LOVE ISLAND’S Hugo Hammond has strongly denied allegations of “inappropriate touching” made by Sharon Gaffka.
Sharon made the shocking comments in a podcast interview while claiming her co-star’s behaviour after they left the villa last year ended their friendship.
The ex-civil servant from Oxford also claimed her former pal had “made jokes” about her being the victim of a spiking incident in 2020 during a drunken row, and said that was the last straw.
Sharon, who has campaigned for tougher sentences for owning or supplying drugs used to spike drinks, made the allegations on the podcast Saving Grace, when podcast host Grace Keeling asked her: “Aren’t you quite close with Hugo?”
Sharon, 26, said: “So I was, and then I cut him off pretty abruptly.”
She went on to explain: “One of the Islanders had a birthday, we all went out as usual, and you know my friends had come down from up north. They (Hugo) all went to some really gross sports bar and I was like, I’m not taking my mates there, they’ve come all the way from Manchester, we’ll go to this club that someone I’m friends with invited us too…
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“Hugo texted me, and I had no signal because the club was underground. When I got back to the hotel, I had been texting him. He called me a basic b***h for going to this club. I didn’t know if it had that reputation, I didn’t pay a penny so I didn’t care, I had a great time.
“And then I Face-timed him because he seemed quite drunk and he made jokes about me getting spiked, and then his friend messaged me and said ‘you’ve upset Hugo’ and I was like, ‘I don’t give a f**k if I’ve upset Hugo’.
“So I haven’t spoken to him since. He’s tried to message me and I don’t think he knows what he’s done.”
Sharon concluded by further accusing Hugo, saying: “Well, it’s something that’s not very funny.
“There’s other stuff going on, like inappropriate touching, which he probably also doesn’t remember.
“So this is what I mean, nice guys aren’t always as nice.”
Hugo, 25, shared a statement on Twitter following Sharon’s incredible allegations.
He wrote: “I just wanted to have my say on the comments made by Sharon. Firstly spiking is not a topic I use within my jokes nor do I find funny, it’s horrific to be honest. I wouldn’t joke about someone being spiked, it’s just not who I am, friend or not.
“The wild comment made about inappropriate touching is outrageous and simply false. To say something like this is seriously damaging and paints an unfair picture of me. You cannot just throw that sort of language around.
“I am very confused as to why she’s making these comments now. As she mentioned I’ve tried to contact (her) since so there’s been time to bring it up to be resolved. And I’m just pretty upset to be honest that she has taken to social media knowing full well what that can do!”
Hugo was the show’s first physically disabled contestant and a fan favourite, but failed to find love in the famous villa.
He entered a friendship couple with Sharon, before bombshell AJ swiped him in a recoupling resulting in Sharon being dumped from the show.
They had previously clashed in week 2 when Hugo said he wasn’t attracted to “fake girls” and the comment resulted in a screaming match.
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Since leaving the villa, Sharon has revealed she was spiked in 2020 before she found fame, and she has been leading a campaign with Tory MP David Johnston to inform people of the dangers.
GHB and related substances, GBL and 1,4-BD are used to knock unconscious victims of murder, rape, sexual assault and robbery.
