Latest news with #JeremiahBrown
Forbes
20 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
How To Watch The ‘Love Island USA' Season 7 Finale: Everything To Know
"Love Island USA" season 7 contestants Huda Mustafa and Jeremiah Brown had a tumultuous romance. Love Island USA has become even more of a phenomenon in season 7. The popular show puts a group of single men and women in a house for about a month and challenges them to last through couplings and uncouplings to win $100,000. It is a social media darling and even draws people to bars to watch nightly episodes in real time. Season 7 winds down in July, as viewers tune in to see the impact of the latest bombshells (sexy new guests to the villa) and which couples may survive. Here is everything to know about how to watch the season 7 Love Island finale. When Is The Season 7 Love Island Finale? The Love Island USA season 7 finale will air on Sunday, July 13. The show has aired nightly during June, except for on Wednesdays, when no new episodes air. How To Watch Love Island USA Season 7 Finale The finale will air live on July 13 by streaming on Peacock. You can also catch all the previous episodes of Love Island USA season 7 available for streaming on the service. Peacock is available as a standalone subscription for $7.99 per month or $79.99 per year. You can also pay extra for premium service, free from ads—it costs $13.99 per month or $139.99 annually. What Will Happen In The Love Island Season 7 Finale? The Love Island USA season 7 finale will crown the winner. It has been a month of twists and turns so far, with a few dramatic surprises. Jeremiah Brown and Huda Mustafa paired up early, but they recently split after Jeremiah became interested in a new bombshell. The men on the island voted him off on June 22. The show introduced a twist on the June 24 episode, requiring single islanders to couple with one of the new Casa Amor competitors or get booted from the villa. The resulting reforming of couples led to surprising exits, a reminder that anything can happen in the waning days of the show. Contestants on season 7 of "Love Island USA" on Peacock. When Does Love Island Season 8 Premiere? No premiere date has been set yet for Love Island USA season 8. Peacock generally puts about a year between cycles of the show—this year, it premiered on June 3, and in 2024, it debuted on June 11. It's safe to guess Love Island USA season 8 will bow around June 2026. When Does Love Island: Beyond The Villa Premiere? Viewers don't have to wait long for another Love Island fix, though. Peacock will premiere Love Island: Beyond the Villa, a new spinoff focused on season 6 Love Island favorites and updating viewers on their love lives post-villa. The former contestants are now in Los Angeles and navigating real life.
WIRED
a day ago
- Entertainment
- WIRED
The Obsessive Fans Playing God on 'Love Island'—and Living for the Crash Outs
Jun 27, 2025 7:00 AM Doxing contestants. Conspiracies. Fan communities. Vote consulting. As 'Love Island USA' gives viewers control over the show's storylines, some are getting too invested in the resulting chaos. Still from Love Island. Photograph:Carson Campbell didn't feel any remorse for his vote, and was even relishing in the chaos it might cause one of Love Island USA 's most contentious cast members of the season. 'I love mess and I love reality TV,' the 24-year-old student and content creator says. 'I love something with an end goal, when people are working toward a purpose.' As a Love Island USA superfan who live-tweets and recaps every episode on TikTok, Campbell feels personally invested in how the reality dating show unfolds. Most reality programs are pre-recorded, but Love Island USA, an American spinoff of a British dating show by the same name that follows contestants at a luxury villa with the goal of finding love, is filmed in real time and airs six nights weeks (on Peacock) over a six-week period in the summer. Its format relies on votes from viewers, via the Love Island app, to help determine how the show progresses (you vote on favorite cast members, who pairs off on dates, and more). That interactive component gave viewers the power to split up two contestants—Huda Mustafa and Jeremiah Brown—who coupled together in the first episode but had become too toxic for their own good by episode 13. Mustafa was controlling and territorial; in one episode she eavesdropped on Brown during a private conversation with other male contestants, calling him a 'bitch' and a 'pussy.' Brown was portrayed as a textbook love bomber; during a group challenge he confessed to telling 10 women he loved them. When the time came to decide on their relationship, 'we all agreed,' Campbell tells me from his home in Queens, New York. He often consults with his friends when a vote takes place. 'America came together as a democracy and said we need them apart no matter who we have to throw in there as collateral. In the grand scheme of things, it's not fair. But it was the right thing to do. Watching at home, we can see when something is going to crash and burn.' The split sent Mustafa into a rage and her 'crash out' went viral across social media. 'Peak cinema,' Campbell calls it. While a lot of fans appeared to be fed up with Mustafa, prior to the shake-up, some worried about her well-being— 'I thought Huda crashout would be funny, y'all I was wrong,' @daesbloodline posted on X. Fans have even tracked down Noah Sheline, her ex-boyfriend and father of her four-year-daughter, to express their disapproval for Mustafa. 