Latest news with #AmayaEspinal
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Love Island USA' Star Zak Srakaew Says He Liked Amaya Espinal 'More' After She Called Him An 'Extremely Odd Individual': 'I Lowkey Like A Little Bit Of Fire'
Zak Srakaew realized 'too late' that Amaya Espinal was the cup of tea he should've been drinking. The Thailand native joined this season of Love Island USA in Casa Amor, where he and Espinal—America's favorite self-proclaimed 'sensitive gangster'— quickly hit it off and coupled up, ultimately saving Espinal from potentially getting dumped from the island. However, she didn't get a sugar rush off his word candy for too long, because when they returned to the villa, things took a turn for the worse. During the 'Stand on Business' challenge, Srakaew ganged up on Espinal, along with Ace Greene and Austin Shepard, to complain about her tendency to move too quickly early on in her relationships. His decision to confront her in front of the entire villa earned a fiery response from Espinal, who put all 10 toes down—'not one toe missing'—and slammed him as an 'extremely odd individual.' This viral moment, oddly enough, made Srakaew feel attracted to Espinal all over again — despite initially feeling like she was 'too much' for him. 'I lowkey like a little bit of fire, so seeing that side of her kind of made me like her a bit more,' he admitted to Decider over a recent Zoom interview. Srakaew's switch-up practically sent Espinal running into the arms of Bryan Arenales, who credited her affectionate personality to her Hispanic background, something he could understand and appreciate as a Latino man himself (Espinal and Arenales are currently in a couple, and are well on their way to winning that $100,000 when Season 7 ends next week). Unfortunately for Srakaew—who was dumped from the island in Episode 30—it wasn't until his final days in the villa that he realized his true feelings for Espinal. 'I was looking at her thinking, 'Damn, I really do like this girl. Shit,'' he recalled. 'I couldn't deny how I felt. I was trying to deny it, but something was telling me, 'Damn, I do like this girl.' It was just a little bit too late.' When Decider caught up with Srakaew, he shared what it was like being a 'Casa boy,' his thoughts on Espinal and Arenales as a couple, and who he thinks should win Season 7. Check out the full interview below. DECIDER: What was your reaction to finding out you'd be joining the show in Casa Amor? ZAK SRAKAEW: We didn't really know if we were going in as a bombshell or in Casa Amor. We got flown over there and we were isolated for a while. Every single week, new people got picked out to go on the show. The day before I was going into [Casa Amor], they came into my room and said, 'You're going in tomorrow.' You're just preparing yourself in your room. You're like, 'Oh, shit, it's happening.' It didn't really kick in until you actually got mic'd up. Honestly, it was really exciting. But at the same time, I was nervous as shit. Were you guys able to watch the episodes that were airing before you went into Casa Amor? Did you have an idea of the other Islanders? Little bits and bobs. We got shown drips and drops. Did that influence the way any of the guys in Casa moved? No, not at all. When we were all in the villa together before the girls came, we were all having a pep talk saying, 'Listen, it doesn't matter what's happening at the beginning of the show, we're here as Casa boys. We're here to take everybody's girl. Just go 400% and don't take it easy, and fight for your place.' We just went in there guns blazing and just did our thing. I was really excited when you and Amaya first coupled up. What was it about her that initially caught your eye? She's a sweet girl, and I liked the way she expressed her feelings. She was very up front with everything. She just seemed like a girl who just needed some love. She was a super sweet girl, and I really enjoyed her company for a while, as you see, until … you know. When everyone returned to the villa, the first big challenge was the heart rate challenge, which resulted in some drama between Huda and Chelley. Some fans were speculating that there was more to it that wasn't shown in the final cut of the episode. What can you say about Huda's performance on Ace? There was a challenge, you had to get the heart rate going, and she really wanted to win, which is totally understandable. But at the same time, from a friendship perspective, she went a little bit too extra on some of the boys, depending how you would like to look at it. Some friends were like, 'Oh, she