So… What Really Happened After Love Island?
The Season 8 Reunion Catches up With the Islanders
This August, the Love Island season eight reunion started with a twist. At Universal Studios in Orlando, Fla. the reunion was filmed in front of a live audience- the first of the show’s many reunions to do so.
Beginning with the final four couples- or core four as many fans call them- the audience gets a sneak peak into the couple’s life beyond the villa. The winning couple, Trinity Tatum and Bryce Dettloff, are still dating and have been spotted together in LA several times. Aniya Harvey and Carl Schmidt, with their storybook romance, are also still together and have been facetiming daily.
“So I feel like we do a really good job with communication,” Aniya said, “Like, we always check in and see how each other is doing. We’re even planning a trip to Nantucket soon, so…”
The other two couples, Melanie Moreno and Sincere Rhea and Kayda Bosse and Zach Georgiou, are exclusive but not labeled.
“We’re just together right now, taking things slow.” Kayda said, “I mean, we’re not here to please anybody else. We’re only here to please ourselves. So when the time’s right, the time’s right.”
In this beginning interview with the couples from the finale, the clips of the islanders receiving their phones were revealed. Most were excited and happy that they had gained internet fame and received positive comments. However, one couple received some much anticipated backlash.
Melanie and Sincere had extreme ups and downs in the villa. Movie night, where islanders watch drama-inflicting clips of themselves in front of everyone, was the moment that the couple and the audience realised that everything was not as it seemed. Sincere, in both the villa and at casa amor, had lied to Melanie several times.
When the episode aired, a trend started where brands big and small made videos saying that they would give Melanie free products or experiences if she left Sincere. Of course, Melanie could not see these posts because the islanders did not have phones in the villa. Although, when she and Sincere got their phones back, they were overwhelmed by the magnitude of the trend.
“At first it took me back a little bit,” Sincere said, “but then I was like, okay, these brands are just following trends, you know what I mean? It’s not like they genuinely mean what they’re saying.”
After revealing the clips and hearing the islanders’ thoughts, other islanders were invited to sit on the stage and talk. Previous and current couples remarked on their status outside the villa, with some still together and others dramatically split. Titi Davis and KC Chandler and Kenzie Annis and Dylan Wrona, although not making it to the finale, are in loving, labeled relationships.
However, not all couples had a happy ending. Parmida Keshani and Corbin Mims and Jaiden Bacciocco and Caleb McDaniel each split, although one with a bit more drama than the other.
Jaiden and Caleb had mixed ideas about how their relationship ended. Caleb said that they ended things on good terms, while Jaiden claims that Caleb led her on. Not all the drama was relationship-related, though. Melanie found herself in not one but two friendship breakups- one with Sol Dean and the other with Kenzie.
Fans have mixed reviews on these arguments, some calling Melanie a bully, while others commending her for saying “what they were all thinking.”
Either way, the Love Island Season 8 reunion was certainly groundbreaking and not just because it was the first to be filmed in front of a live audience. The episode featured fights between ex-couples, controversial pairings, friendship break ups and more. The episode is surely going down in Love Island history.
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