Why Love Island's Camilla is the nation's new sweetheart

As surprising as it may seem, on Love Island - a show devoted to sun, sex and super annoying catchphrases - the nation has found a new sweetheart in the form of Explosive Ordnance Disposal employee, Camilla Thurlow.

The 27-year-old from Dumfries is a touch different to the rest of the self-tan-obsessed girls on the island, being a self-confessed introvert who likes to keep her cards much closer to her chest – and quite frankly, that’s a breath of fresh air. 

While the rest of the girls are throwing all their eggs into one (or several) guy’s basket(s) and constantly talking about their type ‘on paper’, Camilla is much more sophisticated; cautious with her feelings, not letting her guard down for just anyone and generally acting with a smidge more decorum than everyone else.

Some may question why she even entered the show in the first place, given her mild demeanour, but it’s a nice change of pace. In fact, it’s almost a novelty to watch an episode knowing that at least one of the contestants is pure of heart and actually knows what’s going on in the world besides the inner workings of the show’s interchangeable couples.

She’s a good friend; she sticks up for all the girls when someone has bitched or been ‘muggy’ behind someone’s back, despite them not always extending the same courtesy; she is careful with how she acts in the villa, perhaps being the only one who remembers that the entire villa is filled with cameras watching her every move, and she’s even been linked to Prince Harry. What’s not to love?

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Camilla’s turning point came a couple of weeks in to the seven-week-long reality show when, coupled up with super snake Jonny Mitchell on a date, the topic of feminism came up. Feminism isn’t exactly something you’d expect to ever hear on this show; I’d say the entire nation was gobsmacked.

When Jonny told Camilla how he always prefers to pay the bill on dates, she reacted how most people would: as a woman, she would rather pay her own way. The Essex lad seemed to label Camilla a feminist as if it was a dirty word and took her response as ‘bitchiness’ on her part. While he tried to mansplain his way out of the situation, claiming that women already have equality, our Cam eloquently set him straight, carving her way into the hearts of every ITV2 viewer.

What’s more, said hearts were soon breaking when things went south with anti-feminist Jonny. When he realised he had the hots for Tyla and that Camilla’s slow-moving ways weren’t for him (basically, when he realised he wasn’t going to get a shag any time soon – how lovely), every man and his dog cried along with her as she dealt with being replaced by someone many Twitter users have branded as a ‘PoundShop Michelle Keegan’ – fans of this show are honestly brutal sometimes.

Our hearts were mended briefly when newbie and dodgy Professor Green double, Craig, entered the villa, showering Camilla with compliments, and Sunday night’s episode showed her finally putting her happiness first by coupling up with him – however, she still seems to have Jonny’s interests at heart. While this is frustrating, it only further cements her sweetheart status. Being selfless on a show like this is not something we’re accustomed to.

It’s unknown whether Craig will make Camilla happy for long enough to last on this show, and we'll have to wait and see if she’ll be able to let her guard down again after Jonny’s seemingly irreparable damage - everything changes in 24 hours on this show.

However, what we do know is this: Camilla deserves that £50k cash prize, but even more so, she is the only contestant who truly deserves to be happy.

Love Island airs nightly at 9pm on ITV 2.