was having a great laugh.' But if you look at it from a different perspective, you'd be like, 'She's doing way too much.' To me, I thought she was just having fun. I didn't think it was too bad. Do you know what I mean? She did a little bit too much on certain people, but it's just depending on how you want to view it. I have to get into the 'Stand on Business' challenge. Why did you wait until that night to tell Amaya how you were feeling? Looking back, is there anything you would've done differently? Yeah, 100%. I'm not good under pressure [or with] saying things in front of people. Everybody had cards. The producers didn't actually show everybody's cards. All the Casa girls got one, all the Casa boys got one – me, Bryan, everybody. To me, it was just a way to express your feelings because you had to'stand on business,' or say how you feel. I think it was just a time to air a little bit of how you were feeling. I felt like everybody did their big one. The next day, Amaya called you a extremely odd individual – a moment that has since gone viral. What were your thoughts when you got out and realized how much that moment had blown up? I watched it back and some of the clips were cut short and some of the conversations were cut short, so it made me look like an absolute dickhead. But at the same time, it is what it is. They can't control what you say. Everything I said came out of my mouth. I'm not going to back up on it. I meant some of the things I said, but I wish I could have just said it in a different way. I've got severe ADHD or ADD, so my brain, how it functions is like, I have a million thousand things to say. It doesn't come out right when I say certain things, especially in front of thousands of cameras and people. The pressure is always there to try to say the right things at the right time, but I always try to be my genuine self. I said what I said. But when she called me an odd individual, I was just like, 'Yeah, OK. Whatever.' The thing is with me, I lowkey like a little bit of fire, so seeing that side of her kind of made me like her a bit more. Amaya has had a lot of viral moments. Have you seen them? Do you have a favorite? On TikTok, there's just been edits of me and Amaya everywhere. I think we've got over thousands of edits. All my friends are sending me all the edits and they've all got over two or three million views. She also has a lot of her own one-liners. I feel like me and Amaya are very similar people in certain ways, because she can't pronounce certain words properly but neither can I. It's quite scary how many similarities we had. Both of us are very clumsy, both of us couldn't pronounce certain words properly. She's a great girl. I've got nothing bad to say about her at all apart from, obviously, our relationship. Some things that she was doing were just a little bit too much for me. Like she said, she's not everyone's cup of tea. It is what it is. I can have fun with the girl, but sometimes there are some things you can't agree with. You can't just fake it. If I really wanted to, I could have just faked it, been with her, told her how much I liked her, told her how much I loved everything she was doing. But I can't be fake. I'm a real person. I have to be genuine. At the end of the day, I just met this girl a week ago. I can't treat her like she's my girlfriend. To get comfortable with somebody, it takes time to build. All the guys were flocking to Amaya once they realized that she was America's favorite. Would you say that maybe some people weren't as genuine in their motives? I don't really know. I'm not saying she was the only option but everybody else was really closed off so it felt like she was the only person. Obviously, at the time, people see me and her have had a lot of arguments, we've had a lot of fallout so I think that was an opportunity for them to get in to find somebody. I totally get it. Honestly, I'm being truthful with you, I didn't know Bryan and Amaya were kissing behind the scenes. They didn't tell me any of it. I didn't know any of this was going on. So when I watched it back, I was like, 'Damn, we were Casa boys, we were friends, they didn't tell me none of this.' I did give him the green light to speak to her, but I didn't know they were getting it on like that. What was your reaction to Amaya choosing Bryan at that last recoupling? Were you surprised? Not really. After our argument and our disagreement, I did apologize to her because it was weird. I don't care about the ranking, I don't care about winning, I don't care about all that bullshit. From the beginning, I did build a little bit