What’s the beef between Mike Boateng and Luke Trotman in Love Island? Thought it was all about Leanne Amaning, then think again.
Last night’s episode saw Luke come crashing into the villa alongside fellow newcomer Luke Mabbott and immediately Mike had his daggers out.
Even Leanne could predict a riot, whispering to herself: ‘Oh I hope Mike doesn’t do anything. I hope this doesn’t turn aggy.’
It did, however, almost immediately.
While Leanne is certainly a sticky point between the police officer and the semi-professional footballer, there’s more to this feud than meets the eye, according to Metro.co.uk’s body language expert Judi James who also told us why Mike and Leanne were doomed way before Luke arrived in the latest episode of Love or Lie Island.
‘Mike has spread himself loud and proud in the villa, taking the role of alpha leader and protector to “his boys” as well as relationship-advice-giver to the girls. With power comes pressure though and he was tested last night when a rogue male strayed into his territory, making some quick challenges to his authority,’ she explained.
‘Mike and Leanne had conveniently engineered enough clues that they were less cemented together than we had all hoped in time to suggest her head might be turned by any new-comer. In case fans hadn’t got the hint, there was that final, emphatic ‘No’ that came without hesitation or signals of guilt when she was asked by another of the girls whether Mike was her type.
‘Mike, meanwhile, was on the balcony showing his police training hadn’t been wasted as he stood watching Leanne’s body language like a hawk. Apart from the hard stare as the girls prepped for their new arrival, Mike showed several signals of brewing anger and stress, from a metronomic tapping of his wine glass to a very pronounced tongue-poke, which is a signal of rejection and disgust.
‘Has Leanne told Mike what her “type” is? The Love Island producers do tend to book-to-order when it comes to the villa late-comers, meaning Mike would have already have been wary that a profile “ideal” type for Leanne would be walking into the show. He was also aware that Leanne has been sending out mixed signals since they paired off, leaving him confused and rather anxious about their relationship.
‘I’m guessing Mike knew that Leanne’s “type” isn’t a boyish Justin Bieber tribute act, meaning he honed in on the grinning and uber-confident Luke T instead, presumably also wary enough to spot the fact that a new, predatory male-like Luke might also be after his Alpha crown, too.
‘Luke confirmed his potential pitch for leadership status when he made all the existing villa-mates reveal their cards in terms of their relationship status. This was a very powerful technique in terms of taking control by causing them all problems and it immediately drew out conflict between Paige and Fin and potential troubles for the uber-possessive Connor and Sophie.
‘Mike tried to fight back by volunteering his coupled-up status with Leanne to ward Luke T off and then to lay all his status and power problems to rest he even told Luke he liked him. In alpha terms this would have been Mike re-spraying his territory, keeping his girl close and – by telling Luke he liked him, offering his approval in front of the pack that should have made Luke grateful, submissive and compliant, like Connagh became once he approved of him. He was granting Luke the chance to avoid a fight but Luke threw it back in his face.
‘Instead though Luke snapped back with an odd quip about asking if Mike liked him too. Whatever he meant by this it was a mile away from the “thank you” that Mike was expecting and Luke’s cheekiness could be a signal that their fight is about to rumble on.’
Matters are only made worse tonight when Luke T asks Leanne out on a date and she looks pretty into it. But it’s Finley Tapp who appears to be in trouble as Paige Turley’s head has well and truly been turned.
Love Island continues tonight at 9pm on ITV2.
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MORE: Love Island’s Luke Trotman clashes with Mike Boateng as he asks Leanne Amaning on date
