We got a text! Less than 24 hours after they departed the Love Island USA villa in Fiji, the remaining stars of Peacock’s superhit — including winners Amaya Espinal and Bryan Arenales — used their newly returned phones to talk to Us. The reality series followed sexy singles “coupling up” and competing in steamy challenges all to avoid being “dumped” by viewers and castmates.
The eight Islanders — Amaya, 25, and Bryan, 28; Nic Vansteenberghe, 24, and Olandria Carthen, 27; Chris Seeley, 27, and Huda Mustafa, 24; and Iris Kendall, 25, and Pepe Garcia-Gonzalez, 27 — had just spent up to six weeks being followed by 115 cameras, with no access to the internet or outside world. They were watched by millions of viewers six days a week in nearly real time — editors turned episodes around in less than 24 hours — and the show clocked a staggering 1.2 billion minutes streamed for the first nine episodes alone.
Before we dive in, some key takeaways from our chat with the Islanders: Yes, Amaya really does speak in mixed metaphors without hesitation. (“We are not playing math here. We’re not going to subtract and make ourselves smaller!” she tells Us five minutes into her joint interview with Bryan.) No, Nic and Olandria, a.k.a. “Nicolandria,” were not producer plants. And yes, the cast really did eat pancakes every single day (season 7 went through 130 boxes of mix).
Read on for what else they told Us about the hard work of being an Islander, what you didn’t see on camera, what viewers got wrong and where they go from here.
Living La Vida Villa
The Islanders all sleep in one room, where they share a bed with their current partner. Pepe, for one, loved the never-ending sleepovers because they felt like a “big family.” (This particular family was doing a lot of hooking up, but never mind that.) One piece of very good news Us can share: There are 40 sets of sheets in constant rotation, and between five and eight large bags of laundry sent out daily.
IRIS There’s definitely a lot of snoring, and there’s definitely a lot of kissing.
NIC After Casa Amor [the second villa on set], there were 20 people in that room who were three inches from each bed. You just hear everything. Those were some noisy days.
CHRIS Only getting three hours of sleep and being woken up by the voice of God like, “Good morning, Islanders,” is crazy. That bright light shines — it really blinds you in the morning —
and you have no choice but to get up.
It was tough the first couple of days, [especially because we didn’t have clocks or real phones]. Pepe got used
to it and would track the sun to see what time it was.
PEPE Everybody’s giving hugs to each other. You tell each other, “Goodnight, sleep well.” It’s kind of like one of those things you do with your cousins on Christmas when everybody gets together and you sleep in the same room and wake up together the next morning.
AMAYA It’s really crazy how much you forget that you’re being recorded. The cameras are so small, it’s like security cameras. You don’t even see them.
Huda Crashes Out
When things ended with her original partner, Jeremiah, Huda shed tears all over the villa and was caught eavesdropping on him. (In Gen-Z terms, it was a textbook “crash out.”) While some viewers considered it reality TV gold, others worried about how Huda was actually coping. She insists she was fine — and that you’d all act exactly the same!
HUDA I definitely went to the [show] psychologist when I needed it. She sees me and understands me. TV only shows a fraction of what’s going on in the villa; I wasn’t crashing out every two seconds! Everybody crashes out in their own rooms. Like, God forbid a girl does it on national television! People say, “This girl’s crazy.” I’m laughing, like, Y’all are funny. And obviously, it resonated with a lot of people because that is real life. It’s OK to have emotions. I handle any hate pretty well. You wanna say I’m crazy for crashing out? By all means. I know damn well your ass crashed out two years ago when Jacob broke up with your ass! [No word on who Jacob is, but OK, Huda, drag Us and our fake boyfriend!]
AMAYA [Huda and I are] both very passionate women and very intuitive with our feelings. Our emotions are strong, and people need to stop viewing that as a weakness and view it as a power.
Not Your Mother’s Chemistry Tests
The challenges, which test the Islanders’ connections with one another, are designed by a dedicated nine-person “challenge team,” with an additional 10 builders and six painters on set. The “What’s Your Beef?” challenge — in which the men transferred milk from fake udders by mouth to their partner’s mouth — looms the largest in our collective memory, while the heart rate challenge, which entailed stripteasing to raise one another’s pulse, shook the Islanders the hardest, with Huda
facing the most heat.
IRIS They make [the challenges] really entertaining for us. You’re getting soapy, milk spit in your mouth… I was just like, “This is fun.”
NIC You just tune everything out and really lock in. Once you do one, it gets easier and easier. By the last challenge, you’re like, “Oh, this is just another Tuesday.” In the heart rate challenge, I licked [Olandria’s feet] from her heel to all three toes. Sorry, Mom.
OLANDRIA They always called [Nic and me] the challenge king and queen. We gotta take it there every time.
