Love Island USA season 7’s cast has been through a lot since the season came to an end back in July, and ahead of the season’s reunion this weekend, a mental health expert weighed in with Screen Rant on what we saw in the villa. Love Island USA season 7 was one of the most dramatic seasons of the series to date.
While many of the original cast members made it to the end of the season, nothing was what it seemed by the season finale. With couples having broken up prior to the finale results being revealed and cast members having formed shocking new bonds at the tail end of the season, Love Island USA season 7 was shocking until the end.
Though there were highs and lows like every season of the show, Love Island USA season 7’s cast had a fair bit of turmoil when it came to navigating the post-season. While winners Amaya Espinal and Bryan Arenales took home the grand prize, Love Island USA’s cast all left the villa with something new to look ahead to moving forward.
Over a month removed from Love Island USA, mental health expert Sonni Williams from BetterHelp chatted with Screen Rant to unpack what viewers saw on screen this season and remind them of what went down before this season’s intense reunion.
On Huda Mustafa’s Difficult Love Island USA Journey
Huda Took Third Place With Chris Seeley
Although Huda Mustafa had a tough time on Love Island USA, her journey was a necessary look at the more difficult parts of the show’s potential journey. Huda, who paired up with Jeremiah Brown early in the season before moving on to Chris Seeley, had a tough time during the season, and has faced backlash after leaving the villa.
Screen Rant: Huda’s experiences in the villa were so intense – can you speak to where it seemed like she was coming from psychologically during her time in the villa?
Sonni Williams: I feel like watching the show in its entirety, I feel like Huda really did come in with the best of intentions. But I feel like she came in equipped with what she had, and I don’t feel like it was enough for what the situation of Love Island was. She very much doubted herself throughout the process. Because I remember early on, she even said, I feel like Jeremiah’s love bombing me, but then completely ignored the Carnival of Red Flags, just forged ahead. She didn’t trust herself a lot during the season.
I feel like that started to kind of really make her deteriorate throughout the season of just self-doubt, insecurities, left and right. And then of course, friendship concerns like, okay, my friends are mad at me, I did something wrong again. Does this boy even really like me? All of the self-doubt is like, I know they were joking, and it’s hurtful of saying Hurricane Huda, but she had all of this recipe for the crash outs or the emotional breakdowns. I just don’t feel like she was equipped to handle the full scope of Love Island.
On Cierra Ortega’s Controversial Love Island USA Appearance
Cierra Ortega was removed from the Love Island USA season 7 villa for using racially insensitive language prior to the show, but her time on screen was picked apart by viewers after she showed a clear shift in personality during the season.
Screen Rant: Her use of a slur aside, I’d love to kind of hear your take on Cierra’s personality shift throughout the season.
Sonni: So, she definitely gave off the cool girl vibes, laid back, very much that friend to lovers type of journey we were going on like she was very cool, very laid back. And then we saw after she and Nic [Vansteenberghe] were intimate for me, that’s where I started to see a bit of a turning point. Because then we did start to see some, you know, some cracks, some insecurities, some a little bit of jealousy on her part. And going into Casa, I feel like that was almost like a shield for her. Elan [Bibas] was almost like a shield. Like, I don’t know what’s going on with Nic. I don’t know if I fully can trust him.
I’m, you know, a little insecure in this relationship. Let me have a little backup plan, so to speak. That’s, that’s what I was kind of picking up on from her. And the relationship definitely shifted for me because Nic, to me, and I’m sure we’re going to get to Nicolandria, but Nic to me was never fully invested in that relationship. And I think it was made clear after they were intimate.
On Ace Greene’s Controlling Mannerisms On Love Island USA
He Was A Tough Figure To Enjoy On Screen
Ace Greene’s time on Love Island USA season 7 allowed him to find a great match, but his behavior was often viewed as controlling and irritating from fans of the show.
Screen Rant: Can you speak on Ace’s controlling nature? Especially what we saw of his defense mechanisms and how that came out throughout the season?
Sonni: Oh, Ace. He was definitely one, one of my favorites to watch. I won’t say my favorite, but definitely one of my favorites to watch very much was Puppet Master in the beginning, pulling the strings, you know, one of the loudest voices.
And sometimes we know that that can carry whether you are speaking truth or not. If you say it loud and you say it confidently, you can kind of garner some followers, let’s say. And we saw that unfold a hundred percent. Now with Ace, he very much is an avoidant dismissive attachment style. Very much self-reliant, downplays importance of relationships. I feel like when he would be like, you know, I have these very firm boundaries, no PDA, don’t do this, don’t do this. I got to ease into it. Slow and steady wins the race, so to speak. I feel like it was him very much being avoidant dismissive, not very comfortable being vulnerable.
I think America saw that and they were like, okay, Ace, who, who are you? Like, what are you? Yes, you’re doing these cutesy things, but who, who are you? Like what? We want to know you. We want to know you as a person. And so I feel like when he and Chelley [Bissainthe] were very kind of dismayed by how America voted them, I don’t feel like they were given to the fact that, okay, are we being our authentic true selves? And of course they’re going to say, of course, yes, we are. Yes, a hundred percent we are, but they very much had guards up throughout the entire series.