'You got one hell of an easy full custody battle ahead of you brother,' one person commented on his TikTok feed. Sheline released a statement on TikTok calling the fan obsession 'unhealthy.' 'Her going on that show to find love, or whatever you think it was she's doing, remember she's still human, she has a daughter, and a life,' he wrote. ' I don't like that I'm seeing so much negative shit on my page or even clips of it about her.' Although Mustafa was villainized for her erratic behavior on the show, 'crashing out'—a Gen Z term for a meltdown—is not uncommon on the show. And it's a response that seems almost unavoidable on a social experiment where participants are not only surrounded by each other day and night and forced to watch their love interests hook up with other people, but are also subjected to the audience's often ruthless opinions of them. 'I don't know whether it's America hates me, or America knows something I don't,' Mustafa says in a confessional following her fan-induced breakup with Jeremiah. The answer to that may be a little bit of both. One thing is for sure: with 1.2 billion minutes viewed in its first two weeks—the second highest for a streaming program on television—America is watching. Closely. Because Love Island 's fans help influence major storylines, outcomes, and eliminations, they essentially become backseat producers. But that power can also facilitate an unhealthy amount of investment, says Colman Feighan, 26, a former reality TV producer who is based in LA. 'Involvement from the fans makes a lot of people feel like they can control every single outcome. And they—very much like Huda—feel out of control when it doesn't necessarily go exactly as they want, or if it does, then they want more to go in their way,' he says. 'Very much like the crash outs we've seen with her, people are having their own crash outs as well.' For some fans of reality TV, who treat the genre like an escapist fantasy, their deep investment comes from 'getting to play god on top of it,' says Alo Johnston, a licensed therapist at Pershing Square Therapy. 'If you as an audience member are using the show to escape a real world that feels uncontrollable and overwhelming then you might feel extra invested in controlling this one small thing.' Following Brown's elimination from the show, fans demanded his return and have since created a petition that has over 72,000 signatures. But it can also be about more than control—our reactions often have to do with how we deal with personal traumas. 'When you start to see the way the way people talk about reality show cast members, where some people say, 'Oh I didn't think what he did was that bad,' and others are saying 'I think he's the devil incarnate,' you're seeing that they are actually reacting to their ex and not the actual person on screen,' Johnston says. 'A crash out could be because you are thrown back into processing your own grief or trauma.' Mustafa's ex Sheline isn't the only one who became collateral damage in viewers' displeasure over how the show has played out. It is a common theme among devoted watchers this season—especially in superfan communities on X, like Huda HQ and Ace Mob, and across TikTok—where online discourse has reached new levels of intensity. In some cases, viewers are influencing casting decisions at the very outset of the show—and doing deep background checks to reveal anything they consider problematic about contestants. Before the premiere, fans alleged that two contestants—Austin Shepard and Yulissa Escobar—support MAGA and promised to vote them off right away. A video of Escobar using the n-word in a podcast interview surfaced online, TMZ reported, and she was dropped from the show in the second episode. (Shepard has lasted.) Fans have alleged that multiple other cast members support Trump and the Republican party and spun up a conspiracy theory that contestants Ace Greene and Chelley Bissainthe had a relationship before the show; Bissainthe's friends have said they followed each other before the show but never dated. 'I find it strange when people suddenly try to expose someone just because they've gained popularity,' Feighan says. 'If the person has committed a crime or engaged in abusive behavior—even if it's not publicly documented—then calling that out is fair. But if the issue is simply a difference in opinions that upsets some viewers, the appropriate response is to stop supporting them and unfollow, not to incite a public takedown as not everyone is going to share the same beliefs.' The negative backlash this season—which has resulted in some contestants getting death threats—is so widespread that Peacock aired a warning during its June 24 episode. 'The keyword in Love Island is … LOVE. We love our fans. We love our Islanders. We don't love cyberbullying, harassment or hate,' it read. On X, the show posted a reminder to viewers to 'be kind' and, in an episode of the weekly recap show Aftersun, host Ariana Maddox urged fans to stop acting so reckless. 'Don't be contacting people's families. Don't be doxing people. Don't be going on islanders' pages and saying rude things,' she said. In 2018, former Love Island UK contestant, Sophie Gradon died by suicide after appearing on the show. That same year, production mandated cast members to attend a post-finale evaluation with a mental health professional, according to Vanity Fair, and cast members now have the option to attend up to eight counseling sessions. In 2019, contestant Mike Thalassitis also died by suicide; that same year show's former host, Caroline Flack posted on Instagram about being 'in a really weird place'. Flack took her life in 2020. 