of resentment towards her because she was just a bit too much for me. And then after spending so much time together … I was looking at this girl a few days before I left – obviously, I didn't know when I was leaving – but the last few days I was in the villa when I was spending time with her, I was looking at her thinking, 'Damn, I really do like this girl. Shit.' I couldn't deny how I felt. I was trying to deny it, but something was telling me, 'Damn, I do like this girl.' It was just a little bit too late. You and Olandria also had a bit of a connection. What was your reaction when she chose Nic? I was very confused. I felt like she and I had some amazing chats. A lot of chats with us weren't aired. We did really have something great going. With Olandria, it was just somebody that I was very curious about and interested in because I liked the way her mindset was. But at the same time, it didn't surprise me too much because I knew she and Nic got voted off together, they spent some time together, they coupled up, they kissed and all that. They've had a little bit of history, so it didn't surprise me too much. What did surprise me, obviously, is that she picked him after going back to Cierra saying, 'Sisterhood, blah, blah blah, it felt wrong, it didn't feel romantic.' And next think you know, it's like, 'Oh, maybe we are meant to be together. Things are bringing us back together.' There's something fishy going on there. Besides Iris, you were the only one to stand behind TJ during the 'Hate to Burst your Bubble' dumping. Why did you choose TJ over everyone else? I didn't manage to make any connections with any of the new girls because I didn't really speak to them. We were only there together for three or four days. All the other boys were pursuing those girls. I already had Olandria and Amaya on my plate. I just wanted to save TJ because I saw how much Iris liked TJ. I felt like a lot of relationships when I was there were friendship-based or it was the only option they had. I thought these two really, really liked each other from what I saw. I didn't want to break that up. I wanted them to continue that journey together, so I gave it a chance and stood behind TJ. Taylor was obviously saved that night, but him and Clarke were sent home this week. What was your reaction to that? I was lowkey pissed off because when I was in that villa, I spent a lot of time with Taylor and Clarke behind the cameras. Them two really, really loved each other. Out of everybody in there, I felt like they were the only two people who actually had genuine feelings for each other. To me, I felt like they shouldn't have been voted off. Clarke is a very, very sweet girl and I felt like she just got caught up in gunfire. She didn't do anything wrong at all. When I was spending time with Taylor and Clarke, they were a super sweet couple and they genuinely, genuinely did like each other. I felt like them two had the strongest connection in there. I thought so too. I think they definitely got the short end of the stick because of all the drama post-Casa. Olandria had too many fans from the get-go because she was an OG. I feel like a lot of the Love Island fans are not going off who's the most compatible or who's the most loving. They're just going off who they like the most. Now that you're home and you have your phone back, what has been the most surprising take you've seen about this season, and is there anything you'd like to clear up about yourself or your time on the show? There's nothing particular because every action, everything you say, it is down to you, and everything's recorded. All I can say is it's not the full conversations that are recorded. You only see one hour out of the 24 hours. Let's put it this way: you could be the nicest person for 23 hours and that one hour you fuck up, that's the recording they will show. That's all I can say. But apart from that, I love the show, I loved being on there. I had a great time. I knew my own intentions for why I was the way I was. As long as I know and I stay true to myself, that's the only thing that really matters to me. The Season 7 finale is coming up. Who are you voting for to win the show? I'm going to put my two votes. I'm gonna go with Amaya and Bryan because obviously Amaya is a sweet girl. She deserves it. And also Chris and Huda. Last season there was a reunion. If there's a reunion this season, what's one thing that you really hope to address? I want to apologize to [Amaya] for going in on her the way I did and also just admit that I wasn't really super open with my feelings because it was just too soon