On Chelley Bissainthe’s Difficulties Opening Up On Love Island USA
She Couldn’t Choose Between Ace & Other Options
Chelley, who ultimately left the show with Ace, struggled to commit to her eventual match even though they were clear that they wanted to be together from the beginning of the season.
Screen Rant: Can you also speak to Chelley here, because she often had her guard up just as much as Ace, but it wasn’t as noticeable.
Sonni: If we look back over the season, I feel like those two characters, so to speak, we know that they are human beings, but this is a show. They were the most guarded in my opinion. Chelley very much wanted to be the listening ear, the sounding board, but when did we see Chelley really be vulnerable? When did we kind of see those cracks to her armor? We didn’t.
And I feel like she very much wanted to protect herself and again have a few shields. Austin [Shepard] was a shield for a very long time because Ace wanted to continuously explore or didn’t readily pick Chelley when opportunity presented itself. And so I felt like for most of the season, she was very much like, I have to keep my walls up. I have to protect myself. He’s not being vulnerable, so I’m not going to be vulnerable. So here we go.
I feel like that’s what we saw play out all the way up until the end. But by then it was too late, you know, by then America was like, okay, if you guys want to be together, fine, but you all have not shown us your true selves.
On Amaya Espinal’s Self-Confidence Through Love Island USA Difficulties
She Was Always True To Herself
Amaya struggled throughout Love Island USA season 7 despite the fact that she was always authentic in her search for love, but had enough self-confidence to ensure that she was prepared for love when it found her.
Screen Rant: I’d love to hear your take on Amaya’s self-confidence. It felt so healthy to watch her stand up for herself – and even if she was crying, she was really just happy to be there and happy to be herself. I have absolutely no idea how she maintained that kind of strength.
Sonni: Yes, exactly. May we all wake up with that level of confidence. I was very much now Amaya winning was not on my bingo card. I will tell you that when she came in, absolutely not. I would not have, I would have lost if I was, if I was making, but I was very much team Amaya. I’ll tell you the scene.
It was very shortly after, you know, Ace had laid his ground rules, so to speak. This is what it is. And it was after they went to bed and Ace had given Chelley a hug. Amaya was like, so you’re, you’re not gonna, you’re not gonna give me a hug goodnight. And the next morning, I remember she was very direct and the tone was a bit off, but she went to Shelly directly and was like, what’s going on with you and Ace? What is it?
And I felt that was a very direct way to approach things. She was asking the questions that we all wanted to know. And I was like, you know what, Amaya is a girl I can get behind. And I was just kind of rooting for her from that point on, just for like living in her truth, standing in her power and not wavering, not changing. Like the boys didn’t like her. Okay. Ace, okay, your loss. Austin, you came around and played with her feelings. Okay. You can leave as well too. And I’m very glad that she just kind of stuck true to herself. And if someone came around, great. But if someone did not come around, she was also like, okay, great. I’ll be okay. I’ll be fine.
On Nic Vansteenberghe & Olandria Carthen’s Shocking Love Island USA Relationship
The Pair That Viewers Saw Coming Finally Matched Up
Although Nic & Olandria Carthen spent weeks on Love Island USA season 7 being attracted to one another as friends, they ended the season together and came in second place after a whirlwind romance.
Screen Rant: Nicolandria took the season by storm – to start, why didn’t they go for it before being pushed together?
Sonni: So Olandria, very early on was also another one of my favorites, like to watch. Olandria was one of my favorites because she was very much set in her boundaries as well. We were not going to throw her off course. She very much wanted to go at her own pace. She wanted to take her time.
She did not want to rush things. If it was not a challenge, please don’t be all over me. And she had so much self-respect for herself to the point where it was even like, okay, well, even if I have to go home, I’ll go home. Like standing head held high, not a tear dropped. And I was like, you are staying so true to yourself. Now what burned my grits up?
Taylor [Williams] never gave that he liked her. And that burned me up because I was like, girl, how are we this? And, but that to me is the human experience because how are we so just self-assured? We know our boundaries, this and that, but then we’re still missing the signs that this boy does not like us. And I felt like that was a very true experience that a lot of women have experienced of where it’s like, I kind of think he likes me. He’s giving me kind of like these mixed signals.
So I’m going to go all in because I really like him and completely missed. And that’s what happens. Nic is not her type on paper, completely missed the nice guy that was ready to like treat you like the queen that you are because you’re over here worried about your that is not thinking about you. And so I felt for her, but I was so happy that, and we know this was the producer’s doings. I was so happy that they gave that opportunity to like explore and let’s see and what happens. And we know how things unfolded, unfortunately with Cierra. And I don’t know how things would have been had she have stayed because I feel like Nic was, there was a lot of guilt there. Yeah.
Screen Rant: Do you think they’ll be able to make it post-show?
Sonni: If they truly lean into it, I’m all for it.
Love Island USA season 7’s reunion airs this Monday, August 25 on Peacock.