Love Island USA Reunion Recap: The Winners and Losers

Love Island
Reunion
Season 8 Episode 35
Editor’s Rating ★★★
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Thanks to the studio audience of super fans and elaborate red carpet entrance, this felt less like a reunion and more like an awards show (and occasionally, when the audience cheered or booed for an Islander on stage, like a Jerry Springer set). There were some daring fashion choices, particularly from the men — Gabe wore a diamond choker, KC swathed himself in gold lamé, Corbin looked like he was trying to sell me a used refrigerator, and Gal wore a T-shirt, which Bryce found deeply unimpressive. There were sponsors. And there were winners and losers. 

Overall, Trinity and Bryce had the most successful evening. Nobody clings to each other more firmly, defends their relationship more fiercely, or dismisses the opinions of the internet more authentically than Brinity. Not everyone came away quite as unscathed, however. Let’s recap. 

Winners

The Core Four
Trinity, Aniya, Kayda, and Melanie love their fan-given nickname.

Invisalign 
Bea’s physical commitment to her Invisalign explains to me why she is such an elite athlete. Some people might have given the Invisalign a break for such a formal, public event but Bea has made a commitment to her teeth and to her dental care team that she will not break — not for making out with strangers on Love Island and not for rehashing all of the drama on the reunion.

Melanie
Melanie came to this reunion prepared with both facts and a prosecutorial confrontation style that effectively intimidates all of her on-stage opponents. And even if she hadn’t, production is helpfully on hand to vindicate almost all of her arguments with footage of the event in question. Amora says she’d never let Sincere treat her like that — well, Melanie wants to know, didn’t she watch the episodes before she went after him in Casa Amor? Sol says she was picked on by Melanie and her girls — production rolls a tape of Melanie and Sol’s emotional conversation about Sol’s late father and experiencing homelessness. This allows Melanie to say things like, “mama’s a liar” and “no one was mean to you, so fuck off.”

(No, she has not ended things with Sincere yet, but clearly she’s not going to listen to any of us.) 

Apologies
Gen Z loves accountability, and this was a big night for the humble apology. The Islanders all get an opportunity to apologize for their indiscriminate “likes” and post-villa behaviors. KC and Titi apologize to Aniya for their trash talk on Aftersun. Trinity apologizes to KC on behalf of her fans who have come for him too hard and for her tone to him in the villa — though not the substance of her words, because she stands ten toes down on all of that.

Kenzie and Dylan’s relationship
In the villa, Dylan was more than ready to believe that Kenzie was moving from guy to guy just like Sincere. Now that he’s out, he is her first defender in every conversation. She now describes herself as “very much in love,” and more power to her.

Unseen footage
It really makes you wonder what other gems the producers have been keeping from us. First, there’s the girls’ deliberations over dumping Gabe, revealing they honestly thought Jen just wasn’t that into him. Then, we get to see Trinity’s impassioned defense of her man at movie night after Sincere whined that she hasn’t explored enough. “I did and I didn’t like it,” Trinity declared in a fiery speech, and I fell in love with her all over again.

Losers

Kenzie and Melanie’s friendship 
I was unsure which category to put this relationship under, if I’m honest. On the one hand, if anyone was helped by the airing of grievances on that stage, it’s Kenzie and Melanie, who seem to be talking through their fallout for the first time ever. Kenzie still seems unclear on what, exactly, she and Melanie are fighting about, and breaks down into ugly tears when Melanie insists she hasn’t been a good friend to her. Even though it ends with Melanie coming over to hug Kenzie and promising to get dinner and talk it out, the whole interaction is so contentious and upsetting that it doesn’t feel right to put these two in the winner column.

Caleb’s reputation
Until now, Caleb has enjoyed a reputation as a hard-luck farmboy who was led on by Kenzie and never got a fair shake in the villa. However, Jaiden’s description of his behavior post-villa is more in line with a frat boy who’s just won People’s Sexiest Man Alive. From what I can gather of the timeline, it sounds like Caleb and Jaiden slept together on their first night outside the villa, then Caleb promised to call her and didn’t really. He was happy to hook up when they saw each other again in the Hamptons, then sent her a “You’re a great girl but…” text a few days later. In his own defense Caleb says, “I’m a 21-year-old guy!” It’s giving West Wilson.

Fan theories
Were Kenzie and Melanie removed from the firepit during the contentious post-Casa recoupling? Was Sol actually pied more than twice in the challenge and that’s what brought her to tears? Is Bryce secretly a wealthy garbage truck company owner? Sorry, but no to all of the above.

Corbin and Parmida’s communication skills
Corbin and Parmida are no longer together, but we have no idea why or what happened. Corbin says at first it was “…fun” but now they’re just friends. Parmida says, “There was no point in being exclusive.” Corbin says, “We had some ups and downs.” Guys, what happened and did it have anything to do with that infamous “I’m known in my city” conversation during their post-elimination car ride from the villa?

KC’s experience
It’s clear that KC still feels hard done by, both by the audience and his fellow Islanders. Fans of the show, he says, have sent him and Titi a lot of hateful feedback, including death threats and racial slurs, which everyone agrees is deplorable. But with regards to the Islanders, I’m not sure why he’s still nursing these particular resentments. He still thinks Bryce misrepresented his “who in the villa has been together from day one” comments, but after reviewing the evidence, I’m not sure KC’s assessment is accurate. He says the girls weren’t happy for him after Casa, and when they dispute this characterization with examples, KC declares, “That’s my experience!”

In fairness, when Trinity is asked if she had beef with KC from the beginning she says no, “I just didn’t care for you.” 

Kayda
Kayda’s reunion energy is oddly defensive for a person who spends very little time in the hot seat. At the top of the hour, she’s forced to explain the parameters of her relationship with Zach again — they are “together,” they are not boyfriend and girlfriend, and they are exclusive. Andy Cohen says he doesn’t understand what that means, and perhaps that puts Kayda in a bad mood, because she spends the rest of the show glowering and taking the occasional cheap shot. “What connection? No offense,” she barks at Chay. For no reason at all, she asks Jaiden why she continued to hook up with Caleb if he was treating her so badly, which even Ariana calls “a little harsh.”

Sincere’s brand relationships
Asked about all the brands that have jumped on the Melanie-leave-Sincere train, Sincere scoffs, “These brands are just following trends.”

The phrase “birds”
Neither Dylan, Andy, nor Ariana have ever heard the word before, which means they have missed a huge percentage of the online reactions to this season of Love Island.