Love Island 2021 review: Toby’s behaviour proves he is a 13-year-old boy in an adult body

Last night’s episode of Love Island began unexpectedly. Toby, possessed by some unknown force, took it upon himself to pull Kaz for a chat with the sole purpose of dredging up the whole Chloe saga from weeks ago. It was as if the devil had whispered into his ear. Or the producers.

For those who have only recently boarded this Love Island train, long story short: Kaz and Toby were coupled up; Toby had told Kaz he was “all in” on their relationship; Chloe expressed interest in Toby; Toby ditched Kaz for Chloe; Toby kissed Chloe on the veranda in the season’s most sloppy kiss so far (an accomplishment given the sheer amount of saliva so haphazardly exchanged in this villa) and then lied about it.

Kaz being Kaz took the rejection well at the time, but even the villa’s most chilled out resident could not stand idly by while her ex accosted her out of the blue and said he had zero regrets over how he went about things. And nor should Kaz be expected to. Yet Toby simply could not understand why she would walk away in the middle of him dictating to her why he didn’t believe his disrespectful behaviour was disrespectful.

What ensued was the emotional education of Toby Aromolaran. The 22-year-old sought the help of his friends. In a similar vein to Greg asking Curtis “What was your thought process behind that?” in season five, Teddy generously explained to Toby why what he did was wrong in the same way you would with a child: calmly, slowly, clearly. It wasn’t enough, though. Still baffled over the situation, Toby sought out Liberty in the hope that Kaz’s BFF could break it down for him further. Lessons were learnt, apologies were made, forgiveness was given.

There are a number of reasons why Toby would choose now to speak to Kaz about what went down. Number one, he felt guilty. Number two, he knew public voting was going to be more frequent and wanted Kaz to publicly forgive him on-camera. Number three, I’m throwing it back to number two because it’s most likely that. Motivations aside, this episode confirmed what we had all suspected: Toby is in fact, a 13-year-old child trapped in an adult man’s body – no matter how many times Chloe calls him “big boy” as if trying to magically will him into being one by speaking it aloud.

The episode went downhill from there with the dreaded date. This time it was a bike ride followed by a picnic. Even Faye and Teddy (a gorgeously mismatched pair) can’t bring life to the deadest segment of the series. ITV, we beg you: stop with the dates; no one cares. Later that night, a Seventies-themed party saw Hugo – donning an F Scott Fitzgerald middle-part that he swore was more Austin Powers – suggest to AJ that she crack on with Danny instead because he just wasn’t feeling it. Kudos to him for saying it up-front, but alas I think it is time for Hugo to go. The man is simply holding out for Casa Amor and has not contributed to drama in a long time.

The six islanders with the fewest public votes found themselves vulnerable to a dumping at the end of the episode: Lucinda, Chloe, AJ, Danny, Teddy (?!) and Toby. It ended with a cliffhanger, but they needn’t have bothered. With the fellow islanders deciding which two contestants will be heading home, it’s safe to say we’ll be waving goodbye to AJ and Danny tonight. Adios!