Who won 'Love Island USA'? All the highs and lows of Season 7, from 'mamacita' to Cierra Ortega's exit
After six weeks of searching for love, Amaya Espinal and Bryan Arenales were announced as the winning couple of Love Island USA on Sunday night. Arenales picked the $100,000 cash envelope but chose to split it evenly with Espinal.
Nic Vansteenberghe and Olandria Carthen placed second, while Iris Kendall and Pepe Garcia-Gonzalez and Huda Mustafa and Chris Seeley were finalists too, based on viewers' votes. While none of them received cash prizes, they have hopefully found genuine love with each other or, at the very least, will gain more followers across their social platforms and profit from future brand deals.
The entire cast of this season will soon film a reunion together in New York, which will air on Peacock on Aug. 25.
This past season of Love Island USA seems to have drawn more attention than the first few seasons of this American version of the show, an adaptation of the popular U.K. series that's aired since 2015. Within the first week after its June 3 premiere, Season 7 had already become the second-most-watched streaming show across all platforms, with more than 1.2 billion minutes viewed across the nine episodes available at that point, according to streaming data and insight company Luminate.
The season was also Peacock's most-watched series on mobile devices, NBC Universal reported, with nearly 30% of viewers tuning in on their phones or tablets. Audience votes also set new records for the platform, with over 1 million people casting their votes on who should get voted off in six minutes after the July 8 episode.
But before we leave the villa, let's revisit some of the highs and lows of this past season.
Peacock reported that 39% of viewers this season were new to the series, and some Love Island fans have a theory as to why the show exploded this summer.
Two Love Island fans told Yahoo they think the success of the previous season contributed to the massive popularity the show experienced this summer. Season 6 — which was the first to be hosted by former Vanderpump Rules star Ariana Madix — skyrocketed past all earlier seasons of the franchise in terms of weekly viewership, according to data from Luminate.
'I truly felt like it exploded last year,' Naomi, who has been a fan since Season 5, tells Yahoo. 'However, this season is the first time I've seen this type of fan interaction.'
A subreddit dedicated to the series, which was created in 2019 and has become a hotspot for episode discussions, reported that 150,000 new members joined in June. (On July 2 alone, despite there not being a new episode, there were over 90,000 comments in the subreddit.) Some bars in New York and L.A. have started hosting viewing nights where they play the newest episode live for groups of fans.
'The fandom has definitely grown,' fan Terrell Coates tells Yahoo. Coates has watched the last three seasons live. 'I've seen more social media presence for the show, local bars and sporting venues hosting watch parties, and this cast is particularly young (maybe too young), giving it that extra boost with Gen Z audiences.'
Love Island narrator Iain Stirling had to inform viewers twice this season that some contestants had to leave the villa for 'personal' reasons.
Most recently, it was Cierra Ortega, who departed the show one week before the season finale amid backlash over resurfaced social media posts from 2015 and 2023 in which she allegedly used a racial slur.
Earlier in the season, cast member Yulissa Escobar, 27, was also asked to leave after just two episodes, after fans found videos of her using racial slurs in several podcast appearances.
The Season 7 cast delivered bizarre conversations, relatable one-liners and funny facial expressions that inspired plenty of memes on social media.
While getting to know contestant Nic Vansteenberghe in Episode 9, Huda Mustafa shared that she's a single mom. Vansteenberghe didn't seem to take the information that seriously at first, which sparked an unusual first date conversation.
Mustafa: "I'm a mommy."
Vansteenberghe: "Mommy?"
Mustafa: "I'm a mom."
Vansteenberghe: "Mamacita!"
Mustafa: "No, I'm a mommy."
Vansteenberghe: "A mom of what? Like a dog?"
Mustafa: "I have a daughter."
Vansteenberghe: "Like in real life?"
Mustafa: "Yeah."
Vansteenberghe: "Like a daughter, like a real baby?"
Mustafa: "Yeah, like a human child."
The exchange was quickly circulated on TikTok, with users jokingly mimicking Vansteenberghe's confusion as a response to the news that someone in their life is about to be a mother.
