It’s hard to believe that just as quickly as this season of “Love Island USA” began, we are already near the end of the journey. This week saw some connections fizzle out, new drama between couples and just when it seemed like there might be harmony in the Villa, the return of Movie Night resurfaced previous conflicts that hadn’t been fully resolved.
Here’s a look back at some of the major moments that happened during episodes 24-29.
As we saw at the end of last week’s episode, Carl and Amora have returned to the Villa thanks to America’s vote. After pulling Aniya for a chat, Carl reveals that while he wants to continue to get to know her, his walls are up, but not to worry for Carniya shippers, because baby, they’re tumbling down. By the next day, it already appears as though their connection has picked up right where they left it, well, pre-dumping of course.
Amora also pulls her Casa connection, Sincere, for a chat. While Amora doesn’t seem to be eager to continue their romantic connection, she is taken aback by his major friend-zoning given as his parting words to her, where that if they had more time, it would’ve been her, and now he’s calling her “big dawg,” which, yes, Amora, is “crazy.”
Things are not working out with Los Angeles model Jen and Mar Vista coffee shop owner Gal. After she tries to end their connection one night, he says he wants to work on it, only to change his tune the next night and end things. In the conversation, Gal calls Jen “aggressive” at one point, which confuses both Jen and the viewers. Back at home, even his family and the employees of Saba Surf were thrown off by his stance, with his coffee shop even going so far as to say that the female-run business would be giving out free coffees to anyone named Jen.
Kenzie is also stepping into murky waters. While “Love Island USA” is all about getting to know others to find your best connection, viewers will agree that there’s also a way to navigate this unique process respectfully. In fact, on this season of “Love Island UK,” the girls have established a rule inside the Villa that to be courteous to each other, it’s best to only kiss one guy a day, outside of a challenge, of course.
Kenzie hit things off quickly with Dylan during Casa, especially after finding out via livestream that Corbin had plans to bring someone else back with him to the Villa after the first night. However, Kenzie and Gal also wanted to get to know one another. Kenzie, whose love language is likely physical touch, shares that she views a “kiss as a handshake” when getting to know romantic partners, which is why she felt the need to kiss Gal to see if there’s something stronger there than with her connection with Dylan.
She tells Dylan about the kiss later that night, which, to the surprise of Kenzie and viewers, brings him to tears. The next day, they discuss it further, and Kenzie decides she only wants to continue to get to know Dylan.
Viewers were delighted that we finally saw the first date of the season, and it’s none other than Bryce and Trinity. Things started strongly as the pair happened to match in pink swimsuits as they took a jet ski to a boat in the ocean. There, the two reflected on their journey and Bryce skipped the “closed off” Love Island lingo and got to the point, asking Trinity to be his girlfriend, which she gladly accepted.
Meanwhile, in the Villa, it’s been a rocky road for Kayda and Zach since he returned. The postcard, combined with the Heart Rate Challenge has left Kayda feeling uneasy about how Zach has been moving. Zach tries to reassure Kayda that he could’ve brought in the girl he was talking to in Casa Amor, but he chose not to, which comes back to bite him later during Movie Night.
After taking a season off, Movie Night returns to the Villa. The evening centered around showing the Islanders footage that they haven’t seen, that help paint a picture of what viewers have been watching. This season, there were seven clips shown, however eagle-eyed viewers noted that it appears that there were three more clips that weren’t televised, so we’ll have to wait and see if they share at a later date what those clips were.
The first clip we see is Zach’s connection with Alannah. While at first Kayda seems to move past what is shown, she later discovers in another clip that Alannah had left Casa Amor before the recoupling, which was new information to her. The Villa guys and Casa girls try to have Zach’s back, saying that they didn’t think Zach was going to bring back Alannah, regardless.
Next, we see how KC has been talking about Aniya. The Islander’s see the clip of him referring to her as a Grandma to Corbin, as well as sharing with the guys in Casa that he has nothing in common with her. We also see Sincere tell Tierra that he thinks her connection with KC is stronger than the one between Aniya and KC.
Afterwards, we’re shown clips of Carl and Aniya. While the girls are cheering in support of the couple’s time in Casa, the guys feel it’s a double standard, as KC got more heat. Aniya clears up that the issue lies in the disrespect KC showed towards her in how he navigated his time in Casa Amor, not the fact that he made a new connection with Tierra.
Then, after weeks of Melanie being told she’s not getting the full picture of what Sincere’s been up to, she sees it on full display. The Islanders become aware of what Sincere was saying to Sol, and how it contradicts what he was telling people about his connection with Melanie. This brings her to tears and she decides she doesn’t want to talk about the clips any further.
Next, it’s Corbin in the hot seat, as he talks about Kenzie as well as compares the Villa girls to high school girls and the Casa girls to college girls.
However, the focus isn’t on Corbin for too long as Kenzie is up next. Her clip focuses on how, similar to Sincere, she was saying one thing to Corbin and another to Caleb. She was telling each of the guys she had a stronger connection with them. This leads Caleb to tell her she shouldn’t have been saying the words she was saying to him if she was still feeling a connection with Corbin. Kenzie agrees with the girls that what Caleb has said is valid and apologizes.
