You often hear about love at first sight, but two Love Island boys found themselves on the dreaded subs bench for a very basic reason – they didn’t look at their potential love interests.
Viewers were left cringing last night as season seven kicked off, when PE teacher Hugo Hammond and footballer Toby Aromolaran were sent to the dreaded subs bench when none of the girls stepped forward.
Hugo ended up paired with Sharon Gaffka and Toby coupled up with Kaz Kamwi.
In separate awkward conversations, both Toby and Hugo asked the girls why they didn’t step forward for them.
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Viewers were surprised when both girls blamed the same thing: a lack of eye contact.
Both Kaz and Sharon said they were put off, as they said the boys didn’t look at them.
Some viewers thought this was an excuse, with one tweeting: “Just tell them you don’t think they’re fit!”
Suzie Hayman is an agony aunt and relationship counsellor, and she confirms that what the girls said is true: the eyes really do have it.
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Talking about the reason given by the girls, she explained: “It’s not a cop out, it is true. The whole point of Love Island is making a relationship of some sort.
“All relationships start with acknowledging that the other person exists. In humans, that always starts with eye contact. Interestingly, in the animal world, eye contact is a sign of aggression and a signal to attack, but in a primitive way it’s laying yourself open and being vulnerable.
“If you’re not prepared to look them in the eye, if you’re not looking at them but you’re looking upward, at the floor, sideways, over their shoulder – you’re ignoring the reality of that person.”
Suzie explained that by fearing rejection, the boys actually made things worse: “Some people avoid eye contact because they’re afraid of being turned down, or seeing the other person looking repulsed.
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“But here, by not looking at the girls they created the very problem they were scared of! If they showed they were interested and open to vulnerability, it would have gone down a lot better.”
The agony aunt can see another side to Hugo and Toby’s issue, as she said: “Probably what’s going on is that they were shy. They were putting up boundaries to protect themselves, thinking if they don’t show interest first it won’t hurt as much to be rebuffed.”
Suzie also felt that women are more used to starting conversations and communicating, so will definitely notice first if the eye contact is missing, or see it as a rejection when they aren’t looked at.
She insisted: “You’ve got some girls there, who have grown up to meet young men who have been brought up in a different way.
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“The girls are prepared to make themselves vulnerable, to deal with emotional stuff, to share, to experience and to let down their barriers,” she continued.
“So when they then meet someone who won’t do it? It’s a no. I’m surprised in the sense that all of the other girls didn’t say the same thing.
“I think most women are now very much aware of what goes into making the beginning of a relationship, and the importance of eye contact.”
It will be interesting to see if Hugo and Toby will learn their lesson and make eye contact with any of the other girls who enter the villa.
Many viewers were making jokes saying the boys will never blink again, and comparing their shyness with Jake who went straight into talking about his fetishes and asking if Liberty’s mum was attractive.
But it’s all about finding that middle ground.
We’ll have to see if any of them manage to up their game.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
