Love Island’s Montana Brown displays her washboard abs in a blue bikini

She avoided the UK’s third lockdown as she jetted off to Barbados over the Christmas period to spend time with her family. 

And Montana Brown showcased her incredible figure in a blue two-piece on Monday as she responded to backlash for travelling abroad in the midst of a global pandemic. 

The former Love Island star, 25, said she ‘needed’ to be around her loved ones as she explained her decision to stay in the sun-soaked country for the foreseeable future. 

Montana was seen wearing a sizzling pastel blue bikini as she posed on eroded steps near the Barbados beachfront. 

She rocked a natural hair and make-up look and said she was ‘exploring today,’ before penning a lengthy post about her travels. 

The reality star wrote: ‘Hey everyone, I’ve had a few messages regarding me being away. I know it’s a really difficult time for everyone in the UK and I completely understand everyone’s frustrations.

‘Just to clarify, I’m not in Dubai, I travelled to Barbados with my family before the UK lockdown (before Christmas) and made the decision to stay due to the new restrictions in the UK.

‘I posted a Story when I first got out of quarantine to assess whether you guys felt comfortable with me posting (which I’ll put on the next slide). 

‘If that’s changed I do understand and I’ll put a question box on this Story too as I want to hear from you and what your opinions are.’ 

Montana revealed she already had plans to travel and shoot content for her swimwear brand, Swim Society, this year. She also assured her Instagram followers that she valued their opinion. 

She added: ‘As a business, we did have a content trip planned for January for Swim Society and I knew I wouldn’t be able to do that due to the restrictions, so that influenced my decision to stay [in Barbados]. 

‘I want to post uplifting content as I know it’s a really awful and uncertain time however, I also don’t want to be insensitive to what people are going through.

‘It’s a hard thing to manage and I really don’t want to upset anyone or for people to think I don’t care what’s going on’. (sic)

In the next Instagram slide, Montana uploaded a previous Instagram story from December when she initially revealed she had left the UK. 

The former Love Island star wrote: ‘Just to let everyone know, I am not in the UK. I left a couple of days ago to join my family after receiving a negative Covid test. 

‘It’s been a tough year for everyone and I understand everyone’s circumstances are different. But mentally, I needed to be around my family and loved ones at this time.

‘Let me know if you guys are happy for me to Story/post. I don’t want to seem insensitive to everything that is going on. I know it’s a really tough time for everyone.’ (sic) 

At the time of the original Instagram post, the reality star was slammed by followers who claimed that the star was ‘hardly in lockdown’ as she had ‘escaped the UK’ in favour of balmy Barbados. 

On December 20, London and surrounding areas were plunged into Tier 4, which saw travel abroad for leisure ‘not permitted’, with exceptions only allowed for reasons such as work, education and childcare. 

During the first week of January, Boris increased coronavirus restrictions by enforcing a third national lockdown. 

One angry fan fumed: ‘When the rest of the U.K. are following the rules and not travelling…..’

While another commented: ‘LOCKDOWN?! Please stop’

And a third wrote: ‘Hardly lockdown. Do anything to escape the uk whilst we’re all in the s**t’.  

A fourth angrily penned: ‘How are you all getting away with this. Then rub it in everyones faces. It’s disgusting and you c list celebs need to stop putting this all over the internet.’ (sic)

The Barbados government recently brought in tough measures to suppress coronavirus transmission. Those breaking COVID-19 laws on the island face an £18,000 fine or jail.