Mustafa unintentionally inspired another meme in the 12th episode of Love Island. This time, Mustafa and Jeremiah Brown were broken up after viewers voted for Brown to pair up with new cast member, Iris Kendall. Mustafa's friend Amaya Espinal couldn't help but cry over the situation.
As she sniffled on behalf of her friend's forced breakup, Espinal's partner at the time, Ace Greene, shot her a side-eye look that instantly became a hilarious reaction meme.
In the 13th episode, Mustafa, who was still looking for love at that point, learned about her crush Jeremiah Brown's date with newcomer Iris Kendall after they were paired together in the previous episode.
Mustafa and Kendall sat together, and Kendall said the date with Brown was 'just, like, sitting down on, like, the beach.'
Crushed, Mustafa responds, 'My dream date. Cute. And he knows that.'
The soundbite of her response inspired people to create lip dub memes, like this one in which a TikToker pretends it is her dog's reaction to learning that her owner went for a walk around the park and enjoyed the weather without her.
All episodes of Love Island USA Season 7, and previous seasons of the franchise, are available to stream on Peacock.
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Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Here's Why Gen Z Is So, So Disapproving Of Couples With Age Differences
Is a five-year age gap in a relationship a little untoward? What about a three-year gap? On social media, Gen Zers ― at least those who are chronically online ― are constantly debating the ethics of age gaps. Even if some relationships are perfectly legal, that doesn't necessarily make them ethical, many say. It's little wonder then that age-disparate relationships are cause for so much conversation: Having grown up alongside the #MeToo movement, Generation Z is well versed in unbalanced power dynamics and the language of consent. And lately, there's been plenty of celebrity pairings to interrogate. There's the obviously icky examples, like the recent, short-lived romance between Aoki Lee Simmons — Russell and Kimora Lee Simmons' 21-year-old daughter — and restaurateur Vittorio Assaf, 65. Earlier this month, viral photos showed the pair flouncing around on vacation in St. Barts. Yes, they're both consenting adults, but it was still unseemly, critics said. If anything, the argument that they're both of age is 'something groomers cling to,' as one young woman on Threads put it. 'Adulthood was meant to signify voting/draft age,' she wrote. 'But everyone knows your prefrontal cortex is not fully formed at this age.' (This difference between so-called brain age and chronological age ― you might be 21 but your brain is undeveloped! ― often gets brought up in these kinds of conversations.) There are gender-swapped examples too, like actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson and filmmaker Sam Taylor-Johnson, a now-married couple who met while working on a 2009 John Lennon biopic called Nowhere Boy. At the time, he was in his late teens and she was a mother of two in her early 40s. 'I didn't relate to anyone my age,' the actor told The Telegraph in 2019, reflecting on when they first met. 'I just feel that we're on the same wavelength.' Some fans aren't convinced. 'We def aren't talking about male grooming victims enough and this is literally proof,' one person wrote in a highly shared TikTok video about their coupling. Then there's the less expected critiques: Is four years too much of an age gap? 'At 25, I wouldn't even date a 21 year old,' reads one tweet with around 80,000 likes. What about 10 years? Fans of Billie Eilish were up in arms in 2022 when the then-20-year-old singer revealed that she was dating fellow musician Jesse Rutherford, who was in his early 30s. One viral tweet about the 10-year age gap reads: 'jesse rutherford was alive during george h w bush's presidency . billie eilish cannot legally drink.' Long-established relationships aren't safe, either. Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively's 11-year gap has been scrutinized. And recently, Beyhive members have begun debating whether Beyoncé was 'groomed' because she was 19 when she started dating Jay-Z, who was in his early 30s. Non-celebrity couples are getting called out, too. 