‘Love Island USA’ Season 8 Premiere: First Couples and Bombshells
Summer has started again! And with that comes season 8 of “Love Island USA” on Peacock, complete with host Ariana Madix, narrator Iain Stirling and a new group of single islanders looking for love.
Things officially kick off with the arrival of marketing director and Georgia native Aniya Harvey, who says she’s looking for a husband and expects a ring by the end of the season, and compatriot Kenzie Annis, who graduated from nursing school the day before heading to Fiji. She says she “returned her virginity because it’s been a year and a half.”
Next up is Philadelphia/Los Angeles’ Melanie Moreno, who says she doesn’t use the term girly-girl — “When you hear that shit, red flag” — which may or may not refer to Season 7’s contestants repeating the phrase throughout their run.
The group of women is completed by Paralympians Beatriz Hatz and Trinity Tatum. Hatz is from San Diego, runs track and considers herself competitive, while Tatum, who left her job at the hardware store for “Love Island,” jokes that she is “a personality tenant” and is looking for a “golden retriever” type man.
The sixth female contestant (Vasana Montgomery) was kicked off the show after a video surfaced of her singing along to racist comments.
Once everyone knew each other, Madix joined the group and got into the good stuff: why they’re here. Moreno says she hasn’t had much luck romantically, but she has so much love to give; Tatum teams up with Harvey to find a husband; Annis says she is “not a selection girl” (which she does acknowledge is the plot of “Love Island”); Harvey says she dates a lot and won’t settle for anything less; and Hatz has had to deal with men who were insecure because of her career.
Bryce Dettloff and Sincere Rhea are the first men to arrive; Rhea does track and field (like Hatz) and is smart enough not to say he could beat a Team USA athlete in a race. Rhea says his parents would call him “a ladies’ man,” and admits he was just that: “I’d be selfish if I didn’t spread the love.” Dettloff, a model from New York, says he’s “sensitive and emotional” to a chorus of “awws” — and Annis calls him “a simplist.” “We’re not saying it’s a bad thing!” she adds.
Then Zach Georgiou – the younger brother of Season 7’s Charlie Georgiou – enters and immediately introduces himself as a cousin sibling at Madix’s request. By the way, the Birmingham native’s intro is ‘What Makes You Beautiful’, as Georgiou ‘loves One Direction’. As for women, he’s looking for a “nice, cool American girl.”
Police Officer Sean Reifel (who says he was called “Officer Sexypants” by a citizen and her family) reveals he’s a dad! Papacita? Unlike Season 7’s Huda Mustafa, Reifel is quick to tell the group about his son and the fact that he moved to Pennsylvania to support the mother of his child. Reifel is joined by nursing assistant and Californian KC Chandler, who admits he likes the chase but “would rather be a lover boy.” He loves his freedom, but would give it up for the right woman, FYI.
Madix crowns them the first 10 Islanders of the season and takes them straight to a multiple-choice compatibility test, where Islanders stand behind doors, each marked with answer options. If the door opens for multiple people, the participants must kiss each person on the other side.
The questions range from favorite sex position (with Madix asking participants why they each chose those positions); if you are a dog, cat or plant person; whether it is okay to check your partner’s phone; and if you’re here to find love – split into no, maybe, and “hell yes!” – which of course results in a communal make-out, resulting in everyone being kissed by every participant of the opposite sex.
After the final round, the girls can choose which boy they want to mate with. Tatum chooses Dettloff and becomes the first couple of the season; Hatz goes for Reifel after the pair kiss in every round of the blind game; no one stands up for Chandler, who is eventually paired with Harvey after Rhea chooses Moreno over her; and Annis couples with Georgiou.
The night doesn’t end there: Each couple wanders off to get to know each other, and there’s a lot of talk about the Eagles, Georgiou’s “darker features,” Tatum and Dettloff’s seven-year age difference, and country music, which Hatz would “rather be re-disabled” than listen to. Then they split into boys and girls for a debriefing.
Day 2 opens with Tatum saying she’s never had avocado toast (“Love Island” sacrilege) and Georgiou isn’t sure “if there’s a vibe” between him and Annis. There was also a make-out session for Rhea and Moreno, and Dettloff says he “doesn’t want to steal.” [Tatum’s] youth” since he is almost 30 and she is 22.
Madix appears at night to summon the group to the fire pit, where she reveals that each islander will have to decide whether to stay with their partner or start a new connection by standing on the color-coded green and red dots, respectively, behind another pair of closed doors.
Before the doors open to reveal the contestants’ choices, two new bombshells enter the villa, ready to kiss the contestants on red dots – Gabriel Vasconcelos, who was demoted from OG status to even the numbers after Montgomery was booted, eventually leads Tatum and Hatz out of the villa hand-in-hand, while Kayda Reese Bosse picks Georgiou and Dettloff, leaving the rest of the contestants shocked and unsure of what just happened.
