On June 3, the seventh season of the reality dating competition series “Love Island USA” premiered on Peacock. By the final week of the season’s airing, it had become the top streaming original series in the United States and Peacock’s most watched original title.
The Season 7 reunion streamed Aug. 25 on Peacock and welcomed back fan-favorite islanders for life updates and reflections on the season.
Aubree Davis, a sophomore majoring in accounting, had a different perspective than most watching this season of the show as her cousin, Clarke Carraway, was a contestant who came into the villa during Casa Amor.
“At first, I was super excited Clarke was going on Love Island,” Davis said. “After that wave of excitement passed, I honestly started to feel a twinge of anxiety. It seemed like some people were judging the islanders harshly.”
Carraway coupled up with contestant Taylor Williams following Casa Amor. In a dramatic turn of events that has now become a very popular meme, Williams picked his relationship with Carraway over his previous coupling with Olandria Carthen.
“Clarke was almost treated as collateral damage. In my opinion, she wouldn’t have received as much criticism if she weren’t coupled up with Taylor,” Davis said.
Reflecting on her cousin’s experience on the show, Davis said she was happy Carraway and Williams are continuing their relationship outside of the villa and that her cousin “deserves the love and success coming her way.”
“I enjoyed the show because of the way certain obstacles played out and overall how majority of the people did find their person at the end of the day,” said Kennedy Robinson, a freshman majoring in psychology, who watched all of Season 7 as well as the reunion.
Of those who did “find their person,” Robinson said couples Michelle “Chelley” Bissainthe and Ace Greene, as well as Olandria Carthen and Nicolas Vansteenberghe, were her favorite couples to come from the show.
“You can tell their love is pure and isn’t just for views,” Robinson said.
Kendi McHargh, a freshman majoring in nursing, enjoyed the “connections, friendships formed, drama and frequent content” that came from Season 7 of the show. When watching the reunion, she enjoyed seeing contestants Hannah Fields and Jeremiah Brown get to discuss when they were shockingly voted out of the villa by their fellow contestants.
“It felt as though the two former islanders were able to get some form of closure, and it cleared some of the lingering drama from the season,” McHargh said.
Hannah Perry, a freshman also majoring in nursing, similarly enjoyed the way islanders confronted lingering issues from the past season in the reunion. Her favorite moment came from multiple people confronting contestant Huda Mustafa for drama tied to her both in and out of the villa including her many “crashouts” as well as hate she allowed her fans to perpetuate against other contestants.
“When everyone was clocking Huda’s tea she literally needed it,” Perry said. “I wish I could’ve clocked her tea.”
