Reunion

After Love Island USA‘s drama-filled seventh season, there was plenty to unpack between all the Islanders at the reunion special.

Season seven of Peacock‘s hit reality dating show concluded last month with Amaya and Bryan being named the winning couple. Huda and Chris, Olandria and Nic, and Iris and Pepe were also among the final couples.

On Monday, almost all the Islanders reunited to unpack the summer of chaos and love. The reunion, hosted by Andy Cohen and Love Island USA host and Vanderpump Rules alum Ariana Madix, featured unseen footage from controversial dumpings and challenges, updates on the couples’ current relationship status and more.

Below, The Hollywood Reporter breaks down the highlights from the season seven Love Island USA reunion.

Season 7 Couples’ Current Relationship Status

As of when the reunion was pre-recorded on Aug. 12, some Islanders who coupled up in the villa were still going strong, while some had called it quits since leaving the villa. Winners Amaya and Bryan, runner-ups Olandria and Nic, and Iris and Pepe happily shared they’re still together. While Huda and Chris split during the final episodes of Love Island USA, Chris also made it clear during the reunion that they will never be friends outside the villa either.

When Bryan was asked about his cheating allegations from fans, he quickly shut them down, saying, “They’re trying to just throw any hate my way, and with the cheating video, the hosting I got paid to be there. I used to bartend back in the day. I had a lapse of judgment and we’ve [he and Amaya] talked about it.” As for what his “lapse of judgment” was, he added that he was “pouring shots around, giving the crowd shots and stuff like that.” Amaya said after, “We definitely spoke about it, and I’m also not a woman that would be with someone who doesn’t respect me, so if I’m still with him, it’s clearly because the relationship dynamic is healthy and great.”

As for Huda’s relationship status, as she’s been spotted walking red carpets with a new man, she told the co-hosts, “I can’t speak about my relationships outside the villa.” When Cohen questioned, “And why is that?” Huda responded, “Legal reasons, I’m not allowed to speak. It’s Netflix. I’m not allowed to talk about it.”

Later in the reunion, Clarke and Taylor, as well as Chelley and Ace, confirmed that they’re both still exclusive in their couples. Ace added that he has “something cooking up,” regarding making Chelley officially his girlfriend.

There was also an awkward moment between Jaden and Austin, who left the villa as a couple, as clearly they weren’t on the same page in the real world. Jaden called Austin out for not respecting her post villa, saying, “I was blind sided in a way because I did send you a message saying, ‘If you were planning on dating or hooking up with other people, if you could just let me know, but I didn’t care if you did.’ I was like, ‘You could do whatever you want, just give me the respect of letting me know that.’ And then you didn’t.” However, Austin claimed, “Dating in the villa is dating multiple people, so like dating on the outside, I can still wanna get to know you and go on dates with someone else.” He apologized to Jaden after.

Unseen Footage Revealed of Boys’ and Girls’ Votes to Send Hannah and Jeremiah Home

One of the most shocking moments from season seven was when the safe male Islanders chose to send Jeremiah packing and the female Islanders voted to send Hannah home, ending her journey with Pepe. After unseen footage of the girl’s deliberations from that night was shown during the reunion, an emotional Hannah said that while it still “hurts,” it feels “better to know now.”

“I think that’s what I struggled with a lot, is I just felt like there were so many unanswered questions and I just was wondering what I did wrong or [if] there was something I could have done or said that would have changed things,” Hannah added. “But I’m grateful for my experience, and I just was not going to find love in the villa and that’s OK.”

When Madix asked if any of the women regretted sending Hannah home or if their reasoning still stands, Chelley responded, “Sending someone home is never a good feeling, and even sitting here seeing you emotional now is not a good feeling either. In that moment, I was like, maybe we could do things a little bit differently — there’s other people here who haven’t gotten a chance to find a connection, and a little part of it we were thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, she gets to see Charlie again.’” At the end of the day, we still didn’t even feel good about it.”

Later, the boy’s deliberations over sending Jeremiah home were also shown, and Ace also responded to fan claims that he was the “ringleader” behind getting Jeremiah dumped from the Island.

“It was group settings when we had that,” Ace said. “If you think I’m just gonna have a conversation with myself throughout the whole entire thing, it’s kind of silly to believe that. And I felt like other people gave their inputs on things that just wasn’t highlighted.”