'I was 19. My now husband was 27. My now 13yo child calls him my 'predator,'' one woman wrote on Threads alongside laughing emoji, probably only half-joking. Why Gen Z Seems To Have Such An Aversion To Age Gaps Is Gen Z just more prudish on this subject than prior generations? Not necessarily, said Justin Lehmiller, a research fellow at the Kinsey Institute and the host of the Sex and Psychology Podcast. He's been studying age-gap relationships for roughly 20 years and said the stigma around age-disparate relationships is long-standing. In 2008 ― when terms like 'cradle robber' and 'cougar' were bandied around a lot more than they are now ― Lehmiller co-authored a study that found age-discrepant couples reported experiencing significantly more social disapproval than people in gay or interracial couples. So the discomfort around these types of relationships isn't anything new. What is new, according to Lehmiller, is how comfortable Gen Z feels about publicly and vocally disapproving of these relationships ― even on people's personal Instagram pages. (Aaron and Sam Taylor-Johnson recently spoke out against the 'bizarre' online judgment they've received. Eilish and Rutherford brushed off the criticism from overly concerned fans by dressing up as a baby and an old man one Halloween.) 'To some in Gen Z, age-gap relationships read as being inherently exploitative because they perceive age discrepancies as necessarily creating a power imbalance that favors the older partner,' Lehmiller told HuffPost. What's also changed is which parties tend to receive the brunt of the judgment. In the past, people were often scornful of both the younger and older partners in these relationships. Historically, the younger partners, especially when they were women, endured labels like 'gold digger' ― with the implication that they were the ones doing the exploiting. That terminology doesn't always fly with Gen Z. 'That perception seems to have largely disappeared when you look at what Gen Z is saying,' Lehmiller noted. 'They seem to cast the younger partners as victims who are being preyed upon or 'groomed.'' Gigi Engle, a certified sex and relationship psychotherapist and resident intimacy expert for dating app 3Fun, worries that the term 'grooming' is being overapplied and losing its meaning. 'The narrative is really toxic here and in many other cases,' she told HuffPost. 'Trans people are groomers, gay people are groomers, older people dating younger people are groomers ― and this just isn't accurate. It's a really fear-mongering time we live in.' Gen Z may be hyperfocused on this because of their age: If you're a 35-year-old woman, you're probably less hung up on the idea of a 50-year-old guy expressing interest in you. 'I think younger people may be more susceptible to manipulation and are therefore more afraid of it,' Engle said. 'The reality is, age-gap relationships have been happening since humans have existed, and it is absolutely not some one-size-fits-all. In the vast majority of relationships like this, nothing untoward is happening.' Here's What Gen Z Has To Say About Age Gaps Talking to actual Gen Zers, you'll find that their opinions on age gaps run the gamut. As with most things, their takes on the subject are much more nuanced than those found on X, the platform previously known as Twitter, would have you believe. That said, many are genuinely bothered by age gaps. While the #MeToo movement gave them the language to talk about power imbalances, some 20-somethings say their opinions are more colored by their own personal experiences. Layla — a 23-year-old who asked to use her first name only for privacy reasons, like others in this story — thinks it's better to date within your own age group, ideally within a two- or three-year range. 'When I was around 21 and 22, I tried talking to guys who were 30 and over, but soon realized it wasn't right,' she told HuffPost. 'They had so much more life experiences than me, and it was awkward being from different generations.' Layla said she'd tried to joke and laugh about certain things ― a meme or a TikTok video ― and got a lot of blank stares. She wasn't a fan of their humor, either: Men recounting the umpteenth Seinfeld episode or that one Step Brothers scene gets a little old after a while. 'Trying to relate to one another just didn't work out, and it felt awkward and wrong,' she said. 'I believe a relationship between an 18- and 25-year-old is problematic,' Layla said, noting that this applies regardless of gender. 'I actually wish women got called out for their predatory behavior, too,' she said. 