'If the relationships on Love Island make us believe the performance of love leads to the real deal,' Anna Peele wrote in Vanity Fair , 'the losses—it feels shameful to say—seem to authenticate the depth of human experience.' But it's not all on the fans. Producers are incentivized to edit shows around trending conversations, which raises the stakes for viewers, according to Feighan. 'They have the ability to reach numbers like that because whatever is trending online they are able to see that and then put out teasers that show whatever is currently trending on platforms like TikTok,' he says. 'It's catering to the people that are tuning in and talking about it on a daily basis. Whereas you don't have so much flexibility with other dating shows that are all pre-recorded.' Reality TV is formatted to be addictive, says Jennifer Gillian, a professor of media studies at Bentley University. 'Add to that the surprising ethical norming that occurs when viewers begin to ask themselves, 'What would I do in this situation? What do I think others would agree is the right thing to do?' But 'that's where the line gets blurred—people are treating it almost like a competition talent show when in reality it's a love show,' Feighan says. 'Online culture in general—with the keyboard warriors and trolls—is so quick to give input on how they would do something, and it's very easy to say so when you hide behind a screen, but at the end of the day these are real people on a TV show.' Though this season has courted its fair share of controversy, conversation across social media is still mostly jokes and memes, especially TikTok supercuts of the villa's unofficial 'Mean Girls' crew—Greene, Vansteenberghe, and Taylor Williams. 'Imagine you come out the villa … get your phone, think you gon see thirst trap edits of you on tik tok and instead Morgan Freeman calling you a RAT,' @ascenario_ said of another video, which called out Vansteenberghe for being two-faced. For Campbell, the crashing out, the fan communities, and emotional intensity viewers bring to the show is what makes it must see TV. It's how reality TV—on and off screen—works. 'With this show specifically, I don't have a problem with anybody loving who they love and who they're going hard for,' Campbell says. 'My issue is who you like in the show tells me more about you. If your group is called Huda HQ—which is a very corny name—it tells me that you are mostly unstable. The problem is not necessarily about being a part of the larger fan base, because that's normal now.'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ariana Madix Offers 'Love Island USA' Cast Members Tips On Handling Social Media Backlash
Season 7 of "Love Island USA" has been delivering top-notch drama for the last two weeks, and the season isn't even halfway over. With over a billion minutes streamed so far, it's unsurprising that "Love Island USA" also has a loyal fan base that constantly discusses the show's couples online. Although most of the conversation centers around the on-screen drama, online comments can often turn nasty. "Love Island USA" host Ariana Madix (who spent years on Bravo's "Vanderpump Rules"), however, is already equipping the cast and their loved ones with the tools needed to handle the pressure they'll face once the show wraps. Replying to a TikTok about the overwhelming amount of attention season 7 of "Love Island USA" is currently getting, Madix offered advice on how the cast's family members can help combat the inevitable pushback islanders will get once they're off the show. 'I also think the people running their social media pages need to be on top of blocking, deleting, and setting limits on words etc. on their pages,' she wrote. 'They shouldn't see any of that when they get their phones back.' The current cast of "Love Island USA" has everybody talking, from Angel Reese to Megan Thee Stallion. Most recently, the online conversation has centered on Huda Mustafa, 24, and her tumultuous and explosive dynamic with Jeremiah Brown, 25. Their initial connection was immediate and intense, but things took a dramatic turn by day 10, and the subsequent days haven't been much better. After a fiery cycle of fighting, screaming, tears, and name-calling, Mustafa is now "single and vulnerable," leaving her at risk of being dumped from the island. The rest of the cast includes: Ace Greene, 22 Amaya Espinal, 25 Andreina Santos, 24 Austin Shepard, 26 Chelley Bissainthe, 27 Cierra Ortega, 25 Hannah Fields, 23 Iris Kendall, 25 Nicolas (Nic) Vansteenberghe, 24 Olandria Carthen, 27 Pepe Gonzalez, 27 Taylor Williams, 24 TJ Palma, 23 Madix's message to the "Love Island USA" cast is especially timely, as the show's viewership continues to soar. According to Deadline, from June 6 to 12, season 7 has racked up 1.2 billion minutes viewed across the first nine episodes. The 1.2 billion minutes viewed is a massive leap from the previous batch of episodes. For comparison, season 6, which featured breakout stars JaNa Craig, Serena Page, and Kordell Beckham, averaged 335 million minutes viewed during the same timeframe. In a recent episode, rap superstar Megan Thee Stallion made a special appearance inside the villa to spend time with the cast and host a challenge. For the contest, viewers saw the girls take on the boys during three different rounds, which included a twerking challenge, a limbo challenge, and a puzzle challenge. During a private confessional, Megan Thee Stallion urged viewers to be gentle with the contestants and shared a powerful reminder. 