for me. I've never really had to open up to someone so quick. It was a difficult place to be. I did try my best to be the best as possible. At the same time, I will pull Bryan up. I'll be like, 'Yo, bro. I didn't know you were getting on with her like that. You didn't tell me.' Because as much as [Bryan's] a nice lad, he kept his cards close to his heart. He didn't give anything away. All the boys would get together and we'd be, like, 'Oh, so who have you spoken to? How have you been?' He'd be just like, 'I'm keeping my options open, I've spoken to her a little bit.' But he never really told us what really went on behind the scenes with him and the girls he was with. I felt like he was very tactical. He didn't share too much. He's in the fucking finals, so obviously he played the game right. At the same time, all the boys, we shared all the love, we shared all the information. He was very closed off with his information. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. New episodes of Love Island USA air every night (except Wednesday) at 9/8c on Peacock.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Love Island USA': Season 7 Finalists Revealed As One Last Couple Is Dumped From The Villa
SPOILER ALERT: This post contains details about Season 7, Episode 34. The final week of Love Island USA Season 7 is here, and only four couples will make it to the final. More from Deadline 'Next Gen NYC's Riley Burruss On Advice Kandi Burruss Gave Her About Reality TV & If Mama Joyce Is Watching Bravo Series 'RHOC's Shannon Beador Says She Is In No "Rush" To Fix Friendship With Tamra Judge & Shares Take On Gretchen Rossi's Return 'Ginny & Georgia' Remains Atop Nielsen Streaming Charts With Another Monster Week Of Viewing; 'Love Island USA' Poised To Keep Growing Audience Thanks To Season 7 Following the dumping of Clarke Carraway and Taylor Williams, America was allowed to vote for their favorite couple once again, and two Islanders would be left vulnerable to leaving the villa. RELATED: The remaining couples are Amaya Espinal & Bryan Arenales, Iris Kendall & Pepe García, Huda Mustafa & Chris Seeley, Chelley Bissainthe & Ace Greene, and Olandria Carthen & Nic Vansteenberghe. One of these couples will join the dumped Islanders below. RELATED: On Episode 34, the Islanders met up with their families ahead of the Season 7 finale. The families gave the Islanders energy to get to that finish line as they gave their take on their journey in the villa. The Islanders were treated to one final dinner where they would find out if they were going to make it to the finale or if their road to finding love was over. RELATED: Who are the couples going to the Season 7 finale? • Amaya and Bryan • Huda and Chris • Olandria and Nic • Iris and Pepe Which couple was dumped from Season 7, Episode 34? Chelley and Ace were dumped from the villa, receiving the fewest votes ahead of the Love Island USA Season 7 finale. RELATED: When is the Season 7 finale? America would now vote for their favorite couple to win Love Island USA Season 7, and the results would be revealed on Sunday, July 13. Scroll through the photo gallery below to meet the Season 7 finalists. Best of Deadline 'The Buccaneers' Season 2 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Come Out? 'The Buccaneers' Season 2 Soundtrack: From Griff To Sabrina Carpenter 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery
Newsweek
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Love Island USA Season 7 Finale – Release Date, Schedule, How To Watch
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. Entertainment gossip and news from Newsweek's network of contributors It feels as though Love Island summer has only just begun, but we're already bidding the islanders farewell this weekend as we approach the season seven finale. That's right, the winners of Love Island USA 2025 will be crowned this Sunday, July 13, on Peacock at 6 pm PT/9 pm ET. On Sunday, the remaining couples will set off on their last date together before entering the real world, and we'll learn who will be this year's winning couple. LOVE ISLAND USA -- Episode 733 -- Pictured: (l-r) Olandria Carthen, Amaya Espinal, Chris Seeley, Iris Kendall, Nicolas 'Nic' Vansteenberghe. LOVE ISLAND USA -- Episode 733 -- Pictured: (l-r) Olandria Carthen, Amaya Espinal, Chris Seeley, Iris Kendall, Nicolas 'Nic' Vansteenberghe. Kim Nunneley/Peacock) Below, you will find a guide with all the details on how to watch Love Island USA season seven finale, including the Love Island USA season seven finale release time and the Love Island USA season seven finale