'It almost seems like no one wants to hold women accountable.' Mona, a 21-year-old college student in Georgia, even finds her own parents' 11-year age gap a little 'predatory': Her dad was in his late 30s and a divorced father of one when he met her mom, who was in her late 20s and didn't have children. Mona would date someone three years older. She wouldn't consider going younger, though. 'I do think that an 18- and 25-year-old together is unacceptable,' she said. She is particularly weirded out when she hears people talk about how their partner basically raised them or taught them 'how to be a woman,' as Beyoncé said to Jay-Z in a 2006 birthday toast that went viral recently. Mona is also wary of anyone who almost exclusively dates young people ― the Leonardo DiCaprios of the world. Every time the 49-year-old actor gets a new girlfriend, a graph highlighting the fact that each of his ex-girlfriends has been 25 or under starts circulating again. 'Any respectable adult would have the common sense that pursuing a teenager is extremely weird, and I also believe it says a lot about the headspace of the older person,' the 21-year-old said. Mona also thinks the COVID-19 pandemic might've been a factor in Gen Zers' apprehension over age gaps. They might technically be 21, but given that weird few-year pause, they don't feel it. 'You hear about how we're mentally the same age that we were when the pandemic first started,' she said. 'That might play a role in why some people are not settling on older people pursuing them ― you feel you're still too young.' Not everyone agrees. Rei, a 22-year-old who is queer, said they don't find age-disparate relationships inherently problematic. They said there's a lot more than age that gives people power over each other, and if you consider five years an 'age-gap relationship,' then Rei is currently in one. 'Though my partner is older than me, I have a college degree and she doesn't,' they said. 'So arguably I have a better financial and career outlook that would make me the 'abusive one,' if you're using that language.' Age gaps may be more common in the queer community, Rei said. 'I don't know a gay guy who hasn't been with someone much older than him,' they said. 'It's just normal to us.' Problematic dynamics can exist no matter the age. 'People now don't know what grooming is and just use the term as synonymous with age gaps,' Rei said. To some extent, Rei sees the hubbub over age gaps as an overcorrection of the mores ushered in by the #MeToo movement. 'People overadjust and assume that any relationship out of the norm is abusive,' they said. 'In my experience, people who feel age gaps are problematic are also the same people who argue the internet is harmful and should be censored because they had a bad experience as a kid. Your experience isn't universal.' For Amelia, 24, actual age matters less than the stage of life you're in. She figures if you're a relatively accomplished 28-year-old dating an accomplished 40-year-old, what's the big deal? The word 'grooming' really only applies when an adult is introduced to a future partner when they're underage, Amelia said. She cited the relationship between Dane Cook and his wife as an 'egregious' example of a questionable age gap. (The now-52-year-old comedian met Kelsi Taylor at a game night he hosted when she was in her late teens.) 'Do I think it's possible for people like that to have a healthy and happy relationship? Sure,' Amelia said. 'But the older I get, my desire to talk to high schoolers grows slimmer and slimmer. I really can't put myself in the shoes of someone who would want to befriend a high schooler.' That said, Amelia thinks that some Gen Zers take their judgment too far. To her, the concern over age gaps seems like a weirdly 'paternalistic' brand of feminism, where women feel the need to protect women from men. 'It's similar to how Swifties treat Taylor Swift,' she said, referring to the now-34-year-old pop star. 'You have young women 'looking out for' a billionaire woman in her 30s. I'm a fan of Taylor Swift, but I don't think she needs protecting from Travis Kelce because Travis Kelce got in the face of his NFL coach during the Super Bowl.' The anti-age-gap sentiment held by many plays into the 'puriteen' narrative that's been inescapable lately. Online, there's a lot of hand-wringing over Gen Zers' seeming aversion to sex: Studies show that they're having less of it than earlier generations and that they don't want sex scenes in their movies. Though Amelia overall disagrees with age-gap critics ― she feels like their arguments rob women of their agency, she said ― she gets where those in her peer group are coming from. 