'It's so easy to watch people on TV and just forget that these are real human beings,' she said. 'These are real ladies, these are real women with real feelings." Aside from the drama inside the villa, there was also drama online after cast member Yulissa Escobar was removed from the show for her past use of the N-word. However, after returning to social media, Escobar offered an apology to viewers. "First, I want to apologize for using a word I had no right in using," she said, referring to viral clips of her using the racial slur on podcasts. "In those clips, I used a word I never should've used, a racial slur," she wrote. "I used it ignorantly, not fully understanding the weight, history, or pain behind it." Escobar added, "I wasn't trying to be offensive or harmful, but I recognize now that intention doesn't excuse impact. And the impact of that word is real. It's tied to generations of trauma, and it is not mine to use." The reality star stated that she's "changed a lot since then" and vowed to do better in the future. "Growth means recognizing when you were wrong, even if it's uncomfortable, and choosing to move forward with humility and accountability," she stated.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Love Island' Star Jeremiah Brown Shares Whether He'd Get Back Together With Huda Mustafa
Jeremiah Brown has officially exited the "Love Island" villa, and he's seeing things much more clearly now. While on the show, viewers saw Brown couple up with Huda Mustafa from the beginning. However, their honeymoon phase quickly faded after tensions began to flare between the two islanders. Eventually, they called things off and Brown began pursuing another contestant before being dumped from the "Love Island" villa by his male co-stars. So, now that he's off of the show, would Brown ever consider recoupling with Mustafa when season 7 concludes? "Respectfully, no," Brown told E! News. "She's awesome and I wish her the best, but respectfully, not for me in the friendship or past that. So no, I'm good." But why is Brown so adamant about keeping his distance from Mustafa? "I got to watch some of the episodes back and I was just like, 'Run, run, get up,'" he told the publication. "It was just some of the things she was saying, bro." The 25-year-old opened up about the many "red flags" Mustafa displayed, such as "moving too fast, too soon." According to Brown, he could have intervened earlier to steer their relationship in the right direction when those "red flags" appeared; however, he stayed the course because of his strong feelings for her. Brown also revealed that he didn't leave his relationship with Mustafa sooner because he wanted to be certain his reasons for leaving made sense. "It was just more like, 'OK, I feel this way, but I've only had two hours of sleep, so let me make sure I'm not tripping,'" he recalled about some of Mustafa's actions that stood out to him. "That's why I feel like I was delayed with a lot of my actions and conversations, because it would take me an extra day or two to make sure I'm not wildin." The reality star continued, "I just wanted to make sure I was going about it the right way because I'm big on conflict resolution." At some point in the villa, however, Mustafa and Brown went their separate ways, which allowed Brown to make a play for the show's newest bombshell, Andreina Santos. "We had just had a laid out, good a-s foundation," he explained. "We're laughing our [butts] off together. I felt really at peace with her. So I'm excited to explore this and then didn't get to," he said, referring to being dumped by his male islanders during a recent episode. And regarding his exit, Brown didn't hold back when sharing his thoughts about the men's decision to send him packing. "They can say we don't want him to recreate old habits, but I had already communicated to them multiple times that I'm doing it the right way now," Brown said, implying that his new connection with Santos was different than his connection with Mustafa. "So when they said they didn't want me to recreate old habits, that's some bullsh-t," he continued. "I couldn't buy that." Brown went on to say that he believes the real reason he was sent home was due to the other men's interest in Santos. "It is a game at the end of the day. I know that they had an interest in the bombshell, and we were getting pretty close. It was honestly getting out a competitor," he said. Despite his understanding of the game, Brown still doesn't respect the men's decision, especially since they all entered the villa together on the first day. "I'm not going for that," Brown said. "When I vote, it's all personal. I don't care if you f-ck up a million times; if you're my friend, then I'm keeping you. That's just how I work," he added. So, does Brown ever see himself reconnecting with the men who voted him off the show once season 7 of "Love Island" wraps? "Respectfully, I'm staying on my side," the reality star stated. "I know it's a game show, and I shouldn't get in my feelings about it. But what they said and how they moved, I don't want people like that around me. I wish them the best, but I'm good. I'm going to do my own thing."
