SPOILER ALERT! This post contains details through for Love Island USA Season 7 through Sunday night’s episode.
For as many mixed emotions as this season of Love Island USA is eliciting in fans, imagine how Ariana Madix and Iain Stirling feel.
The host and narrator of the series have had to pick their own jaws up off the floor a few times as the Season 7 drama has unfolded. Madix, who is a self-proclaimed super fan of the franchise and began hosting duties in Season 6, tells Deadline she was most affected by the dumping of Charlie Georgiou just as he was beginning to form a strong connection to Hannah Fields.
“Even in the moment, being there during it was jaw dropping. I even said to my producer in my earpiece, I asked them could they see my heart through my outfit, because I really felt like it was beating out of my chest,” she remembered. “I was like, ‘I’m shocked that you can’t hear it, let alone see it moving the fabric.’ It was an intense night for sure.”
Stirling had a tough time choosing just one moment, citing a few including Jeremiah White’s unceremonious departure, but concluded that Nic Vansteenberghe and Olandria Carthen’s rendezvous in Soul Ties was at the top of his list so far. In case you missed it, the pair were individually dumped during Casa Amor but were given the chance to couple up together and return to the villa, where they could explore their own connection.
This led to a steamy make out session in the secluded daybed, which is notorious for intimate moments on the series.
“I genuinely can’t tell you the last time I watched Love Island and reacted to it like I wasn’t working on it,” he gushed about the kiss, calling it an “ultimate Love Island moment” that will go down in franchise history books.
While Madix joined the franchise in Season 6 of the U.S. spinoff, Stirling has been around the Love Island block for a minute. He began narrating the UK edition when it launched in 2015 and added USA to his plate in Season 4.
Love Island UK quickly became a cultural touchstone for younger audiences, but it took a few seasons for Love Island USA to begin attracting attention. Last season, the show took off, which Stirling attributes at least in part to the “five or six legendary Love Island contestants” who graced audiences’ small screens.
“You just don’t get that many on one series,” he said, speaking from his experience. For as good as Season 6 was, Stirling says he thinks that Season 7 is “as good, if not better,” because rather than a few individuals attracting eyeballs, “it’s like a real team effort.”
“The show’s really come into its own, and it’s really amazing to see,” he added. “I don’t know if it’s because it’s America…but it’s the first time in a long time I felt like a like I’m watching the show as well as working on it.”
While Stirling’s job is to provide his own commentary on the happenings in the villa, Madix often has to remain tight-lipped about her thoughts — at least in front of the islanders, so as not to sway their decision making.
Iain Stirling
Courtesy
Contrary to the increasingly popular belief that all the twists and turns are pre-planned or “scripted,” Madix says production is very careful to let events unfold as naturally as possible in that environment.
“There’s constantly conspiracy theories about how the show was made or how decisions are made within the villa or with the islanders. There’s always accusations of things being rigged, or that production decided this, that or the other. That’s not true,” she explained. “The audience is so smart about so many things, but they never get it right on what is maybe influenced or not. Islander decisions are never influenced by production. Voting is never rigged. Things are not decided on because the season is going a certain way. The way that we did Casa this year — which I loved, by the way, because it gave people agency, and it prevented people from being singled out as villains — things like that are planned ahead of time.”
Take Nic and Olandria’s recoupling, for example. Madix tells Deadline that it was always the plan to give the eliminated islanders the opportunity to be a couple and re-enter the villa. The fact that it was Nic and Olandria, who had subtly expressed interest in each other earlier in the season, was just a serendipitous twist of fate.
“I never would have predicted that. [I thought] Olandria felt like she wanted to be loyal to Taylor, so she maybe won’t open herself up as much to the guys in Casa as other women. But Nic, I thought, oh for sure. He’s so flirty. He’s so friendly. He’s going to get chosen,” Madix said, admitting she thought that TJ Palma was going to get the boot instead.
She continued: “I was actually so shocked when it ended up being the two of them. It was also my birthday, and I was like, ‘Ah, happy birthday to me.’ I just felt like if they never explored it, will they ever know?”
Still, Madix approaches her host duties with as much humanity as she can. This season alone we’ve seen her on multiple occasions give contestants the space to express their emotions, however messy they might be.
“I want them to know that I feel for all of them, regardless of what’s going on in any moment. I know it’s a very difficult position to be in. Whether that is somebody who is liked by the audience or not, they’re all in there just kind of doing their best. So it’s hard sometimes to stop myself from just wanting to encourage them or or tell them it’s fine,” she said.
Last week, Peacock issued a reminder to fans to remain polite online as discourse about the season grew, with a barrage negative comments directed at the contestants themselves.
As a fan herself, Madix acknowledged how frustrating it can be to watch things unfold in the villa differently than the way she might want them to. But, she also points out “sometimes we see so much more, I think, than they do.”
“Even if it’s a moment that they were present for, they’re not watching it from here. They’re living the moment. So it’s a lot different to be able to watch a moment and pick up on a micro expression or pick up on a vibe. Sometimes it’s like we’ve seen so much more that we can make assumptions or judgments on, but I can’t tell them that,” she said. “Sometimes, you see someone want to couple up with someone [else], and I just feel like, ‘Oh, I wish they would look elsewhere,’ but I just have to smile.”
The Love Island USA Season 7 finale is right around the corner on July 13. With Casa Amor in the rearview mirror, this is the time when emotions are running highest, so don’t expect the producers to let up on the gas pedal now.
“The relationships are getting stronger, they’re getting more intense, people are getting closer. So, of course, when people get closer, feelings start to happen. It’s much less difficult to be nonchalant about somebody that you’re dating a month and a half,” Madix teased. “People are becoming less and less open, and so actions are really starting to have some serious consequences.”
Love Island USA airs every day except Wednesdays on Peacock.
