The “Love Island USA” Season 7 cast reunited for the first time since leaving the island in July for the premiere of the highly anticipated reunion on Aug. 25. Hosted by Ariana Madix and Andy Cohen, the group of islanders shared their current relationship status (as of Aug. 12 when the reunion taped, anyway), addressed their ongoing issues and shared updates on how their lives have changed since leaving the villa. Unreleased footage of the heart rate challenge and other unseen moments from the show were also aired.
The reunion featured appearances from Amaya Espinal and Bryan Arenales, who won the season; Jeremiah Brown, Huda Mustafa, Chris Seely, Austin Shepard, Belle-A Walker, Andreina Santos, TJ Palma, Hannah Fields and Charlie Georgio, who left the season single; and the pairs who left the season in relationships: Chelley Bissainthe and Ace Greene, Olandria Carthen and Nicolas Vansteenberghe, Taylor Williams and Clarke Carraway and Iris Kendall and Pepe Garcia.
Although a surprising amount of time was given to the show’s bombshells and Casa Amor contestants, Cohen and Madix addressed the original islanders about their lingering issues post-villa. Cohen addressed Brown about his toxic relationship with Mustafa, which sparked a back-and-forth between the pair about Mustafa’s claims that he had “lovebombed” her in the villa.
The conversation sparked more debate among the islanders about the impact of their toxic relationship, in addition to, Greene providing clarity about his claims that Brown wasn’t on the show for the right reasons. “When I hear comments about getting the money and gaining followers outside the villa, I don’t feel this is a genuine connection,” Greene said.
Brown’s eviction from the villa was also addressed with an extended clip of Greene, Williams and Vansteenberghe discussing their group discussion to send Browne home. In the clip, Vansteenberghe was seen advocating for Brown to stay in the villa.
Greene also addressed accusations that was the “ringleader,” and he denied those claims — but ultimately said he regretted his decision to send Brown home, and would have chosen Shepard instead.
One of the most controversial contestants of Season 7 was Mustafa, who was confronted by fellow islanders Bissainthe and Carthen about the bullying accusations she had made against the cast. Carthen also addressed the online racism and hate she had received after Mustafa said she was bullied in the villa. She said she’d asked Mustafa to make a post to her fans to stop spewing online hate, then revealed Mustafa didn’t speak up for her.
“I wish you would’ve prioritized that moment to address the racism and the bullying towards me and Chelley since that was spewed out the most,” Carthen said while tearing up. “Your face was not plastered on fucking George Floyd’s body. Mine was, and I told you that. It was that bad. That shit hurts. I’m glad you’ve grown from it now, but that shit hurts. We were close, and you didn’t fucking speak up for me.”
When Madix asked where the relationship stood, Bissainthe and Carthen said they were OK not to be friends with Mustafa after what happened.
Additionally, an extended version of the heart rate challenge was also shown, which left the other islanders’ visibily shocked. After the clip was shown of Mustafa dancing explicitly on Greene, she admitted to crossing a line during the challenge.
Since the final couples left the villa, fan speculations have surfaced online about the status of their relationships after the show ended. After Espinal and Arenales won America’s vote and became exclusive, cheating allegations spread after a TikTok user claimed she had seen Espinal with another woman in a Los Angeles club in a now-deleted video.
Arenales addressed the rumors during the reunion, saying he had a “lapse in judgment” at the moment.
Kendall and Garcia confirmed that they were together, but since the reunion taped, fans have speculated that the pair have separated after unfollowing each other on Instagram. Espinal and Arenales also sparked breakup rumors after “Love Island USA” fans noticed that they both unfollowed each other ahead of the reunion.
Meanwhile, the other couples who confirmed to be exclusively dating are Carthen and Vansteenberghe, Bissainthe and Greene and Williams and Caraway.