release date. Love Island USA Season 7 Finale Release Date The finale of Love Island USA will be available to stream exclusively on Peacock from July 13, 2025. New episodes of Love Island USA air on Peacock nightly except Wednesdays. Love Island USA Season 7 Finale – How to Watch Love Island USA season seven finale airs at 6 pm Pacific Time (PT) on July 13, 2025/9 pm Eastern Time (ET). You will need a Peacock subscription to watch season seven of Love Island USA. A basic subscription for Peacock with ads is $7.99 (+tax) per month or $79.99 (+tax) for the year, and a Premium Plus subscription starts at $13.99 (+tax) per month or $139.99 (+tax) annually. What Time Does Love Island USA Season 7 Finale Come Out? Love Island USA season seven finale will be available to stream from 6 pm (PT) on July 13, 2025/9 pm Eastern Time (ET). With the evening streaming release in the US, the debut time in other countries will differ. Here is when Love Island USA season seven will air in your time zone: July 13 BRT: 10:00 pm July 14 BST : 2:00 am : 2:00 am CEST : 3:00 am : 3:00 am IST : 6:30 am : 6:30 am JST : 10:00 am : 10:00 am AET : 12:00 pm : 12:00 pm NZDT: 2:00 pm Love Island USA Season 7 Release Schedule New episodes of Love Island USA season seven will air nightly from June 3, 2025, except Wednesdays throughout summer. Love Island USA Season 7 Finale Episode Runtime Finale episodes of Love Island USA typically run between 90 and 120 minutes. What Will Happen in Love Island USA 2025? Love Island USA 2025 will follow the same format as previous seasons, with singles traveling to Fiji for a summer of romance and a chance at finding their one true love. Season seven will be hosted by Ariana Madix of Vanderpump Rules, with comedian Iain Stirling returning as this season's narrator. The official synopsis for the season, as per Peacock, reads:
Forbes
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
When Is The ‘Love Island USA' Season 7 Finale? Here's When The Show Ends
LOVE ISLAND USA — Episode 731 — Pictured: (l-r) Amaya Espinal, Bryan Arenales — (Photo by: Ben ... More Symons/Peacock via Getty Images) After six dramatic weeks, Season 7 of Love Island USA is coming to a close. With only a few episodes left, you might be wondering when the finale will air on Peacock. Here's everything you need to know about the long-awaited finale, including the release date, time and what to expect. Season 7 kicked off in early June and has become one of the most controversial seasons in the dating show's history. Two Islanders — Yulissa Escobar and Cierra Oretga — were removed after past social media posts resurfaced showing both contestants using racial slurs. Yulissa issued a public apology shortly after her exit, while Cierra recently published an apology video on Instagram adressing her past comments and removal from the villa. The drama didn't let up in the Fiji, either. America split up Huda and Jeremiah by pairing him with Iris — and Jeremiah was eventually voted out by his friends, sparking backlash from fans over Ace's influence on the guys. Olandria and Nic were temporarily booted from Casa, only to shock everyone by coupling up and making a surprise return to the villa. (Now, #Niclandria is back in full swing following Cierra's exit.) And in another twist, Taylor dropped Olandria for Clarke after just a few days. They both were sent home together shortly after becoming exclusive. If one thing's for sure, it's that Love Island USA Season 7 has been nothing short of a rollercoaster. But amid the chaos, a few couples have managed to form connections — from Ace and Chelley's slow-burn romance to Amaya and Bryan's steamy night in the Hideaway. After losing their respective connections, Hannah and TJ, Pepe and Iris also look promising in the outside world. Huda and Chris, however, could be in trouble after Chris appeared frustrated with their communication in recent episodes. Nearly 40% of Love Island USA viewers this season are new to the series, according to Peacock, a sign of the show's growing fanbase in the U.S. Now that the Islanders' time on the beach is almost up, here's exactly when the winners will be crowned. When Is The Love Island USA Season 7 Finale? LOVE ISLAND USA — Episode 732 — Pictured: (l-r) Olandria Carthen, Nicolas "Nic" Vansteenberghe — ... More (Photo by: Ben Symons/Peacock via Getty Images) The Love Island USA Season 7 finale airs Sunday, July 13, at 9 p.m. ET on Peacock. How Many Couples Will Make It To The Love Island USA Season 7 Finale? LOVE ISLAND USA — Episode 732 — Pictured: (l-r) Iris Kendall, Jose "Pepe" Garcia-Gonzalez, Clarke ... More