The Best and Worst Moments

The Love Island USA reunion dropped some major bombshells!

Over a month after season 7 of the Peacock dating series came to a close, the islanders came back together for a special reunion episode hosted by Ariana Madix and Andy Cohen, which aired on Monday, Aug. 25.

Since leaving Fiji, the cast addressed all the burning questions about their time inside the villa and the real-world drama that followed.

The majority of the cast was in attendance, including winners Amaya Espinal and Bryan Arenales, along with the runners-up Olandria Carthen and Nic Vansteenberghe, Huda Mustafa and Chris Seeley, and Pepe Garcia-Gonzalez and Iris Kendall. 

They were joined by Hannah Fields, Andreina Santos, Belle-A Walker, Jeremiah Brown, TJ Palma, and members of the Casa Amor crew: Elan Bibas, JD Dodard and Zac Woodworth.

From allegations of Bryan cheating on Amaya to unseen footage from the controversial heart-rate challenge, keep scrolling to read about the reunion’s biggest moments.

Best moment of accountability: Bryan speaking out about infidelity rumors.

Cohen asked Bryan point-blank about the speculation that he had cheated on Amaya, to which he said, “They’re trying to just throw any hate my way.”

As for what went down, he admitted to having a “lapse in judgment” and said that he and Amaya have “talked about it” since then.

Bryan insisted he was “hosting” an event and “got paid to be there.” When he was pressed about what that “lapse in judgement” was, he said “pouring shots around, getting the crowd shots and stuff like that.”

Amaya weighed in, too. “I’m also not a woman that would be with someone who doesn’t respect me,” she said. “So if I’m with him and still with him currently, it’s because the relationship dynamic is healthy and great.”

Though Amaya and Bryan appeared to have unfollowed each other hours before the reunion aired, that was not addressed.

Worst tension: Things remained “weird” between Chris and Huda.

As the only couple to break up before the finale concluded, Chris and Huda are not on friendly terms a month after leaving the villa.

“I don’t respect it at all,” Chris said of how Huda has publicly talked about him in interviews since leaving the villa.

He also shut down the idea of ever being friends with her in the future. “I just didn’t respect the way she handled herself in that interview,” Chris said, seemingly referring to when Huda told PEOPLE in July that he had a “wandering eye” in the villa and would talk about other girls in front of her.

“She’s had a month to apologize and talk about it, but she waited until two or three days before today to reach out,” he said. “I just can’t respect it.”

Huda, for her part, said that she finally reached out to Chris because “it was weighing on me” given she has seen “hatred” towards him on her feeds. She said she called to express that she was “grateful” for his support in the villa and she said she wanted to “personally apologize” to him.

Most oops moment: Huda claimed she’s “not allowed” to talk about her rumored new relationship.

In recent weeks, Huda has been seen out with Too Hot to Handle star Louis Russell.

They made their red carpet debut in Los Angeles on July 31, just weeks after she left the villa single, but neither of them have officially weighed in on the nature of their relationship.

During the reunion, though, when Huda was asked about her current relationship status, she said, “I can’t speak about my relationships outside the villa.”

“Legal reasons” was initially her explanation as to why she couldn’t go into further detail, and despite Madix and Cohen pressing her on the topic, she said, “It’s Netflix. I’m not allowed to talk about it.”

Everyone seemed thrown off by Huda’s answer, including the hosts, and Chris visibly rolled his eyes. Cohen then quipped before moving on, “Okay, tell Netflix this was the number one streaming show of the summer.”

Most healing conversation: Unseen footage from Hannah’s dumping was shown, which prompted the first tears of the night.

The footage gave more context into how Chelley, Olandria, Cierra and Huda decided to dump Hannah over Iris or Amaya.

Chelley emphasized that she wanted to approach the decision based on the importance of exploring connections while in the villa, which eventually convinced the other women to choose Hannah.

After the clip ended, Hannah teared up and asked for a “second” to compose herself as the other women comforted her.

“It hurts. But I understand. It feels better to know now, I guess the explanation, because I think that’s what I struggled with a lot,” Hannah said of her reaction to the clip. “I just felt that there was so many unanswered questions.”

The other women continued to be apologetic. “It felt almost like a betrayal, to be honest,” Chelley said of the decision to dump Hannah, and Huda agreed. “It f—— sucks.”

Most dramatic reveal: Extended footage from the heart-rate challenge was shown.

The footage confirmed what fans suspected based on how the original clip was cut: after Chelley and Chris walked off, Huda continued her performance and twerked on Ace’s face.

She apologized to Chelley and Ace directly after the clip played, as she said, “I took it a step too far for certain people, and I do apologize if I made anyone feel uncomfortable.”

In Huda’s mind, “There was no limitations and we all made that very clear,” in the context of the heart rate challenge.

Chelley didn’t back down, though, and said she “definitely” feels like her response was “justified” given how Huda acted.

Taylor also weighed in. “I thought it was taken too far,” he said.

Most candid moment: Chelley, Olandria and Huda broke down their alleged feud and each said their piece.

Cohen asked Huda to elaborate on why she’s said in interviews that she felt “isolated” and “bullied” in the villa, to which she said that there was a clip of Cierra and Chelley joking about her that was “hurtful” for her to see.

On Chelley’s part, she said she was under the impression her relationship with Huda was fine until she was insinuated to be a bully.

Huda said she’s “moved on,” though, and admitted she should’ve used a different word than “bully” when reflecting on her experiences.

Huda also talked things out with Olandria, who revealed that she asked Huda to release a statement to her fans and “address” the “racism” and the “hate train” toward her and Chelley, which Huda did not do, despite agreeing to.

Her explanation for why she didn’t release a statement was that she was “dealing with so much” and didn’t know what to say, and didn’t realize Olandria was upset to the extent that she was.

Olandria then teared up over how emotional it made her that Huda didn’t stand up for her, and revealed the extent of the racism she’s faced, which has included seeing edits of her face on George Floyd’s body — a revelation that left Cohen gobsmacked.

Both Olandria and Chelley addressed the reasons why they’ve unfollowed Huda, and both agreed that they are not in a place to be friends with her. “I love her to death but that really was a turning point for me,” Olandria said of Huda not speaking up.

“I wish you well from a distance,” Chelley then said. “That trust is broken … I wouldn’t feel like I could trust her as my friend.”

Best moment of closure: Ace and Jeremiah went head-to-head over claims Ace was a “ringleader” in the villa.

Both Jeremiah and Ace were able to address their issues with each other, as Jeremiah admitted to feeling hurt over how Ace was “villainizing him” in the lead-up to his dumping and afterwards, while Ace continued to double down on his claims and insisted he’d overheard conversations about followers or the prize money from Jeremiah.

The topic of Jeremiah’s dumping was explored in depth, as Nic admitted he wanted to keep Jeremiah in the villa and his vote was to dump Austin instead.

Previously unseen footage from the deliberations between Ace, Nic and Taylor showed that Ace and Taylor were both on the same page about Jeremiah needing to go home, while Nic was vocal in his support of Jeremiah getting another chance.

It was a comfort to Jeremiah, who told Nic that seeing the footage “definitely makes me feel better.”

On the ring leader allegations specifically, Ace admitted to being “very vocal” while he was in the villa, but pointed out that “everybody had something to say” in the moments where he was opinionated.

Jeremiah insisted, though, that Ace was the “main antagonist” in the villa.

Ultimately, Ace admitted regret over opting to dump Jeremiah over Austin. “I definitely felt like Austin should’ve gone home.”

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Love Island USA season 7 is available to stream on Peacock.