“Love Island USA,” the reality dating show that sends singles to an island villa to pair up in hopes of winning a cash prize, is known and often appreciated for its messy plots onscreen. But this week, as Season 7 of the show premiered, most of the chaos took place offscreen. Some offscreen drama also reached the show’s predecessor, “Love Island UK.”
Contestant Dismissed for Racial Slurs
For starters, one of the contestants, Yulissa Escobar, was summarily dropped from the show after video recordings of her repeatedly using a racial slur in a podcast interview were dug up by online sleuths and then reported by TMZ.
The clips created an uproar among fans online before the premiere on Tuesday, but the series is aired with a one- or two-day delay, and Escobar, a 27-year-old Cuban American from Miami, still appeared in the first episode.
Before the premiere, fans were vowing on X and TikTok to vote Escobar off the show as soon as they had the opportunity. On the first night of the show, Escobar was also criticized by some viewers for wearing an outfit that they deemed appropriative of Chinese culture and using chopsticks to pin up her hair.
At about the 18-minute mark of the second episode, which was shown on Wednesday, the narrator, Iain Stirling, abruptly announced that “Yulissa has left the villa.” She had been paired with Ace Greene, and later in the episode Stirling noted that Greene was single.
Escobar could not immediately be reached for comment. Ryan McCormick, a spokesman for Peacock, which streams the show, declined to comment on why the producers had removed her.
This sort of nonchalant and unexplained departure is a part of the “Love Island” playbook. On Season 2 of “Love Island USA,” Noah Purvis was removed for failing to tell the producers that he had appeared in pornographic films, and his departure was announced to viewers in a similar way. In Season 3, it was announced that Leslie Golden had gone home for personal reasons. She later said she was actually kicked off for bringing in a cannabis vape.
Some viewers questioned why Escobar was cast in the first place when a cursory background check would easily have turned up the video clips.
Her politics also raised some eyebrows. In other video clips, she complains she lost TikTok followers after sharing her support for President Trump, who is unpopular with many of the shows devoted fans.
She was not the only contestant drawing fire for having conservative views. Progressive viewers were quick to find a TikTok account that appears to belongs to Austin Shephard, a 26-year-old pool technician from Michigan, on which he liked several pro-Donald Trump and anti-Kamala Harris posts. So far, he remains in the villa.
Delay in Airing Premiere
Season 6 of the show, which aired last summer, was very successful, and by mid-July 2024 had become the most-watched streaming original series. It was no surprise then that droves of fans were eager for this season’s premiere drop at 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday.
They had to wait a little longer, after Peacock servers appeared to crash. The episode was delayed for roughly 40 minutes before finally showing up on the streaming service.
McCormick, the Peacock spokesman, declined to say what had caused the delay.
Viewers in Canada, who watch the show through the CTV app, were able to access the episode right away, which seems to indicate that it was a problem on Peacock’s service.
Cast Changes on ‘Love Island UK’
One contestant who was cast to be on Season 12 of “Love Island UK,” which will air next week, has been kicked off the show after he was arrested and questioned in connection with a machete attack.
The contestant, Kyle Ashman, a 23-year-old water worker from Stafford, England, was one of two men detained by police and questioned about the attack, according to The Sun. The Staffordshire Police told E! News that Ashman was released and no further action was taken.
Still, ITV, the British broadcaster, said in a statement obtained by Deadline, “For personal reasons, Kyle will not be entering the Love Island Villa as planned.”
Ashman told Deadline: “I fully cooperated with this police investigation and made it very clear that I had no involvement in this incident. I am not a violent person, and any suggestion otherwise is a mischaracterization.”
The producers have instead rounded out the 12-person cast with a 25-year-old rugby player named Conor Philips.
Shivani Gonzalez is a news assistant at The Times who writes a weekly TV column and contributes to a variety of sections.
The post ‘Love Island’ Contestant Leaves Show After Racist Comments Surface appeared first on New York Times.
