Former Love Island contestant Franesca Allen has jumped to the defence of Caroline Flack, following claims the presenter “snubbed” her during an appearance on Sunday night’s Aftersun.

Earlier this week, reports suggested Francesca had been deliberately ignored by Caroline when she got up to hug her at the end of their interview on the ITV2 show.

Some linked this to the fact Francesca once supposedly called the Love Island host a “dirty paedo” after encountering her at Wireless Festival, around the time she was dating One Direction singer Harry Styles.

While Caroline has already insisted this “snub” was not deliberate, Francesca has shown she also has the presenter’s back in a post on her Instagram story.

“I feel really embarrassed because I was supposed to stay seated the whole entire time,” Francesca explained. “So Caroline was doing the right thing by walking and going across [the studio].”

She continued: “I stood up and looked over and they’re like, ‘Sit back down, sit back down!’ It’s all still new to me!”

Caroline had already tweeted on Monday: “As you know … I hate commenting on stuff… I didn’t snub Francesca .. infact quite the opposite .. made her feel very welcome as soon as she got to the studio.

“I don’t hold grudges.. and the wellbeing of our islanders is important to me. Thought she was a great islander.”

Caroline previously wrote in her autobiography about how she would often be called a “paedophile” in the street during and after her relationship with Harry, who she began dating in 2011, when he was 17 and she was 31. 

She said: “It began to go wrong when Harry was pictured coming out of my house one morning. And once that was out, it was open season.

“After that, anyone could say anything. In the street people started shouting at me ‘paedophile’ and ‘pervert’.”

Defending their age gap, she added: “I’ve never felt I was much older than Harry. I still feel 18 and I probably act that way half the time.”

Francesca was dumped from the villa along with Michael Griffiths on Sunday night, when their fellow Islanders failed to save them when it was revealed they were one of three couples who’d received the least public votes. 

Love Island continues tonight at 9pm on ITV2.