HUDA [During the heart rate challenge] I did the tongue thing where I licked all the way up with every single guy. People were like, “Oh no!” Every dude was very happy during the whole thing. Afterward, they saw the girls’ reactions, and that’s when they were like, “She was doing too much.”
CHRIS [Fans don’t see that] we all raised our hands before starting the challenge to make sure everybody was consensual and everybody was OK with everything.
Bikinis and Heels? Couldn’t Be Us
These Islanders are built different, wearing bathing suits and heels on TV for days. Only Amaya gave us a relatable wardrobe change, rocking the first-ever muumuu in Love Island history.
IRIS For me, it was really easy wearing bikinis every day because I… was born and raised in California. I’m always in a bikini, I’m always going to the beach. Sometimes I even walk around in grocery stores with just a bikini on. I was really excited to go on Love Island because I was prepared for this. I didn’t have to buy a lot of bikinis.
OLANDRIA There are cameras — I’m gonna wear heels! I’m gonna figure this s**t out. I brought hella heels — no flats — and I had no choice but to be in heels every day.
AMAYA I’m not going to lie, there were some days where some of the girls and I were like, “F*** it, we’re just not gonna wear makeup.” Because getting up every single day, early in the morning doing makeup, I started breaking out after a while. It did get a little bit tiring. That’s why I decided to wear that long dress one day with Bryan — I was so tired of wearing tight clothes, like, let me breathe! And boy, my ass was jiggling and Bryan loved that.
BRYAN: I loved Amaya’s [muumuu]. I kept telling her I loved it. That was basically our first kiss, too, in the Speakeasy. We got comfortable.
Missed Connections
During a chat with Us earlier this season, Islander Zak Srakaew revealed that he had “a little thing with Huda going” that wasn’t shown. “She was very flirtatious. … We tried to pull each other for a chat a few times, but we just didn’t get time,” he told Us. Chris also had regrets about not pursuing someone else.
CHRIS: I’d say Olandria and Amaya. In Casa Amor, Amaya had pulled me for a couple chats and I didn’t take it seriously because Chelley was who I came in there for.
An Early Exit
Islander Cierra Ortega was booted from the show after social media posts of hers containing a racial slur against Asian people surfaced. She was in a “couple” with Nic at the time and has since apologized via TikTok.
NIC I had no idea what was going on — all of a sudden your strong connection leaves the villa, and you don’t know why. Going forward, it is hard to bring your walls down again. It seemed like I was jumping from Cierra to Olandria, which is just not true.
Nicolandria Nation Is Born
Even before Cierra’s exit, fans were rooting for Nic and Olandria, waiting for the couple to realize what amazing chemistry they had. Viewers even gave them a ship name that trended on social media throughout the season.
OLANDRIA We were mind-blown [when we found out the fans were rooting for us]. It was just coincidental. It wasn’t written up that way — it’s reality TV. [When we first kissed], I thought I was doing a disservice to Cierra. I knew how she was feeling about Nic. I felt guilty and didn’t allow myself to feel a spark because I felt like I owed those two people so much.
NIC Olandria being with [her first connection] Taylor and me being with Cierra, it just took longer, and we took things at our own pace.
Amaya Mania
Viewers couldn’t get enough of Amaya’s unapologetic views on self-love, which included singing positive affirmations to herself and refusing to be diminished.
AMAYA If they think you’re too much, baby, go find less! I have to go through some s**t in my past life in order for me to find this self-love. But once I found it, I promised myself that I would never lose it again.
BRYAN Part of why we get along so well is [I speak Amaya]. I understood her
from the get.
AMAYA I literally just be talking!
I wake up, brush my teeth and I talk.
How Islanders Find Private Moments
Amaya and Bryan were one of the lucky couples given a night away from the group in the infamous Hideaway, while Iris and Pepe found other ways to connect.
AMAYA Not only did we yap away all night [in the Hideaway], we woke up and had such beautiful moments staring at the sea together. Even in our most quiet times, we still hear each other.
BRYAN That was very important to us. When it was just us two, it felt very natural.
IRIS Pepe would always check in on me. If someone didn’t make me coffee, Pepe made me coffee. I would hold his hand. We both secretly liked each other, but we didn’t feel like we could explore it. [Both came into the show as Bombshells, new contestants brought in to test the strength of existing relationships.]
Huda and Chris’ Breakup Makes Love Island History
After seven seasons, this was a finale first: Huda and Chris called it off the night before the final results. Why? They fought about the fact that Huda was affectionate with Chris at night in bed, but not so much during the day, in front of their fellow Islanders. The split gave fans one more viral moment to obsess over, as a performer arrived mid-fight to sing “Moon River” to the unhappy pair.