He later admitted he partly regretted sending Jeremiah home and that looking back, “I definitely feel like Austin should have went home.”

However, Madix also shared the fan votes from that night, revealing that Jeremiah and Hannah were also in the bottom, so the result of the dumping would have been the same even if fans had decided.

Where Nic Stands With Cierra

Nic was asked by a fan during the episode if he had spoken to Cierra since leaving the villa, as he was coupled up with her during most of his time in the villa before she exited the show when her racial posts resurfaced online. After she left, that’s when Nic and Olandria decided to get to know each other more.

He clarified that he’s not talked to Cierra and “I don’t plan on it either.” Nic continued, “Leaving the villa, I wanted to speak to her after I processed all those things coming out the first week, and then she started making these videos. … I feel like she was prioritizing some attention through those videos rather than wanting to fix anything, if there was anything to fix.”

Huda’s Friendship Drama With Chelley and Olandria Unpacked

Cohen also asked Huda about her claims that she was bullied in the villa, including by Chelley. Huda clarified that “there were certain things that did hurt my feelings. Maybe bullying could have been a different word, but truly, I’ve really just moved on from it.”

Chelley apologized after, adding that there’s “no ill feeling” between them.

As for where Huda’s friendship stands with Olandria, the latter said it “pained” her when Huda didn’t directly address the hate she was receiving from Huda’s stands outside the villa. “We were super close in the villa,” Olandria said. “Upon exiting the villa, once we got our phones back, I saw the amount of hate that I was getting from her stands and I expressed to her, ‘Hey, I really feel like it’s important, especially if you consider yourself very close to me and to Chelley, at some point to speak out to your fans and kind of address the racism and all the things.’”

Olandria added that all the hate was “fucking with me mentally. It was so bad,” and that it hurt her when Huda “got into the real world and kind of fell into that narrative and fed it.” That’s one of the reasons why Olandria unfollowed Huda on social media and hadn’t spoken to her until the reunion.

As for why Huda didn’t post when Olandria asked her to, she responded, “I was doing so much outside of that. I didn’t know what to say in that moment because I was dealing with so much. I wanted to address more than just that.”

At the end of their conversation, Olandria and Chelley confirmed they don’t have any interest in being friends with Huda going forward, with the latter saying, “I wouldn’t feel like I could trust her as my friend.”

Extended Version of Heart Rate Challenge Aired

Another controversial moment from the season was Huda’s performance during the Heart Rate Challenge. During the show, Huda and Chelley had a falling out after the raunchy challenge, as Chelley felt Huda disregarded their friendship and crossed a line with Ace. While all the Islanders were pushing the boundaries during the challenge — which sees the contestants compete to see whose sexy dance routines can raise the heart rates of their fellow Islanders the most — Chelley expressed that she thought Huda went too far.

Some fans shared on social media that they felt Chelley’s anger toward Huda was unjustified, as all the Islanders were going all out during the challenge. However, viewers pointed out that not all of Huda’s performance was aired during the episode, leading some to speculate that the part that made Chelley mad wasn’t shown.

It was all revealed during the reunion as an extended version of the challenge was shown to viewers. After, Huda admitted she “took it a step too far for certain people, and I do apologize if I made anybody feel uncomfortable. Everything was consensual. There was no limitations, and we all made that very clear at the beginning of the challenge.”

Though Chelley said she felt her response was justified, as “it was never because we didn’t consent to this.” She added, “I think when you do certain challenges, it’s with intention because you’re interested in a person, you like a person. I mean, to my knowledge, you didn’t have any interest for Ace, so to go as far as that, as me being your friend, I think my reasons were very justified.”

Who Was Screaming During Olandria’s Confessional Revealed

Amid Cierra’s exit from the season, some fans heard during one of Olandria’s confessional videos a voice screaming in the background. This led to some viewers speculating it was Cierra yelling after she learned she was being sent home; however, Madix debunked that theory during the reunion.

“Viewers thought that they could hear Cierra screaming in the background while Olandria was in the confessional, but that wasn’t quite it,” Madix said. It was later shown that the people “screaming” were actually Huda and Iris loudly singing “Who Says” by Selena Gomez.

Check out The Hollywood Reporter‘s Love Island USA season seven coverage here.