Love Island Australia 2026 star Shawnee has come under fire from viewers after making a series of nasty comments about fellow Islander Ava’s physical appearance while chatting to Lachie.
The comments, which saw Shawnee take aim at Ava’s lips, breasts and overall appearance, have sparked backlash online, with fans accusing her of body-shaming another woman who had done nothing to her.
And now, former Bachelor star Abbie Chatfield has weighed in on the controversy, sharing a lengthy video explaining why she believes Shawnee’s behaviour is part of a much bigger problem.
Love Island’s Shawnee takes aim at Ava’s appearance
During a conversation with Lachie, Shawnee made some particularly pointed remarks about Ava’s appearance.
At one point, she joked that the prize money they were competing for was “a big pile of sh*t” before turning her attention to Ava.
Although Shawnee appeared to backtrack briefly, saying she was just kidding, she continued making comments about Ava’s looks, including referring to her as having “fake lips, fake tits, fake everything”.
The conversation quickly caught the attention of viewers, with many questioning why Shawnee felt the need to criticise another woman’s body.
Abbie Chatfield calls Shawnee out in fiery video
Abbie Chatfield has now shared her thoughts on the situation, taking to social media with a video addressing Shawnee’s comments.
In the clip, Abbie argued that putting down another woman because of her appearance is often rooted in insecurity and can ultimately do more harm to the person making the comments.
“The reality is, when you feel insecure in a relationship, it is to put down a woman that you perceive to be in competition with you. You are only doing yourself a disservice because you are playing the idea that you are an object that is worth rating and worth figuring out which parts of her are good and which are bad,” she said.
“Of course, you are also making it okay for your partner to speak about women like that. You are validating that he can speak and think like this. And you are also saying those words to yourself because the reality is, when you speak about women like that, when you put value on, for example, fake tits and fake lips, you are then telling yourself those are the things that you value. And you are objectifying yourself in objectifying the other woman.
“I just think this is such a lesson for women out there who have this knee-jerk reaction when they feel insecure. It is out of trying to position Ava below her, one way or another, to feel like she is above Ava, to feel less insecure instead of focusing on the man that allows that insecurity to fester. He is getting the reaction that he wants, which is you being male-centred and placating to him, prioritising the validation from a man over your own humanity.”
She went on to explain that her criticism wasn’t necessarily about Shawnee and Lachie specifically, but rather a pattern of behaviour she believes is repeated time and time again.
“When you objectify yourself by objectifying other women, you are therefore minimising your own humanity for the sake of the validation of a man. But her insecurity is misplaced. I think that she is putting it onto another woman to feel better about herself, and that will not work in the long term,” Abbie said.
“The validation from a man who is not worth your time, grabbing sh*t from people and throwing it onto Ava, and then you’re getting sh*t back in your face.”
Abbie finished by making it clear that she believes women shouldn’t put other women down in an attempt to feel better about themselves.
Love Island fans aren’t impressed with Shawnee
Meanwhile, viewers have been sharing their thoughts about Shawnee’s comments on Reddit, with several admitting that while they find her entertaining television, they weren’t impressed by the way she spoke about Ava.
“Body shaming Ava and speaking about her looks the way she did was pretty nasty,” one viewer wrote.
“Shawnee is very entertaining to watch but I can’t get down with that type of behaviour, especially when Ava did nothing to her.”
Another pointed out that the comments went beyond one supposedly joking remark.
“It wasn’t just a one-off comment either. After she said just kidding, she proceeded to continue speaking about Ava in a mean way, saying ‘fake lips, fake tits, fake everything’ etc. How is that okay?” the fan wrote.
Others were even more blunt in their assessments.
“She is annoying and mean as hell,” one person wrote.
“She makes cruel comments on other girls’ bodies. Trash person,” another added.
With Abbie now weighing in and viewers continuing to question Shawnee’s comments, the Love Island drama has clearly struck a nerve beyond the villa.
Love Island Australia will premiere on October 26 on Channel 9 and 9Now.
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