So much for being a "Girl's Girl".
we don't need to force sisterhood.
Last night, the “girl’s girl” sisterhood died on Love Island USA last night— and I am ELATED. That fake sisterhood the female islanders on the show that they’ve been love-bombing us (and each other) with was never going to be held up. The women on this show aren’t for each other the way they claim. If they’d been real from the start, maybe we’d see Love Island for real. But who is actually there for love? Only Amaya—and I thought perhaps Andreina, but her actions lately have turned me off too. But we’ll get there.
My opinion about the cast flips 6 times a week, and I don’t love that. I’ve pondered if I should recap daily or weekly but because everything that happened last night will be old news by Friday, we have to talk about it now. This is my first Substack post in a long time, and I am ECSTATIC TO SAY to say: the “girl’s girl” era is over, and we should celebrate it. Anyone who’s ever called themselves a “girl’s girl” is often the worst person you’ll meet. That is a hill I will die on.
During episode 26 of Love Island, Amaya is being talked about by Austin and Ace. She steps in to confront Austin about their connection—how he wasn’t honest about how he felt—and he tries to undermine her, making it seem like she doesn’t understand what he’s saying, which sounds like a microaggression TO ME. He was implying that because Amaya has an accent and Dominican parents—even though she was born in New York City—she can’t understand his “clear, plain English.” Everyone on the cast should have jumped in on him, and the fact that they didn’t is incredibly annoying and ignorant. Bryan being the only one who absolutely stood up for Amaya tonight—especially defending her within the Caribbean and Latino community.
Then Ace, Austin, and Zak all piled on Amaya, saying she’s overly emotional, it’s too much, she throws too much at them. Zak took that moment to tell her that—after earlier implying she should come back to him—which didn’t sit right with me. Why now? Why didn’t you say it earlier? Zak can go back to Manchester.
What upsets me is that none of the women—especially Cierra, Chelley, Andreina, Olandria and even Iris, who I almost forgot was there—stood up for Amaya. They were silent while she was getting dogpiled by men. This happened during a letter-writing game, yet none of them spoke up. That silence is shameful.Speaking of being upfront: Chelley and Huda, I think it’s unfair that Chelley thinks she should have connections with both Ace and Chris. If you're that close to Ace, why be mad that Huda and Chris are exploring theirs? And Chris doesn’t want to chase you, he wanted equal effort.
Me writing this doesn’t mean I’m on Huda’s side—I never will be.
Her earlier toxicity with Jeremiah got him sent home, and if it weren’t for America, Huda might’ve gone too. Chelley raised great points about Jeremiah, but you can’t drag Chris into the same comparison. If you’re only talking about Ace & Huda, fine—but you can’t critique Huda’s Chris connection using the Jeremiah standard unless you want to apply it consistently. When Chelley chose Ace, Huda was happy for her—but when Huda chose Chris, Ace and Chelley just looked at each other. They weren’t that happy.
We keep hearing “I’m a girl’s girl” and “sisterhood” tossed around—easier than Cierra giving up Nick after a long villa day, or Olandria forgiving Taylor for doing the bare minimum.
Watching that sisterhood dissolve last night confirmed what I suspected from episode one:
Cierra is PR-trained for this show. The Love Island-themed Birthday party and being friends with Kassy from S5/6 of LI USA makes me feel like she was overly prepped for this show and creating this “chill, understanding gf” personality.
Despite her answers, and her silent reaction while Amaya got dogpiled, and even though Bryan ended up stepping in, I’m not buying her “authenticity.” Her Love Island-themed birthday party and her friendship with Cassie from seasons 5 and 6 never sat right with me. She knew too much to be a genuine contestant, and I’m ready to see her journey end.
Chelley really tried with Huda, and I get why—she actually was there for her.
Ultimately she did herself a disservice. When she had the chance to vote Huda out, she didn’t. Now she—and everyone who kept her—must suffer the consequences: Huda might actually win, and they might not.
Episodes Sunday through Tuesday fuel the rumor that Ace and Chelley are dating outside the show and playing to win the money together. I’m torn—because Chelley kissing Chris didn’t add up if she truly had something with Ace. But Ace has kissed others—Chelley only got jealous when she saw the footage of him and Huda on the Heart. Many viewers say that footage was edited. I respect Chelley’s reaction—but if you plan to be upset, choose: is it hurt over Ace or Chris? You can’t pick both—and comparing Chris to the Jeremiah standard doesn’t make sense.
Olandria—this might hurt me to write, because from the start, you and Chelley were my favorites.
You're beautiful, gritty, and I think you have good hearts. But your move last night—revealing your kiss with Chris knowing Sierra would see it—that was cold. Imagine if someone aired your footage first? Sierra would have a real problem. I actually think Chris handled it well when you disrespected him. The situation with Taylor feels like karma—mostly on Andreina, because Taylor made it obvious he didn’t like her. Everyone picked up on it except the women. Maybe they don’t recognize when a man likes them?
We can revisit your arc later, Olandria, but I’m done talking about you, Taylor, and Chris. This crash-out came two weeks too late. You wasted your summer on a man who didn’t care. I worry about how it’ll feel watching this back and seeing how obvious it was.
I want to also highlight Bryan, the Latino man from Casa Amor who came back with Andreina. He was the only one who defended Amaya when she was calling people nicknames and saying “babe”—and yes, “babegate” is still a thing in episode 26, and it’s hilarious to me. But Ace brought that up again? No. I’m glad someone finally put him in his place. Production should’ve stepped in, because why was Amaya being dogpiled by men & no woman stepped in to say anything? That’s bullshit & gross.
To watch 3 Latina/Caribbean women—Cierra, Chelley, and Andreina—sit there and let a fellow afro-latina/caribbean woman get bullied by men is unforgivable. Ace lives in L.A., Sierra is Mexican living in L.A.—you all know the culture. I don’t believe you’ve never heard/seen this in the culture before.
Andreina disappointed me most. That was your fellow Dominican sister getting attacked— you sat there in silence. This whole thing makes me side-eye Gen Z dating and communication. I don’t want to overgeneralize, but this group is off-putting. Chelley, Olandria, and Sierra voted out Hannah? Ugly. Hannah was talked about again in episode 26—though she left back in episode 18 (!)—and that doesn’t surprise me. But real talk: if Pepe cared so much about Hannah, he should’ve gone home—not Jeremiah. That’s another hill I’ll die on. Jeremiah could've stayed to build with Andreina, who I don’t believe thought he was coming on too strong.
When Ace asked Andreina if Jeremiah was too much, she said yes—so Ace slapped the “love bombing” label on him. I hope Jeremiah addresses that at the reunion. But overall? The women are finished. There’s going to be a weird divide—I don’t know where. Amaya might try to be diplomatic, but how after that silence? And how Brian was the only guy to defend her? That’s weird to me.
In the end, I voted for Amaya and Chris. It was between him or Brian, and I chose Chris because he was straightforward: he doesn’t care about being in the villa—he could play ball overseas—but he found something with Amaya, he’s happy, he’s done with Chelley, and he’s sticking with her. They connect, he calms her down.
The sisterhood is over, and I’m glad we’re being honest. I’m looking forward to Thursday’s vote. After this episode, I noticed Olandria, Chelley, and Cierra lost major following—but Huda ended up gaining 1.2 million followers on Instagram.