Love Island USA, one of the most popular reality TV shows of 2025, aired its seventh season this past summer from June 3rd to July 13th. This recent season gave us not only drama, but also controversies on top of controversies. With terms coined by fans such as “scammer island” and “friendship island,” season 7 was problematic from the very beginning. With an airtime of only 32 days, you’d think America would be able to move on, but it seems the cast doesn’t want us to.
Among the cast of season 7, the standout names and breakout stars of this recent cycle were Olandria Carthen, Nicolas “Nic” Van Steenberghe, Amaya Espinal, Huda Mustafa, Jeremiah Brown, Michelle “Chelley” Bissainthe, and Ace Greene. With a problematic season featuring cast members being exposed for using racial slurs, rumors and skepticism of cast members conspiring to win solely for the prize money, and bullying accusations towards other cast members, season 7 of Love Island USA was a wild ride. But the show had its seasonal reunion back in August, promptly wrapping up the seventh cycle of Love Island USA, so why are we still talking about it as we near the end of 2025?
continuous controversy
As season 7 ended completely with the reunion, most of the popular cast members started to fade into the background. As cast members took to social media after time away from filming, it seems they’ve revealed their true intentions. Unlike season 6, where the main couples seemed to have a genuine friendship even amidst the drama, season 7 has not shown to be as successful in that longevity. The cast members of season 7 took to the internet after finally gaining insight into how the public perceived them and their time on Love Island, ultimately utilizing their platforms to tell their perspectives of their experience on the season, clear up rumors, and even talk about other cast members.
For example, Ace, known as the “mastermind” or ultimate “conspirator” of season 7, went on podcast host and journalist Speedy Morman’s “360 with Speedy” podcast to express his feelings post Love Island. He talked about how he felt he was perceived negatively on the show and reaffirmed the sincerity of his relationship with Chelley, but what stood out about this interview was what Ace said about the authenticity of the relationship of those who seemed to be his closest friends on the show, Nic and Olandria. He called into question Nic and Oladria’s relationship when asked if he believed their relationship to be real, first responding with silence, then insinuating that their connection could be surface-level and “intentional.” Many clips from this podcast episode went viral, as many fans were surprised by Ace’s response and saw it as a form of public betrayal towards Nic and Olandria.
Another major post Love Island moment was actually this past week. Huda Mustafa, known as the “crashout” and “mommy” on Love Island season 7, was seen on live with her boyfriend Louis Russell, another well-known dating reality TV show personality, responding to an alleged prank call from a fan who called Olandria a racial slur, to which Huda and Louis burst into laughter. To backtrack, Huda has not had the greatest moments in the media since her time on Love Island. Not only with her consistently negative displays on the show, but also with her continuous displays of racial insensitivity. Her first response to the backlash she received from the live video was a claim that she didn’t hear the slur and believed it to be just a “bad word” that her and Louis laughed at out of awkwardness, but fans weren’t falling for it. As the live was set up to be done on a separate phone with Huda’s phone in her own hand, on speaker, fans could clearly hear the caller say “Olandria is a n**ger”, which left the Love Island fanbase in an uproar at Huda’s poor attempt at avoiding accountability.
This scandal caused other Love Island stars, such as Chelley, Hannah, Iris, and others, to come out with a response of their own, even leading to the involvement of Love Island season 6 cast members Jana Craig and Leah Kateb, as members of Huda’s fanbase have incited fan wars following her backlash. Olandria herself soon responded,
Following more and more responses from other islanders, Huda issued what is supposed to be a formal apology, but seemed more performative if anything. She wrote that she’d reflected on her actions, claiming that she’d finally realized (as if it wasn’t obvious from the live stream clip) that the slur had been targeted at Olandria and does not “condone” the use of language in the clip, finally expressing that she would be donating to the NAACP and encouraged fans to do the same.
From my perspective, it seems she’s only had this change of heart and acknowledgement after being dropped from brands such as Huda Beauty and Gym Shark, but to each their own. As of now, Huda has received a mix of more backlash from Love Island supporters and continued devotion from her own fanbase, and Olandria has stopped responding to the issue.
Overall, the season 7 cast members of Love Island have shown to be quite the disastrous mix, leaving fans tired and anticipating the summer 2027 batch of islanders, but the question remains: how much more the internet we’ll be seeing of this scandalous cast?