The ‘Love Island USA’ Cast Is On Top of the World. What’s Next?

The stars of “Love Island USA” Season 7 spent half the summer on a reality show in Fiji and the other half facing the fame they found from it. Now, after taping a “roller coaster” of a reunion, they’re looking onward and upward.

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Nic Vansteenberghe is two feet in front of her, iPhone in hand, snapping away. He shows her his camerawork before they reposition to take another photo. They’ve already posed for several selfies together — but this type of view, on the breathtaking terrace on Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center, is the type you want to savor. A thousand photos could not be enough.

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This group spent more than a month isolated in a villa in Fiji for the show. After it wrapped in July, they returned to hundreds of thousands of new followers and the news that Season 7 was Peacock’s most watched original series. It feels like they haven’t had a break. On that, they can agree.

As the reporter for this story, I don’t want to interrupt the crew from their tourist-like fun. But when the time comes, I finally approach: “Hey, could I pull you two for a quick interview?”

Winners Amaya and Bryan recently hit a major milestone: Amaya, a native New Yorker, took on Bryan’s hometown of Boston. Together, they threw out the first pitch at a Red Sox game on Aug. 4.

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“Nobody really knows what we experience except for us. So we always fall back on each other whenever we’re feeling overwhelmed,” Bryan says.

Nic and Olandria have also been traveling. The pair embarked on a “baecation” (Nic’s words) to Greece, where they photographed a “Love Island”-themed line for Kulani Kinis, an Australian swimwear brand Nic has been modeling with for years.

“That was where the 10-minute break came in,” Nic adds.

Clarke seemed glued to Taylor’s side. When I grab them for an interview on the rooftop, voice recorder in hand, she naturally leans against his shoulder as he holds her close. Back in July, they told me they were excited to introduce each other to their respective lifestyles — Clarke in the city and Taylor in the country.

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“Before they start the events at the rodeo, everybody comes out on their horses,” she explains, showcasing her firsthand knowledge of Taylor’s sport. “Normally he does that by himself, but I wanted to do it, too. We did it together.”

“I was. But then, I mean, I rode a horse by myself — with no saddle,” she emphasizes. “I know what I’m doing.”

“I love my man,” she says simply after showing me her iPhone lock screen: a professional, loved-up photo of her and Ace.

Throughout Season 7, Amaya — who entered the show as a bombshell in Episode 4 — quickly became a fan-favorite, known for hyping herself up through impromptu songs and memorable mantras. A fan favorite: “I feel free! I feel like I could fly! Like the pigeons back in New York City!”

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As the group takes in the view, it’s clear this is a special moment for them. Taylor’s arm sits around Clarke’s shoulder, and Nic’s hand stays at Olandria’s back. Initial reservations and hesitant cheers at being so high up eventually fade to laughter. Soon, both Bryan and Nic have their phones out, snapping selfies with Amaya and Olandria, respectively, and taking videos of each other, which they later post to social media.

“I think that’s why I’m chronically online, as they say,” Nic says. “Because I get to control what people see all the time now. So I’m able to have my own edit.”

“I didn’t know this was going on. That’s why I seemed so oblivious,” Olandria says. “And it was like, ‘She’s so obsessed with that word.’ Like, no, literally, I was. But seeing it from their point of view, I’m like, this makes so much sense.”

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Olandria tells me that “the world only saw the edited side,” so she has “mixed emotions” about revisiting the episodes.

Of this group from “Love Island USA” Season 7, most say they haven’t watched the whole season back. Only Nic enthusiastically says he’d see it. “I want to livestream it,” he says.

“I think they showed us pretty well. They didn’t show us being friends at first. I wish they did show that part,” Bryan says.

Olandria, however, says if she participated in Nic’s livestream rewatch, she wouldn’t “have many friendly reactions.”

Toward the end of the show, one challenge shifted the tide of public discourse. Titled the Stand on Business challenge, the episode saw Islanders leave each other anonymous notes, and predictably, not every note was well received. The episode came shortly after the infamous Heart Rate challenge, which sparked a feud between Chelley and fellow Islander Huda Mustafa, after Huda danced on Ace in a way that multiple Islanders felt crossed a line.

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“When I first came out, I was letting social media get to me,” Olandria says. “(Nic) was like, ‘OK, put down the phone. No social media, no more.’ He would limit my screen time as far as being online, because I was always in the comments.”

“I literally go to bed, my phone in my hand, scrolling,” Olandria says. “(Nic) caught me one time —”

“ — with it in my hand, looking at Nicolandria edits,” she adds.

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“Maybe if I get bored and want to watch something, I’ll finish it. But right now, no, I don’t really care to,” she says. “And it’s so crazy because I came into the villa saying, ‘I can’t wait to watch this back. I want to see everything.’”

“Just knowing how I lived it. So when I see a little bit of things that look a little bit different than what I experienced, it’s like, maybe I don’t want to see this anymore,” she adds. “But who knows? My feelings change every day.”

Offering advice for future Islanders, Taylor says: “Watch what you say, because everything can get taken out of context.”

BOTH AMAYA AND BRYAN’S PHONES crashed when they got them back after the show.

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The influx of opportunities is overwhelming, the cast agrees.

She says after leaving the show, she reached out to people who’ve been through the reality TV experience before, and she leaned on their advice: “Speak to everyone.”

From there, she says she decides what opportunities to take based on “vibes.”

Nic says he chooses based on his “moral compass,” aligning the brands with his own values. Specifically, as a registered nurse, he’s interested in the health and wellness space. He adds that his dream opportunity would be shooting an “intimate” couples ad with Olandria, like for Calvin Klein or Skims.

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“I want to go back home, do some giveaways, some drives, some horse camps, some rodeo camps. Give away free haircuts, stuff like that for my community,” he adds.

The group is mixed on whether more reality TV is in their sights. Asked if another show interests her, Olandria says, “I just came from reality TV. It’s a lot.” After all, she says she was asked to be on “Love Island USA” twice before she could finally go. She first declined because she had just started her elevator sales job and didn’t want to risk her career. The next time around, she was in Thailand.

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While Amaya says she doesn’t see herself doing another reality show, Bryan and Chelley say they’d love to compete on “Dancing with the Stars.” (Chelley’s dream partner? Ace.)

EACH COUPLE SAYS THEY haven’t been physically separated for long. Chelley estimates she’s spent only six days apart from Ace since leaving the villa. Clarke and Taylor have set up something of a home base in Oklahoma, while Amaya and Bryan have the benefit of both being from the Northeast. Nic and Olandria say they “don’t really spend that much time apart.”
“We should make a joint calendar now that we’re on that,” Nic responds.

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“Olandria, that’s my girl,” Chelley says. “It sucks because she lives far, I live far, we’re both super busy. … It’s like, damn, I wish I could see you every day again.”

“It was bittersweet, because that’s probably the last time we’ll all be in the same room,” Bryan says. “But it’s sweet that we get to close that chapter and start something new.”

“‘Love Island’ reunions are no joke. We are on dinner break. It is 9:45. We’re going back in there soon,” Cohen said in a video shared to his Instagram story the day of the taping. He confirmed in a follow-up post that they wrapped at 11 p.m.

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The reunion was part of why Olandria says she didn’t watch the show in advance. Because she knows firsthand that certain moments are edited, “I don’t want to take anything out of context and bring it to the reunion, like, ‘Why did you say this?’” she says.

Chelley says she went into the reunion with excitement and no expectations.

She does say she left the taping with “clarity.”

“I left (with) a clear mind, with wanting to let go of the past and just move forward,” she adds. “That was a moment to bring us all together, release, celebrate — and go forward from there.”