we’re all friends.
"But in a case of Lochan telling Whitney, I think that’s semi-hurt him in a way because can I trust to tell you things because will you just keep telling it to everyone.
"In the villa and being outside the villa is very different. You can have a lot of close friends in there but when you come out, really and truly who’s really going to be your close friend.
"So you have to wait until after the villa."
It comes after the show was hit by a new bullying row after last week's brutal honesty challenge saw Islanders turn on each other.
After the game, Tyrique told the lads that he thinks Scott is not interested in Abi and is just playing it safe.
He then pulled Scott for a chat to question how genuine he was.
It comes just weeks after Tyrique accused Scott of "playing games".
Fans were quick to hit out at Tyrique for "bullying" the Welsh lad once again.
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One wrote: "At this point TY is straight up bullying Scott because he didn’t confirm to be a Yes Man."
While this viewer insisted they were going to contact Ofcom to complain, writing: "What's the number to Ofcom? I'm tired of Ty and his antics towards Scott."
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