'The majority of us had unsupervised internet access from a young age. We were in chatrooms, on Tumblr, and other various corners of the internet that we probably should not have been on at that age,' she said. 'It was easy for grown men on the internet to reach us if they wanted to.' If you've been oversexualized at a young age ― or seen others in your age bracket be oversexualized ― that experience is understandably going to shape how you perceive these kinds of things, Amelia said. But the reality is, there are likely just as many happy May-December unions as there are disappointing ones. 'Believe it or not, we often see more ― not less ― equity in these relationships,' Lehmiller noted. All of the Gen Zers we spoke to said that ultimately, two consenting adults can do whatever they want in their private lives, even if others find it off-putting. 'Men can like women that are younger and not be a creep,' Amelia said. 'He also can be a creep, but some random person with a Twitter cartoon avatar shouldn't necessarily be the judge of that!' This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Solve the daily Crossword
Newsweek
13 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Gwyneth Paltrow Takes On Surprise Role For Astronomer After Viral Video
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Astronomer, the New York data tech firm caught up in the Coldplay concert "kiss‑cam scandal," has hired actress Gwyneth Paltrow for a lighthearted marketing video which capitalizes on the attention driven by two executives caught canoodling at the gig. The company enlisted the Oscar-winning ex-wife of Coldplay frontman Chris Martin as a "very temporary spokesperson" in the tongue-in-cheek video. Why It Matters The clip follows the resignation of Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and HR chief Kristin Cabot—both pictured in an embrace caught live on a jumbotron during the July 16 concert at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. The CEO is still married, and Cabot was reportedly previously married to Kenneth Thornby, their divorce being finalized in 2022. The footage of Byron and Cabot ducking away from the camera, when they realized they were being filmed, quickly went viral. The original video amassed more than 45 million views on TikTok and millions more in reposts across other platforms. In this Nov. 7, 2015 file photo, Gwyneth Paltrow attends LACMA 2015 Art+Film Gala at LACMA in Los Angeles, Calif. In this Nov. 7, 2015 file photo, Gwyneth Paltrow attends LACMA 2015 Art+Film Gala at LACMA in Los Angeles, Calif. Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP What To Know In the video, posted to X, Paltrow is sitting at a desk and thanks the public for their interest in Astronomer. She says: "I've been hired on a very temporary basis to speak on behalf of the 300-plus employees at Astronomer." She continues: "Astronomer has gotten a lot of questions over the last few days, and they wanted me to answer the most common ones." Thank you for your interest in Astronomer. — Astronomer (@astronomerio) July 25, 2025 A question then appears on screen reading: "OMG, what the actual …" Before the final word appears, the video cuts back to Paltrow, who shifts to promoting some of Astronomer's services. In a subtle nod to the widespread attention the company has received, Paltrow adds, "We've been thrilled so many people have a newfound interest in data workflow automation." Another question starts to appear on screen, typing out: "How is your social media team holding up?" But before it's finished, Paltrow interrupts abruptly, announcing that Astronomer has spaces available at an upcoming conference in September. She closes the video with: "We'll now be returning to what we do best: delivering game-changing results for our customers." Astronomer, a New York-based company, helps companies develop, grow, and analyze products using artificial intelligence. After Byron resigned, the company said in a statement: "Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding. Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met." Pete DeJoy, who has taken over as interim CEO, admitted on Monday that the company has faced an "unusual and surreal" amount of attention in recent days. On LinkedIn, he wrote: "While I would never have wished for it to happen like this, Astronomer is now a household name." What Happens Next Astronomer's board of directors has announced the start of a formal search for a new chief executive.
WIRED
13 minutes ago
- WIRED
Do You Need a Barbecue Knife?