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jeremiah Brown Slams 'Love Island' Co-Star Ace Greene Over Strained Relationship: 'It Could Be Intimidation'
"Love Island" star Jeremiah Brown had everybody talking while he was still a contestant on Season 7 of the popular reality show. However, now that he's been dumped from the villa by his male co-stars, Brown is opening up about what really went down—and he's not holding back. During a recent episode, the male islanders were tasked with sending one of three men home, and after deliberating, they chose Brown, citing his alleged inability to explore more than one connection. But during a recent interview with Variety, Brown said he wasn't buying their reasoning and even called them out for seemingly being jealous of him. "They can say we don't want him to recreate old habits, but I had already communicated to them multiple times that I'm doing it the right way now," Brown said, referring to his new connection with bombshell Andreina Santos. He then expressed his frustration with the other male islanders for urging him to explore connections with more than one woman, adding that even when he did, "it still wasn't enough." "So when they said they didn't want me to recreate old habits, that's some bullsh-t," he continued. "I couldn't buy that." According to Brown, the real reason the men chose to eliminate him was because they "saw a chance to get out their competition." "It is a game at the end of the day. I know that they had an interest in the bombshell, and we were getting pretty close. It was honestly getting out a competitor," he said. Once Brown knew he was leaving Fiji for good, the rest of the men assured him that their vote to send him home wasn't "personal." "I'm not going for that," Brown said about their comments. "When I vote, it's all personal. I don't care if you f-ck up a million times; if you're my friend, then I'm keeping you. That's just how I work," he added. Later, during his interview, Brown discussed his tense dynamic with his fellow islander, Ace Greene, who many viewers have deemed the ringleader of the season. "We had many great moments together, but we didn't always see eye to eye. It could be intimidation. I don't know," Brown told Variety before touching on whether he could see himself being friends with the men who voted him off the show, including Nicolas Vansteenberghe and Taylor Williams. "Respectfully, I'm staying on my side," the reality star stated. "I know it's a game show, and I shouldn't get in my feelings about it. But what they said and how they moved, I don't want people like that around me. I wish them the best, but I'm good. I'm going to do my own thing." And Brown isn't the only recently dumped islander harboring negative feelings about the co-stars who sent him packing. Charlie Georgiou shared a similar message during a previous interview, reported by The Blast, adding, "They could have saved me. They did not save me. It is what it is." He further admitted why he was "disappointed" in Amaya Espinal and Cierra Ortega's votes, saying, "Cierra [and I] came in this together, and she knows how long I was trying to find a connection and how happy I was when I had it. At the end of the day, I think I was just the easy vote for them." He continued, "They didn't want to have to deal with the wrath of their friends. They didn't vote for the guy that had the weakest connection. I think they just voted for the guy they thought would be the easiest to get rid of." And while the most recent season of "Love Island" is serving up must-see reality television, the producers are reminding viewers to be kind to the show's contestants. On social media, the official "Love Island" account thanked the show's fans for their passion before saying, "Please just remember they're real people, so let's be kind and spread the love." Before the start of a recent episode, they also displayed a message on screen which read: "WE LOVE OUR FANS. WE LOVE OUR ISLANDERS, WE DON'T LOVE CYBERBULLYING, HARASSMENT, OR HATE."