The finale clip of the evening shows both Melanie and Sincere’s Casa connections. Melanie’s is of her breakfast date with Corey where the two shared a kiss. Sincere is with his connection and various makeouts with Amora. The final punch to the gut was Sincere telling Amora that if they had more time, it would have been her.
Melanie is once again hurt by Sincere, but tells the other Islanders they all need to stop telling her that it’s a prize that she was chosen by Sincere, because the prize is being respected. After telling Sincere she feels like a fool, Sincere counters that she’s disregarding what she did to Corbin. This catches Melanie off guard because she doesn’t think it’s fair to compare her reaction to Corbin’s bombshell entrance to the same level as how Sincere has navigated exploring new connections.
After Movie Night, we also see KC and Aniya make amends. After having a conversation earlier in the week where they weren’t seeing eye to eye and a heated discussion during Movie Night, the two were each able to take the time to reflect and acknowledge their faults. KC admits he feels embarrassed by his comments.
He also shares that he had built up some resentment earlier in the process towards Aniya. He began holding things in that upset him, because he didn’t want to keep arguing with her. They both agree that while that had some tough moments, they also shared plenty of bright ones together. KC apologizes and Aniya accepts it, letting him know that she does care for him.
While not being a focal point for most of the week, we learn that there’s conflict between Jaiden and Caleb. He feels that after he brought her back from Casa Amor, she hadn’t said a word to him. The two then go to Say Less to talk it out, which leads to a heated discussion, but the two ultimately decide they want to continue to work on their connection.
The next night, it’s time for a recoupling, with the guys picking. Carl picks Aniya, Zach picks Kayda, Dylan picks Kenzie, Sincere picks Melanie, KC picks Tierra, Bryce picks Trinity, Caleb picks Jaiden and Corbin picks Parmida. The final decision is in Gal’s hand, who ultimately decides to couple up with Amora, meaning Jen is now single, vulnerable and dumped from the Island.
However, host Ariana Madix reveals that Jen is not leaving solo, as two more couples are going home and it’s the Islanders’ decision. Each couple must decide on two couples that they think are the least compatible and the two with the most votes will be sent home.
Not surprisingly to viewers, as Amora and Gal are the newest couple, and a friendship one at that, they are the first couple to be voted out. To make matters worse, they also receive a vote from all the other couples, ouch.
From there, the couples with the most votes are Jaiden and Caleb, Kenzie and Dyland and Melanie and Sincere. Ultimately, Jaiden and Caleb are the second couple to depart.
We don’t learn too much new information during this week’s “Aftersun,” but Caleb is delighted to learn that 20/13 vision is, in fact, better vision after Kenzie told him that wasn’t the case.
The least compatible couple’s vote leads to some hurt feelings in the Villa. It’s revealed that Kenzie and Melanie have drifted apart over the past few weeks, and they finally have a chat after Melanie voted for Dylan and Kenzie as the least compatible.
While Kenzie felt that Melanie was her best friend in the Villa, which she also told Jen in their accountability conversation, Melanie feels their friendship has been strained since Sol entered the Villa. Melanie also stands by her vote as she felt that Kenzie was not done exploring, but decided to focus on Dylan after she got pushback from others over how she navigated getting to know Gal. Kenzie apologizes for not being there for Melanie and Melanie tells her it’s OK, because she doesn’t think she did that on purpose. Melanie also apologizes for hurting Kenzie’s feelings and not knowing about her connection with Dylan.
This brings us to a new challenge: Couples Karaoke night. That’s right, each of the pairs will be singing love songs in a competition to be the Karaoke King and Queen of the Villa. The Islanders spend the day practicing their songs and creating choreography. And dare I say, this was one of the best challenges in Villa history?
Despite most not being able to carry a note, each Islander gives a performance of a lifetime.
Corbin and Parmida perform “Dilemma,” KC and Tierra sing “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” Zach and Kayda serenade each other to “Endless Love,” Sincere and Melanie give us their best musical theatre showcase of “You’re The One That I Want,” Carl and Aniya show off their salsa moves to “Seniorita,” Bryce and Trinity have the time of their lives singing “No Air,” and finally Kenzie and Dylan give Sharpay and Ryan from “High School Musical” a run for their money with their rendition of “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.”
Then Ariana reveals that the Islanders will now send in a text, ranking the other couples 1-6. The results are in. In 7th: Parmida and Corbin, 6th: Kayda and Zach, 4th: a tie between Aniya and Carl and Trinity and Bryce and 2nd: another tie, between Tierra and KC and Melanie and Sincere. Which means Kenzie and Dylan are crowned the winners.
But it’s not all fun and games as this challenge originally made it seem. Because unknown to the Islanders, America has been voting for the most compatible couple. In the bottom are Corbin and Parmida, Kenzie and Dylan, as well as Kayda and Zach.
But there’s a plot twist. It appears “Love Island USA” has taken a hint from another reality TV show filming not too far away in Fiji. The crowns Kenzie and Dylan have won from the karaoke challenge now appear to have turned into “Survivor” idols, which means the couple is safe from elimination.
Ariana reveals that the remaining couples will now have to stand one pair at a time behind the couple they want to save. All but KC and Tierra vote to save Kayda and Zach, which means Corbin and Parmida have been dumped from the Island.
New episodes of “Love Island USA” air at 6 p.m. PT every day but Wednesday on Peacock. The “Love Island USA” season 8 finale airs on Sunday, July 12.