Carraway, Taylor Williams, Huda Mustafa, Chris Seeley, Olandria Carthen, Nicolas "Nic" Vansteenberghe, Ace Green — (Photo by: Ben Symons/Peacock via Getty Images) Typically, four couples make it to the Love Island USA finale. As of Wednesday, July 9, five couples remain — meaning one more couple will be eliminated ahead of Sunday's episode. After the July 8 episode, fans were asked to vote for their favorite couple again (aka the pair they wanted to see in the finale.) The couple with the fewest votes will likely be eliminated on Thursday, July 10. Which Season 7 Couples Will Make It To The Finale? LOVE ISLAND USA — Episode 730 — Pictured: (l-r) Ace Green, Michelle "Chelley" Bissainthe — (Photo ... More by: Ben Symons/Peacock via Getty Images) Viewers will likely learn which couples will participate in the anticipated Love Island USA finale at the end of July 10's episode, where we'll see the results of another public vote. The remaining couples in the villa include: How Much Money Do The Love Island Season 7 Winners Get? LOVE ISLAND USA — Episode 636 — Pictured: (l-r) Serena Page, Kordell Beckham — (Photo by: Ben ... More Symons/Peacock via Getty Images) The winners of Love Island USA Season 7 will take home a $100,000 cash prize. After the winning couple is announced, they're each given an envelope — one containing the money, and the other empty. The person who receives the money then decides whether to split it with their partner or keep it for themselves. Last year, in Season 6, Kordell received the evelope with the cash decided to split the prize money with Serena. Season 5 winners Hannah and Marco also shared the $100,000 prize. Previous winners also decided to divide the cash. Stay tuned to learn more about the Love Island USA Season 7 finale.
Forbes
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Even Google Is Obsessed With Love Island's Amaya With New Easter Egg
Amaya My wife is currently on maternity leave, and though she's never touched the show, she found out that a friend of a friend is on this season of Love Island USA. That would be Austin (who has now been kicked out), but there have been roughly 28 episodes of this show playing in my house over the last two weeks, so I've gotten a general sense of what's going on. If I had to pick a favorite? It would be Amaya. And it seems Google agrees. In a rare insertion of an easter egg into a search term, Google has hopped on the Amaya train, as she must have some fans within the company. When you search for her, there's a scrolling message at the top, one of her quotes from the show: 'I never said I was perfect. I never said I didn't have any flaws,' followed by an image of a Papaya, her nickname. So far, I've gotten this to come up by Googling: LOVE ISLAND USA — Episode 731 — Pictured: (l-r) Amaya Espinal, Bryan Arenales — (Photo by: Ben ... More Symons/Peacock via Getty Images) Amaya by itself didn't work, but there are probably more. Google is no stranger to fun little doodles to spotlight events or holidays and such, but Googling specific terms for a little bonus doesn't happen all that often, but here we are. Love Island USA has become a monster hit by season 7 here, arguably replacing series like The Bachelor or Love is Blind as the most talked-about dating series on TV. The structure is…very strange, just a shuffling around of couples who often don't seem terribly interesting in each other, punctuated by R (nearly X) rated games. Rarely is anyone not wearing a swimsuit. It's a base-level appeal but I mean, base-level appeals work for a reason. The show airs a tremendous amount of episodes. This started in the UK, but the US version is now up to seven seasons and 229 episodes. Season 7 is now airing an episode pretty much every single day, meaning there's always an hour of Love Island to watch at any given time. We really almost never see anything like this on TV. LOVE ISLAND USA — Episode 727 — Pictured: Amaya Espinal — (Photo by: Ben Symons/Peacock via Getty ... More Images) Love Island USA is watchable on NBC's Peacock, where it has broken records on that platform and all services in terms of current reality TV viewership. It seems like it will inevitably run forever. It premiered in 2019, and again, the show has jammed in seven seasons and 229 episodes since then. As for Amaya, will she win? That $100,000 prize seems somewhat paltry, as the attention she's getting is likely to land her some sponsorship deals after that. But if America decides, I bet she does. Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram. Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy
