First JaNa Craig and Kenny Rodriguez, now Lochan Nowacki and Whitney Adebayo—it’s a rough time to be a Love Island alum (and a reality TV fan). Months after announcing their split, Love Island UK season 10 runners up Whitney and Lochan are making headlines after Whitney accused Lochan of calling her skin “dirty.” Now, they’re both telling their sides of the story on TikTok, and I think it’s safe to say...it’s a lot.
This all started Friday, Aug. 1, when Whitney posted a TikTok hopping on the “You look happier” trend. Sharing pics from her beachside vacation, she added, “Thanks! I finally fell in love with my skin he used to call dirty.”
Fans immediately began speculating that this was a thinly-veiled jab at Lochan, a suspicion later confirmed by Whitney’s sister. According to reports, Whitney’s sister, Liz (@lizbrowns), shared screenshots of a text chain with Lochan from August of 2024, in which he seemingly admits, “I never said it thinking her skin is dirty, I feel sick I crossed line with joke but she said she can’t look at me the same.”
The screenshotted text exchange doesn’t give much context, but Liz added her own commentary, saying that she was providing “evidence” for those doubting her sister.
“I know what she went through and the fact that it took this long for her to heal and share her truth to be shamed is vile,” she wrote in part. “As women we’ve all stayed in situations that didn’t serve us, but when you get out that’s when you really start to become a woman. Be kind and give grace.”
Lochan Denies Calling Whitney’s Skin “Dirty”
Lochan responded with a video on Sunday, telling his side of the story. According to Lochan, he and Whitney were on a walk by his apartment when the incident occurred last summer. “She had gotten her nails done and she, annoyingly, put her nails in my face and was like, ‘My hands are so clean. Yours aren’t.’ I was like, ‘No, they’re not,’ and I was annoyed her hands were in my face.”
Lochan continued, claiming that he felt he was just making a joke. “She looked at me in shock and said, ‘You’re calling me dirty?’ I was taken aback by that,” he said. “I felt insulted that my girlfriend, who I loved, who knows me and knows that I would never insinuate something like that, is calling me a racist.”
In his five-minute video, Lochan also shared texts he claims are from Liz. “Honestly I don’t even need to know the context or conversation to assure that I know you’re not racist, Loch,” she allegedly wrote, suggesting that she did not know the full context when sending the text.
Lochan continued, saying that he had talks with Whitney’s family, in part because Whitney was threatening expose him, saying, “The world is going to see you for the racist you really are.” He added that the accusations that he would call her skin dirty were particularly “devastating” for him as a multiracial man, noting that his mother is Indian.
Whitney Responds to Lochan’s TikTok, Calling Him a “Culture Vulture”
After Lochan's video went live, Whitney came back with a TikTok of her own, recalling her version of events. “I was in the sun, and I was like, ‘Babe, look how my skin glistens in the sun.’ And he looked at me and was like, ‘Ugh, it’s dirty.’ And then only when I lashed out, he was like, ‘It was a joke, it was a joke,’” she said.
Whitney claimed that Lochan was crying and immediately started calling her family members to insist that he meant no harm. “Because he gives off, like, this golden retriever energy, no one would believe he would ever say it maliciously,” she explained.
The two broke up after the incident, but later reconciled—a cycle she claimed they would repeat over the course of their two-year relationship. Not only that, but Whitney claimed that she endured many not-so-micro aggressions throughout, including a recurring bit from Lochlan’s mother who would tell her to “smile” so she could see her in the dark.
She also accused him of being a “culture vulture,” essentially using her for clout while “condoning” his friends who used the N-word and calling her “ghetto” and “too loud.”
Her final message to Lochan? “You didn’t love me, you loved what I could give you until I could no longer give it to you. So please stop lying, Lochan, please.”
Lochan has yet to respond.
