Love Island USA’s season 7 has brought a lot of jokes and drama to social media, but what really happened on that island? Love Island is a reality TV show where contestants are brought to an island to find love and connections. While on this island they have no link to the outside world and their families. Season 7 of Love Island USA premiered June 3, 2025, making its mark as one of the shows of the summer.
In episode one, fans were introduced to the new season 7 islanders as they got acquainted with each other. At the end of the episode, the girls were allowed to pick the boy they wanted to couple up with first. The initial couples were: Huda and Jeremiah, Bell-a and Nic, Olandria and Taylor, Yulissa and Ace, and Chelley and Ace. Almost immediately after the coupling, the islanders were put into a challenge that introduced two new “bombshells” unbeknownst to the islanders. Charlie and Cierra secretly stole the spotlight away from the islanders when they picked who they wanted to get to know. Charlie picked Chelley, and Cierra picked Nic, leaving Austin and Bell-a without partners for the night. In the beginning of episode 2, Yulissa was announced to have left the villa, leaving Ace single. A video of Yulissa resurfaced of her saying a racial slur, and she was removed from the villa immediately. This departure only just began the drama that unfolded this season.
In episode 4, viewers were introduced to soon-to-be fan favorites Amaya and Hannah. Their arrival, which came within a baseball themed challenge, left some players salty, while others were extremely excited to meet a possible new connection. Amaya showed interest in Jeremiah, which started the big problems between Huda and Jeremiah. Chelly, Austin and Ace started a love triangle around this time, as well as Nic, Bell-a and Cierra. Charlie showed interest in Hannah, and after a couple more challenges, it was time for the first recoupling and elimination. In episode 6 the recoupling began. Jeremiah coupled up with Huda, Taylor with Olandria, Charlie with Hannah, Ace with Amaya, Austin with Chelley and Nic with Cierra. This left Bell-a with thirty minutes to say her goodbyes and pack her belongings.
After an emotional recoupling, things start looking up for the islanders. Huda begins to reveal to specific islanders that she has a daughter outside the villa. These conversations led to the iconic “Mamacita” memes that followed season 7 until its reunion. In episode 9 the islanders participated in a scandalous challenge where three new bombshells were added: Pepe, Iris and Jalen. Iris showed interest in Jeremiah which started the beginning of what the islanders called “Hurricane Huda” and the downfall of Huda and Jeremiah’s relationship. Jeremiah and Huda weren’t the only couple to start heading south, though. Ace became very uncomfortable with Amaya’s use of “Babe” and other terms of endearment in her natural vocabulary. Ace ended up sleeping outside in soul ties until the next recoupling.
Hannah, Charlie, and Pepe ended up in a mini love triangle, as well as Olandria, Taylor and Jalen. The Chelley, Austin, and Ace love triangle still continued as Huda and Jeremiah’s relationship crumbled. These two began bickering over things like pancakes which led viewers to place their votes on the next recoupling strategically. The viewers voted that Pepe should recouple with Hannah, Jalen should recouple with Olandria, and Iris should recouple with Jeremiah. This left three islanders, Huda, Taylor and Charlie, single and vulnerable to elimination. The safe islanders got to choose who left and they ultimately decided to vote off Charlie. This left Hannah heartbroken and led to another very emotional elimination.
In the next episode the new couples go on a joint date, which led to even more tension between Huda and Jeremiah. Accusations of immaturity and love bombing were being thrown around at both of them. A new recoupling happened not too long after the beach dates, and the boys got to pick their couples. Nic chose Cierra, Pepe chose Hannah, Taylor chose Olandria, Ace chose Chelley, Austin chose Amaya, and Jeremiah chose Iris. This left Huda and Jalen, who had picked Olandria and she didn’t pick him back, vulnerable. The islanders voted for who to keep and they chose Huda. Jalen was sent home, and a new day began.
Megan Thee Stallion joined the Villa as a guest host and introduced two new bombshells, TJ and Andreina. Viewers were then asked to vote for their favorite islanders and the three least voted islanders would be eligible for elimination. Iris, Amaya, and Hannah were in the bottom for girls, and Jeremiah, Austin, and Pepe for the boys. The islanders were then able to vote out who they think should leave and they ultimately decided Hannah and Jeremiah would no longer be in the Villa.
Then begins Casa Amor. All the girls were sent to Casa Amor to meet a bunch of new guys, while the original guys stayed in the Villa and were introduced to new girls. This concept is meant to test the strength of their previous relationships. After meeting the new islanders, both Casa Amor and the Villa had a recoupling.
In the Villa, the couples were Pepe and Gracyn, Ace and Vanna, Austin and Jaden, Taylor and Coco, and Nic and Clarke. After multiple challenges there was a voting and Nic was voted off the Island.
In Casa Amor the couples were Huda and JD, Cierra and Elan, Chelley and Chris, Iris and Zac, Andreina and Bryan, and Amaya and Zak. This led to Olandria being asked to leave the Villa.
In a surprising twist both Nic and Olandria were allowed to stay if they couple up with each other for the remainder of Casa Amor. This sparked a relationship that viewers were obsessed with but didn’t seem to continue at the recoupling after Casa Amor. After the recoupling the couples were Nic and Cierra, Taylor and Clarke, Austin and Jaden, Andreina and Bryan, Amaya and Zak, Iris and TJ, Pepe and Gracyn, Chris and Huda, and Chelley and Ace. This left Olandria, Coco, Zac, Vanna, and JD vulnerable and the islanders chose to let Olandria stay.
The drama between the girls escalated from here after The Heartrate Challenge, a Love Island signature, led Chelley to believe Huda took it too far and crossed a line. Viewers were taking sides on social media causing the drama to escalate into attention that Love Island has never received.
Eventually there is another viewer voting challenge which left Jaden, Gracyn, Andreina, TJ, Taylor, and Austin on the chopping block to be eliminated. The safe islander got to vote, and ultimately Taylor was saved.
After this episode, more information about Cierra came out on social media and she was asked to leave the villa due to also saying a racial slur. This happened right after Nic and Cierra decided to become exclusive and ultimately left Nic single. Many conspiracy theories started speculating Cierra of plotting for fame and so much more. These theories led to even more social media drama involving Love Island.
This left time for new connections and a recoupling. Nic and Olandria coupled up, as well as, Amaya and Bryan, Pepe and Iris, Chelley and Ace, Clarke and Taylor, and Huda and Chris. This recoupling promptedZak and Elan to be sent home, and quickly began the fun leading up to the finale.
Viewers quickly became fans of Nic and Olandria because of their ongoing “will they/won’t they,” but another couple stole the spotlight. Amaya had been a fan favorite for a while now and after Bryan stood up for her while others were bringing her down, they formed a connection that America seemed to love. Junior Danielle Demunk said, “My favorite couple from Love Island was Amaya and Bryan because I thought Amaya was the most genuine and kind person on the show but now, after the show ended I just don’t like Bryan.” Clarke and Taylor decided to close off with each other, and they immediately after were voted off the island by viewers. Later, Chelley and Ace faced a similar fate as they closed off and then did not make it to the final four.
The final four lineup seemed very strong until Huda and Chris started having troubles which led to them choosing to break up the night before the finale.
On finale night, the couples shared one last hurrah together, and then America’s votes for the winners of Love Island Season 7 were revealed. Fourth place went to Iris and Pepe, third place went to Huda and Chris, second place to Olandria and Nic and the winners of Love Island season 7 were Amaya and Bryan.
Since the finale, there have been many speculations of where the couples are at now and which islanders are still friends. But now that they are back home, and out of the villa, they are able to have some privacy in their lives again. This experience on Love Island changed every islander’s life either for the better or worse. Many islanders received a large amount of hate and may have ruined their media careers for good. This season of Love Island has shown people the true colors behind reality TV, as well as making some viewers believe it’s not about finding love anymore but causing as much drama as possible. Senior Audrey Butts said, “I think it’s mostly about tv drama and money because so many of the relationships ended once the cameras weren’t there. Maybe the earlier seasons were genuine but definitely not this one.” Some of these islanders will be coming back for Love Island Games season two which premiered September 16th, where they get a second chance at love.
