Love Island USA Let Viewers Vote & We Turned It Into Cinematic Chaos

America, we have a problem: we live for drama. And there’s nothing messier on TV right now than Love Island USA. These recent episodes are proof.

If you’re late to the party, the show takes a group of hot singles and drops them off in a massive pheromone-filled villa in Fiji with no phones, no connection to the outside world and a copious amount of avocado toast, all in the name of finding love. Or at least something that feels like love for the moment. It’s as much of a horny reality-dating show as it is a social experiment. And for the first time in the franchise’s seven-season run, producers let viewers decide who should be coupled up. 

That may not seem like a big deal on the surface, but it has caused a major shake-up that delivered some grade-A cinema full of tears, questions and fall outs.

If you aren’t caught up, let me break it down for you, starting with the couple dynamics before America’s vote.

Jeremiah and Huda have been locked in since day one, sharing genuinely sweet moments that reflect their genuine affection for each other. Initially, Huda struggled to tell Jeremiah that she had a 4-year-old daughter, fearing he would break up with her. She eventually opened up to him, but things started to get rocky with the couple and the other boys in the villa, especially Ace, who questioned why the two never explored dating more singles besides each other. 

Seeds of doubt began to sprout when the boys told Jeremiah that it seemed like he was trapped and that they didn’t always believe that Huda’s intentions were good. Viewers share similar feelings about their relationship, pointing out inconsistencies they’ve noticed. There is a double standard in the way their dynamic works. Though Huda has been able to enjoy making out with other boys during challenges, she hovers over Jeremiah and calls him out for doing the same. 

And when bombshells enter the villa — other singles coming in on a mission to break up established couples to find their own match – she warns new girls that she and Jeremiah are closed off. Even though Huda may tell new cast members that their relationship is solid, the cracks in their two-week-old foundation are clear to everyone on the outside looking in. They seem to be clear to Jeremiah, too, but he has yet to stand up.

Since Ace chose Amaya at last week’s recoupling (he should’ve picked Chelley, but that’s another story), they’ve been oil and water. Briefly after, Ace told Amaya that he planned to continue exploring other connections and wasn’t interested in getting too intimate too soon. Amaya didn’t like that. She told him he was giving “player vibes,” especially for telling her right after the recoupling. 

It was all downhill from there. Every conversation since then has been a masterclass in miscommunication. Though technically coupled for purposes of the show, they ultimately decided they wanted nothing to do with each other. Ace now sleeps in Soul Ties instead of in bed with Amaya and has made it abundantly clear he wants nothing to do with Amaya. You can’t help but say “yikes” every time they interact.

Now Ace is pursuing Iris, Chelley and whoever else walks into the villa at this point.

Another day-one couple—but there’s no spark here. Although their conversations are pleasant enough, they give absolutely nothing as a unit. The chemistry just isn’t there. And a part of them knows it. Early on, they even talked about shifting toward a platonic direction. But between Ace playing mind games with Chelley and Austin getting little to no attention from the bombshells entering the villa, they’ve basically settled for each other by default. 

What’s been really pathetic to watch, however, has been Ace courting Chelley in Austin’s face. Austin has been sitting between passively watching them flirt and annoyingly complaining about how Ace is taking his girl. This love triangle honestly stinks and is somewhat stale. Chelley deserves someone who is both sure of her and actually shows it. I’m just waiting for a bombshell to come in to sweep my girl off her feet.

Cierra is a bombshell that won Nic over after his previous connection, Bell-A, was slow to connect with him and fizzled out. Honestly, they’re cute. They mesh well and aren’t seeped in too much drama, though it’s clear that Nic definitely still has a wandering eye. But hey, it’s Love Island, after all. I can’t totally blame him. If we’re being real, I feel like we’ve probably seen him hanging with Ace more than any of his connections.

But the real tea is that Nic most likely has a crush on Olandria. And can you blame him? The way he engages with her, especially during challenges, is telling. During Sunday night’s “Got Wood?” challenge, Nic lit up when he realized he would have the chance to make out with her.

Olandira likes Taylor, but he’s admitted that the “physical attraction” isn’t there. And Olandria isn’t oblivious. She knows that he’s not applying enough pressure and is open enough to tell him directly that she needs more affection. And Taylor obliged. What’s hard for us as viewers to believe, though, is how genuine Taylor is. Every time he initiates dates and affection towards Olandria, it’s after Ace has held his hand in doing so. 

Then came Jalen: the big, fine country bombshell, whom producers sent to the villa just days ago, and he immediately expressed interest in Olandria off the bat. Suddenly, Taylor started shaking in his cowboy boots. 

Hannah and Charlie’s relationship has been steadily budding. Even though bombshell Pepe and Hannah have had a couple of steamy moments, Hannah and Charlie connected on a deeper level after days of indecision. Hannah admitted that she had messed up by kissing Pepe, stating that her relationship with Charlie was more meaningful than her relationship with Pepe. 

“We’re already so good, I don’t think it’s possible for anything to be better,” Hannah told Charlie before their lives got turned completely upside down.

The new couples are Jeremiah and Iris, Hannah and Pepe and Olandria and Jalen.

Ace and Amaya, Chelley and Austin and Nic and Cierra remain in the same couples.

This was the first time in Love Island USA history the producers gave viewers the power to vote for who they wanted to see in a new couple, unbeknownst to the islanders.

Once voting opened on Friday night, a slew of fans began petitioning on social media for viewers to vote for specific pairings: Iris with Jeremiah, Jalen with Olandria and Pepe with Hannah. Of course, the intent was to shake things up in the original relationships, but the most shocking moment for the cast was Huda and Jeremiah’s split. 

Though Iris expressed her interest in Jeremiah, there wasn’t much chemistry on screen. But viewers — and some of the islanders — have been dying to see Jeremiah explore connections beyond Huda.

Let’s just say that America is not Team Huda. Because of Huda’s controlling ways in their relationship — and partly Jeremiah’s passiveness — she’s become this season’s villain. And the votes made that clear. 

Huda remarked that she felt she got “slapped in the face” by America during the recoupling ceremony. The social media campaigning did what it needed to do and stirred up the biggest drama of the season. 

As for the remaining couples? They had to vote one person out to leave the villa. They chose Charlie. The decision left Huda and Taylor officially single.  

Huda and Jeremiah are currently at odds. In Tuesday night’s episode, Huda spent a good portion of the time crying and calling Jeremiah a bitch and a liar, especially after he didn’t check on her post-recoupling. The triple date the couples went on didn’t help.

Everyone in the villa is feeling the tension from their beef. It’s honestly gone from messy to ugly. And though Huda told Jeremiah that she wants nothing to do with him at the end of the episode, we’ll see how long that lasts, especially with another recoupling on the table for Tuesday night.

This season has been a lot and we’re not even at Casa Amor yet. All I know is this: my girls, Olandria and Chelley, deserve so much better. I’ll be tuned in to Peacock with snacks and seltzer in hand at 9 p.m. ET tonight.