Love Island’s Shaq Muhammad reveals meaning behind his ENORMOUS tattoo

Fans accused ITV of 'censoring' the tattoo during Shaq's time in the villa

Shaq Muhammad on day one in the Love Island villa

by Nathan Katnoria |
Updated on

The Love Island lot spend an awful lot of their time in the villa wearing nothing but swimwear, so we couldn’t help but notice Shaq Muhammad’s rather striking tattoo when he was on the show.

The airport security officer turned reality star has a HUGE tattoo at the top of his back, which some viewers accused ITV of “censoring” after they noticed it seemed to be covered up during certain scenes.

During Shaq’s time on the show, a Twitter user posted two side-by-side images of him inside the villa; one of him in bed with Tanya Manhenga, the other of him outside with Tanya. In both images his bare back is visible, but for some strange reason, the large tattoo is visible on Shaq in bed and nowhere to be seen in the shot outside.

Fans flocked to social media to question the apparent blunder including one who tweeted, “Now @ITV lets talk about why yall are covering up Shaq's Arabic tattoo… what was the reason quickly #loveisland #TALKSWITHASH."

Another added, “They are censoring it!"

Although we never really got an explanation for the bizarre scenes, Shaq has spoken out about his tattoo for the first time in a new YouTube video with Tanya.

Shaq on Love Island
Shaq finally revealed the meaning behind his HUGE back tattoo - and it's so sweet ©ITV Pictures

He said, “It’s in Arabic because Shaq is short for Eshaq, which is an Arabic name.

“Shaq means he who loves and that’s what it means in Arabic.”

To be fair, that’s a very fitting meaning for Shaq as he’s definitely a lover.

Tanya added, “That’s one of my favourite tattoos on him,” which led Shaq to question which was her favourite.

She replied, “He has one of his side with prayer hands, which says ‘God gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers.

“That’s my favourite one and then [the back tattoo] is also a nice one because I always forget it’s there and then I see him walking around and I’m like, ‘Damn!’”

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