Love Island USA is back for season 8, and the drama is already picking up in Fiji. After a week of twists and turns, challenges, pulling each other for chats, and “hot new bombshells” entering the villa, the first recoupling ceremony of the week took place during Sunday night’s episode.
Here’s a look back at some of the major moments that happened during episodes 1-5.
To kick things off, host Ariana Madix entered the villa to walk the original Islander through an activity that placed the girls on one side and the guys on the other. In between them stood doors with different options, for instance, are they more of a dog person, a cat person, or a plant person. Once the Islander opened the door, in typical Love Island USA fashion, they were prompted to kiss the other islanders with common interests.
After the Islanders finished the game, it became time to couple up for the first time. Similar to the game they just played, the girls stood on one side of the doors and the guys on the other side. Only this time, the doors had the guys’ names on them, and it was up to the girls to stand behind the door of the Islander they wanted to couple up with.
What happens if two girls choose the same guy, you ask? Well, believe it or not, that very situation happened. Both Aniya and Melanie stood behind Sincere’s door, leaving the choice to him of which girl he would couple up with. He ended up deciding to go with Melanie. This left Aniya to couple up with KC, who moments before opened his door to no one, which led to a popular meme online, and let’s be real, the first of many meme-worthy moments from KC.
@loveislandusa No snack this time
#LoveIslandUSA
After the Islanders spent the first 24 hours in their couples, they were asked to stand behind the doors yet again, but this time standing on either a green or red dot to signify if they still wanted to get to know others or if they were happy in their couple.
The plot twist with this is that as they stood on their dot, unaware of what the other in their couple had chosen, the first bombshells of the season entered the villa: Kayda and Gabriel. Gabriel might look familiar to eagle-eyed fans as he was originally announced as an original Islander, but after another contestant was removed from the show before filming, they switched to being a bombshell.
Kayda and Gabriel each were able to take two of the Islanders with them, who said they were open to exploring connections, bringing Beatriz and Trinity from the girls, as well as Zach and Bryce from the guys. This left Kenzie and Sean without their couples for the next 24 hours.
When the Islanders returned to the villa, Kayda decided to couple up with Zach and Gabriel chose Beatriz, each sealing their new connection with a kiss. This left Bryce and Trinity able to return to their couple, and Kenzie and Sean single and vulnerable.
On day four, a little friction began to emerge between Melanie and Sincere after Sincere pulled Kayda for a chat to get to know her better. While pulling others for chats during the “early days” of Love Island USA is standard protocol for contestants, Melanie opened up to Aniya that it was bringing up some insecurities for her from previous relationships.
That evening, the Islanders played another game to get to know each other better, revealing secrets the Islanders had written and having to guess who it belonged to, and pushing said Islander into the pool to lock their guess in. For the most part, the game remained light-hearted, with arguably the most memorable moment of the evening being Trinity explaining away a streamy moment from her past because it was “daylight saving time,” which fans are still not entirely sure what that explains.
The next day, the Islanders had their first official challenge out of the villa. What’s fun about the Love Island USA challenges is the complex set designs and costumes all around a theme that isn’t entirely necessary but adds to the overall campiness of the show. The first theme was all about being bosses, with the Islanders each dressed in colorful office wear that, let’s be honest, is not workplace-appropriate, but we love a theme, so all is good.
Two main things came from this challenge. First, Melanie made things a little messy between Kayda and her, literally. As part of the course, the girls each chose an Islander they thought the sentiment on the card they read out loud identified with the most. Because Melanie selected Kayda as the Islander, she felt like “needs to be fired,” Kayda then got flung into a pool of pink slime.
The main reason behind the decision seems to be from when Sincere pulled Kayda for a chat the day before. “I love you though,” said Melanie as Kayda responded, “Fake love, fake love.” Don’t worry, though, they ended up squashing the beef later that night.
The other major moment that happened was during one portion of the challenge, the girls went inside, for what appeared to be a task to grab as many dollars as they could, but instead, they were surprised to have a make-out session with the new bombshell, Corbin. Additionally, this was kept secret from the guys until Corbin made his grand entrance later that night.
After Corbin made his introduction to the Islanders as a whole back at the fire pit, Melanie was the first to grab him for a chat. This didn’t sit right with the other women as they discussed that they wanted Kenzie to be the first to talk with the bombshell, as she was single.
When Beatriz asked to have a conversation with Melanie after she returned, the two couldn’t seem to see eye to eye on the issue, and ultimately Melanie got up from the conversation, repeating, “Give me 10.”
@loveislandusa We’re all needing 10 after tonight
See you Sunday for a new episode of LoveIslandUSA!
Come the next day, however, the two women made time to chat with one another and have a heart-to-heart about the situation, and how it was hard to receive the information, but that they wanted to be supportive of one another moving forward.
Sunday night’s episode also ended with the first recoupling ceremony of the season, with the girls in the power seat to pick which guy they wanted to be coupled up with. However, unknown to the rest of the Islanders, new bombshell Corbin got a text earlier in the day informing him that he would actually get to select a girl first that he wanted to couple up with.
Ariana revealed this information to the rest of the Islanders during the ceremony at the fire pit. Corbin ended up coupling up with Kenzie, who later revealed that she had planned to couple up with him as well. Aniya ended up being the first girl to give her recoupling speech, and she selected KC. Next, Melanie chose Sincere, and Kayda chose Zach. And Beatriz chose Gabriel.
That meant the final decision of the night came to Trinity. Ultimately, Trinity chose to stay in her couple with Bryce, meaning Sean stayed single and vulnerable. It was then that Ariana revealed that because of this, Sean was the first Islander dumped from the island and needed to pack his bags and leave.
After Sunday night’s episode aired, viewers were informed that three new bombshells would be entering the villa during Monday night’s episode. Jen from Melbourne, Florida; Caleb from Ashbury, North Carolina; and a new Islander from Southern California – Sol from Orange.
New episodes of Love Island USA air at 6 p.m. PT every day but Wednesday on Peacock.