CHRIS I didn’t understand her [actions]. In the real world, would you bring me to your bed and try to have sex with me before you kiss me on a date? It just didn’t sit well with me.
HUDA There were so many things going on with me and him off camera that weren’t shown. [I wanted] something more meaningful. To one person, I’m too needy, but to another person, I’ll be perfect. Y’all were laughing about [the “Moon River” thing]. I was sitting there in disbelief. I see the light on with the microphone. I said, “You’re f***ing joking right now.” But [it turned out to be great] comedic timing.
Money, Money, Money
In addition to competing for the ultimate gift of true love, Islanders are also fighting for $100,000 in cold, hard cash. The show gives the winners a last-minute chance to steal the full pot instead of splitting the cash, but Bryan didn’t hesitate when it came to sharing with Amaya. And, wipes tear, they plan to donate some of the money to charity!
BRYAN Everybody in there is trying to build the connections. I didn’t hear a lot of money talk [prior to the finale]. I’m sure people had some thoughts once they saw the amount, but for me, it wasn’t even a question [to split it].
CHRIS [Even though Huda and I were over by then], I wouldn’t have taken the money because I know she has her daughter and her family to go back to. I’m not the type to be petty like that.
Will the Couples Last?
Nic and Olandria, Bryan and Amaya, and Pepe and Iris are all planning to explore their connections outside the villa, but don’t rush them into putting a ring on it — this isn’t The Bachelor!
NIC Our relationship is something that [Olandria and I] haven’t labeled yet. We’re just taking our time and investing in the real world and enjoying each other’s company.
OLANDRIA Me and Nic are so obsessed with every single edit. We literally were just in bed right now looking through all the edits on TikTok. And honestly, some of them kind of bring me to tears. It’s like, ‘Dang, I was really oblivious to this.’
BRYAN [Amaya and I] are exclusive and taking steps to [be boyfriend and girlfriend]. We care deeply about each other and we don’t want to rush things. Her happiness is very important. My happiness is very important. We got the love that we got [from fans] because we’re letting things happen naturally instead of doing stuff for the public eye, and we’re gonna continue doing that.
AMAYA This is all the start of it. You’ll definitely be
seeing me and
Bry Bry.
PEPE If I’m talking to someone seriously, I’m talking to them and I don’t want to talk to somebody else. [Iris] is a beautiful and unbelievably amazing woman, so it would be dumb of me not to try to see this to the end and see what can actually happen with us.
Their New Biggest Fans
The Islanders are just now catching up on their viral popularity, and Us got to tell them about some of their celebrity fans. When we read Olandria a tweet from Coco Gauff, she repeatedly said “Oh my God” and “We have to DM her.”
CHRIS I saw Kehlani posted about me and Huda. I literally threw my phone because I didn’t think it was real.
AMAYA Fenty Beauty wants to work with me. Everyone who knows me knows I love Rihanna. She is one of the biggest icons ever. RiRi, hi!
NIC Hearing that celebrities I’ve known since I was a kid, like Demi Lovato and Justin Bieber [were watching], it’s crazy… Olandria has a bunch of NFL and NBA players [in her DMs].
OLANDRIA Why does he have to share my business?!
Reunion Preview
The season 7 reunion, led by series
host Ariana Madix and OG reunion expert Andy Cohen, will reunite the group on Peacock on August 25. Superfan Megan Thee Stallion, who visited the Islanders in Fiji to lead a twerk-off, is hoping the show picks up cameras after the special. “Can we see Nicalandria’s real first date?!” she recently asked Us. (Hopefully this helps that message across!) In the meantime, the Islanders teased what we should expect.
AMAYA It’s definitely to clear up any air that needs to be cleared up. If things are a mess, we are coming with a broom to get things all tidied up. For me, it would probably just be with [former connection] Zak. There’s a lot of things where I’m like, “What are you talking about, bro?” Somebody find this man a map because he is lost.
HUDA I’ve seen some of Jeremiah’s interviews, and someone will say something bad about me, and he’ll make a face. But then in the interviews, he’ll say, “I wish her the best.” What’s the truth here? I don’t associate with anybody like that.
CHRIS I’m looking to hear about more perspectives on Chelley and Ace from the heart rate challenge — and if I had anything to do with that. I feel like I may have, because I noticed an energy shift a little bit after that.
OLANDRIA Some of the past Islanders are going on podcasts and making certain comments. How long were you feeling this way? Do you still feel this way? How can we grow from it? I’m going to save my specifics for the reunion.
NIC: Names come to mind. In August, when the reunion happens, definitely grab your popcorn because I have some stuff to say. Not in a negative way, but in a real way.
The Love Island USA reunion special premieres on Peacock Monday, August 25, at 6p.nm. PT/9 p.m. ET.
