It has begun again. Winter has come and gone and the beginning of this month marked the start of summer. For reality TV fans, that is. Season 8 of Love Island USA returned to our screens June 2 with a juicy two hour premier, which aired on Peacock at 9 p.m. (or 8:36 p.m. if you’re lucky enough to get episodes early like I am). This season, Peacock was ahead of the game in weeding out problematic islanders too, and OG Castmate Vasana Montgomery was booted before she could even make it into the villa because of resurfaced videos of her using racial slurs.
Last Tuesday, fearless leader Ariana Madix of Vanderpump Rules made her return to the villa for her third season as Love Island USA host to guide new islanders into the first episode. After being introduced to all eight islanders, they played a get–to–know–you style game—but of course, with a steamy twist. Islanders were given simple prompts like, “Do you prefer cats, dogs, or plants?” and each islander stood behind the larger–than–life door with their answer on it. Open the door, and you get to share a kiss with whoever is behind it.
After playing the cheeky door game, the girls got to decide who they wanted to couple up with, using the same giant doors. If more than two girls stood behind a boy’s door, it was his choice, and if nobody stood behind their door, they’d get paired up at the end of the coupling. After the first kisses of the season, the couples are as follows:
Aniya Harvey and KC Chandler
Beatriz Hatz and Sean Reifel
Trinity Tatum and Bryce Dettloff
Melanie Moreno and Sincere Rhea
Kenzie Annis and Zach Georgiou
These OG islanders may include a few familiar faces, too. Not only is Zach Georgiou the brother of Season 7 bombshell, Charlie Georgiou, but three of the islanders are from the Philadelphia area.
After the initial coupling, the islanders have the next 24 hours to get to know each other before Ariana returns and wreaks her usual havoc. So far, things are pretty typical for Love Island—there’s first day jitters making everyone feel like their new couple just might be their soulmate. Well, except for Zach, who admits to Kenzie that he’s not really that into blondes.
When Ariana pays the islanders their second visit, they get to play yet another game with the giant doors. In front of each islander there is a red and green dot. If they choose to stand on red, it means they’re unsatisfied with their current couple, and green means they’re happy in the position they are in. Episode 1 ends in a massive cliffhanger—for the Islanders at least. Until Wednesday night, it isn’t revealed who decided to stay with their current couple, or leave with a bombshell.
At the start of the second episode, the islanders quickly find out who is happy in their couple and who decided to leave. All islanders choose to stand on green except for Beatriz, Trinity, Bryce, and Zach. The two new bombshells, Kayda Bosse and Gabriel Vasconcelos, then get to whisk the unhappy islanders away to “Paradise Island” where they will spend the next 24 hours away from the villa, getting to know each other. The worst part? Not the fact that their couples are left alone and confused back in the villa, but that they all have to share one bed! This isn’t all bad, though. Sharing one big bed leads to possibly the most powerful couple we’ve seen in Love Island history: a “bromance” between Bryce and Zach.
After an awkward night’s sleep and romantic dates with bombshells the next day, the six islanders return to the villa where each new bombshell will get to choose who they’d like to couple up with, leaving one boy and one girl single and vulnerable. After a few wide shots, a few close ups, and tons of dramatic pause, the bombshells have made their decisions. Kayda chooses to couple up with Zach, and Gabriel chooses to couple up with Beatriz, leaving Kenzie and Sean single and vulnerable at the end of Episode 2.
Episode 3 begins in the wake of the bombshells breaking up two couples. For the next hour, viewers get to see how Kenzie and Sean deal with being single, and how our new couple’s connections are developing. At this point in the season, fans noticed that most of the couples seem pretty close to each other, and aren’t really interested in exploring the new bombshells—except for Sincere, who is coupled with Melanie. And here we have it, our first fight of the season! Sincere pulls bombshell Kayda for a chat, which sends Melanie into a spiral, and everyone, islanders included, have something to say about it. Although Sincere swears he is still happy in his couple with Melanie, his reassurance isn’t enough, and her anger begins to brew.
Episode 4 brings us to our first challenge of the season, and this one really brought the heat. Each girl, dressed up as an office siren (of course), gets to strut around the board room and choose an islander to make out with that they aren't in a couple with. Then, in true Love Island style, the girls will choose an islander they believe fits a prompt they’re given to be catapulted in a mysterious neon goo. After propelling one of their fellow islanders, they make their way into the boss’ office to receive a bonus. The twist here?: The “boss” is new bombshell Corbin Mims. And spoiler alert: the bonus is yet another make out. Finally, after kissing and grabbing some cash from Corbin, the girls make their way back to their couple for one final freaky kiss for all eyes to see.
Melanie, of course, sees this as a perfect opportunity to throw some shade at Kayda for trying to steal her man. Don’t worry, though—Kayda is a self proclaimed “tit for tat girl” and hits her right back where it hurts. After the challenge, Corbin is revealed to the guys and brought back to the villa to get to know the girls. Melanie is ecstatic, even though she knows her friend Kenzie is single, but she wasn’t too happy with Sincere chatting up a bombshell just 24 hours prior. At this point, nobody is particularly happy with Melanie’s over–the–top behavior, and Beatriz is quick to call her out on it. As Episode 4 comes to a close, we get our first Season 8 meme of the season: Melanie strutting around the villa, begging for ten minutes to herself.
Halfway through week one and we reach our first recoupling of the season. This recoupling is ladies choice, except for new bombshell Corbin, who gets to choose any of the girls to couple up with. After an intense recoupling, here’s how the islanders stand.
Corbin (chooses first) and Kenzie
Melanie and Sincere
Beatriz and Gabriel
Kayda and Zach
Aniya and KC
Trinity and Bryce
Sean is left single, meaning he is dumped from the island. After he packs his bags, says his goodbyes, and, of course, takes a few more photos in the photobooth, he is sent home and another episode comes to an end.
Episode 6 is the juiciest yet, and could potentially be the messiest episode in the show's history. Literally. Tonight’s challenge is like something out of 50 Shades of Grey. Host Ariana Madix brings what is possibly the world’s biggest bed into the villa, and handcuffs each boy at the headboard. Then, each girl, blindfolded and with a different color paint in her hands, has to crawl across the bed to find the man she’s coupled up with. Kayda takes this challenge and her relationship with Zach very seriously, so she makes her way around the bed using only her hands to feel for him. Melanie, on the other hand, decides to have a little fun and shares several kisses alternating between her man, Sincere, and new beau, Corbin. However, little do these girls know, as they make their way around the bed, two new bombshells, Sol Mŷa and Jen Terry are doing some searching of their own. These two bombshells share a kiss with each and every boy in the villa.
Of course, Ariana could never leave her girls out, so there’s a third bombshell added to the mix: Caleb McDaniel. He also gets to share an introductory kiss with each of the ladies. Of course, as the bombshells begin to mingle with the islanders, they’re turning quite a few heads. As the week comes to a close, it’s the public's first chance to vote. Each voter will pick an islander to couple up with each of the bombshells. Based on this week’s ending, it looks like Sol is interested in Sincere and Gabriel, Jen is interested in Corbin and Zach, and Caleb is interested in Kenzie. To find out who the audience really wants to see together, you’ll have to watch Thursday’s episode, or just keep your eye out for my week two recap!