These specialty blades—cutlass-shaped mini machetes made for chopping grilled and smoked meats—aren't a necessary addition to your grill game. But they're fun, and they get the job done. Courtesy of Schmidt Brothers/Messermeister All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links. A while back at my favorite kitchen-gear trade show, I spotted what appeared to be a trending category: barbecue knives. Their distinguishing characteristics seem to be a fairly tall blade, a shape that encourages a wokka-wokka–style rocking motion, and a target audience that skews heavily toward dudes with beards. Not all of those traits scream 'great for grilling,' but I was intrigued. One question immediately stuck in my head: What, if anything, makes a knife grill-friendly? Those I'd come across certainly had a look that blended pirate cutlasses and samurai swords, along with Japanese kitchen knives and occasionally Chinese cleavers. Ads with Guy Fieri look-alikes who were 'blown away' by this 'radical design' quickly began crufting up my social media feeds. I sent a note off to my trusted knife guy, Bob Tate, at Bozeman Knife Sharpening & Supply to get his take on barbecue knives. He had just sharpened one for a client and found that it 'looked like a cross between something Attila the Hun would use in battle and a zombie slayer.' This one in particular struck him as the product of celebrity chefs and knife designers who needed to justify their existences. He clearly couldn't see the point, preferring to steer customers considering a set toward the famous trifecta of a chef's knife, paring knife, and bread knife. 'I tell them they'll be able to do 90 percent of everything they need to do and be way happier doing it 'cause they've got a superior product,' Tate says. Courtesy of Messermeister Charmed Knife Though I didn't smell a rat, something felt just a little bit made up about this knife style, so I called a couple of them in for testing. First to arrive was the eight-inch Messermeister Avanta Kendrick BBQ Knife, with a swashbuckler vibe, a curved spine (the top of the blade), a handle that continued that arc upward, and the sides of the blade painted black. (If you need even more macho than all that, check out the video.) The knife is a bit blade-heavy, a style that is not my jam, but it felt good to wield. Messermeister is a well-respected brand among both pro chefs and home cooks. Chad Ward, author of An Edge In The Kitchen , calls one of Messermeister's traditional nine-inch chef's knives 'just about perfect.' This led to a bit of confusion as I got chopping, when my reaction started at 'what the?' and proceeded to 'ouch!' A few things became clear as I chopped my way through piles of onions, carrots, herbs, and meat. First, the upward handle angle had peculiar effects on the knife's behavior. Imagine the grip you'd use on a 'regular' knife, which is vaguely like shaking someone's hand. Now watch what your hand needs to do to accommodate an upward handle angle. It gets awkward kind of quickly, right? Courtesy of Mike Panic/Messermeister First, it made me want to be taller, which is peculiar because I'm a smidge over six feet, and in kitchens I'm usually wishing for a higher countertop. Here, I wanted my cutting board a few inches lower to compensate for the knife. Plus the blade height, well over two inches high for most of its length, meant that using the tip to do delicate work was not really an option. Plus, in a reversal from the rocking motion the knife seems to be designed for, the handle angle encouraged me to use more of a push cut, more typically used with a knife like a santoku with very little curve to the edge. This got more peculiar when I held it up next to my existing knives and realized the big swoop of the blade was notably similar to my classic German chef's knife. Unconsciously, this made me move my pinch grip—where the blade is held between the thumb and forefinger while the other three fingers stay on the handle—even further forward in order to get the knife to cut like I wanted it to. When I asked the folks at Messermeister specific questions about it, the company's executive vice president responded with a quote, more than half of which was marketing copy pulled directly from the Messermeister website. He also mentioned European butchers and fishmongers, a 'butcher's style blade,' a compact cleaver, mezzaluna, and a 'ulu-style skinning knife.' It was some serious knife-dude word salad, but apparently I was covered from prep to flensing! Did I mention the sharp corners on the top of the spine started giving me blisters? Courtesy of Schmidt Brothers In pleasant contrast, the other barbecue knife was a lot of fun. Schmidt Brothers Cutlery sent me the eight-inch Chef's BBQ Knife from its Zebra Wood 6-PieceBBQ BBQ Knife Set, a firmly middle-of-the road collection it sells through Costco and kitchen gear retailers. It is light, not too tall, with a gradual taper and dimples (aka kullens) along the sides that help keep food from sticking. It was a bit of a cross between a slicer and a santoku, particularly the latter's profile and the minimal swoop of the belly. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed using it. I liked the rounded and slightly large grip and far more centered weighting. A butternut squash would max out this knife's capabilities, and it's certainly not made for skinning anything, but I still loved using it. Frankly, the whole 'barbecue knife' concept is a little lost on me, but more than once I considered adding this knife to my own lineup. What all this testing with two very different blades underscored was the importance of trying a knife out before committing to it. Messermeister isn't mistakenly making a blade-heavy knife; some people love that. I suppose you could cheat and order one online and ship it back if it doesn't work out, but swinging past a great knife shop will allow you to compare multiple styles and pay big dividends. (If you're in Bozeman, Montana, go see Bob Tate and tell him I said hello!) A barbecue knife may be more of a hazy marketing idea than anything else, but they're not complete bunk, either. If you try one and like it and because of that enjoy cooking more, then that sounds like a great knife to me.
