The Biggest Winners And Losers Of The ‘Love Island USA’ Season 6 Reunion Episode

(WARNING: Spoilers for the Love Island USA season six reunion episode will be found below.)

Love Island USA tied the bow on its epic and extremely successful sixth season with a reunion episode that aired on Monday night. The recap briefly celebrated the relationship statuses of the top-three couples — Kordell & Serena, Miguel & Leah, and Kenny & JaNa — before diving into more dramatic points with other islanders. We got an update on Nicole and Kendall’s relationship, as well as Aaron and Kaylor, both of which aren’t in the best shape. Andrea’s comments about her fellow islanders were brought up and addressed as was the cyber bullying that islanders endured throughout the season and afterward. There was even a fake pregnancy announcement courtesy of JaNa, something that nearly (and hilariously) sent Kenny into a panic.

The Love Island USA season six reunion episode was an entertaining one, to say the least, and while there were some “winners” on the night, we had some “losers” as well. Let’s recap the reunion with the biggest winners and losers from the episode.

WINNER: JaNa (And Her Receipts)

Despite finishing third with her now-boyfriend Kenny, JaNa was just as much of a fan-favorite on Love Island USA season six as her fellow PPG girls Leah and Serena were, and this season’s reunion episode showed why that was the case. JaNa had the top viral moment from the night after she brought four pages of “receipts” to confront islanders about ill comments they made in and outside the villa over the last few months. It’s the type of drama that’s perfect for a reunion episode, and JaNa shined thanks to doing homework and coming prepared.

LOSER: Nicole & Kendall

There’s drama that’s good for TV, and then there’s drama that’s better kept away from the cameras. Nicole and Kendall’s portion of the reunion episode would be the latter. Things have clearly been dicey for the couple since the Love Island USA season six finale. Shortly after the top-four was finalized, a nude video of Kendall leaked onto social media. The couple discussed the incident during the reunion, where it was also revealed that Kendall lied to Nicole about the details of the video. Kendall claimed it the video was taken years ago, when it was actually taken during a hotel stay shortly before the start of Love Island USA season six.

A lie is a lie, and there’s certainly no excuse or good reason for it, especially since the video came before his relationship with Nicole. However, Nicole seemed to gloss over how traumatizing the situation was for Kendall, and instead played victim in a situation where Kendall was clearly more affected. Kendall’s lie, though wrong, was rooted in panic and trauma, but Nicole seems to believe his lie was rooted in deceit. At the end of the day, the reunion wasn’t the best place for Kendall and Nicole to have this conversation. Nicole leaves looking like the villain for not being as understanding as some might have expected, Kendall leaves traumatized and riddled with guilt, and their relationships leave with uncertainty on how it survives going forward.

WINNER: Kaylor

After a full season of constant crying mixed with “f*ckkkkk” groans, Kaylor finally put the tears aside to make sure she was heard by her boyfriend Aaron in the reunion episode. After being dumped from the villa with Aaron prior to the finale, Kaylor went home and watched the Casa Amor episodes herself and learned that Aaron was not completely truthful to her about his time with Daniela. As if that wasn’t enough, Aaron dropped a bomb on Kaylor during the reunion and revealed that he put his hand up Daniela’s dress during the Casa Amor days. A reasonably angry Kaylor slammed Aaron for withholding that information from her until the reunion. She stood up for herself, made sure Aaron heard her loud and clear, and did it all without a tear shed. There’s no telling if their relationship survives, but Kaylor did what she needed to for herself.

LOSER: Aaron

In the words of Rob, Aaron is an idiot. There’s no way he thought waiting until the reunion to tell Kaylor that he put his hand up Daniela’s dress during the Casa Amor would play well for him. There’s no way he thought that connecting his grandad’s death to his decision to not tell Kaylor would work. Aaron spent ten days in the villa with Kaylor after Casa Amor before they were both dumped and the reunion episode was filmed about a month after the finale aired. He had all this time to come clean to Kaylor about a sensitive topic, but instead, waited until they were in front of cameras to share the details. You made your bed Aaron, it’s time to lay in it.

WINNER: Pizza Hut

Love Island USA turned into a national phenomenon this season as it broke series records for viewership and was even the most-watched streaming original series in the US during the week of July 5-11, thanks to 919.1 million minutes watched according to Luminate. There isn’t much space for product placement during a Love Island series (unless you’re an avocado), but the reunion provided the perfect opportunity for that, and Pizza Hut took full advantage of it. During breaks between filming of the reunion, the islanders retreated to their respective break rooms, where they enjoyed slices of Pizza Hut pies. I’m curious to see how their sales improve, if at all, in the days after the season six reunion episode airing. All in all, it was a nice win for Pizza Hut.

LOSER: Andrea

Since the days following her dramatic, villa-splitting exit from Love Island USA, Andrea spent a lot of her time speaking about her fellow islanders, specifically Rob and Leah. Despite spending just four days together, Andrea felt confident that their relationship would continue once he left the villa, but that was not the case. Heading into the reunion, we knew that Andrea would at least be called out for comments, and that’s exactly what happened.

Thanks to her pages of receipts, JaNa confronted Andrea for her criticism of Leah — calling her “two-faced” for example — and for pushing the theory that Leah intentionally pushed to have Andrea dumped from the villa to pursue her then-on-again-off-again relationship with Rob. Andrea was also criticized for comments made toward Leah and Hannah in the villa, though the latter said she wasn’t offended by her comments. In the end, it was a bit of ambush on Andrea on all fronts, and she certainly didn’t have the best time on the reunion, but some would say that she had it coming.

WINNER: Leah & Her Backseat

A talking point for much of the season was Leah’s alleged involvement in the vote to dump Andrea from the villa on day 11. Leah always claimed that she took a backseat in the decision to dump Andrea while other islanders claimed that Leah advocated for Andrea’s exit. During the reunion, the producers decided to air the raw, uncut footage of the girls’ conversation as they decided who to dump between Nicole, Andrea, or JaNa from the villa. As Leah said multiple times, she did not advocate for Andrea to be dumped. Rather, much of Leah’s comments during the deliberation focused on Nicole and giving her a chance to explore a connection as she entered the villa just a few days prior. Leah’s support for Nicole is not to be mistaken for a possible hidden agenda with Andrea.

LOSER: Love

A good reunion episode has a good balance of drama and a general recap of the season, and while the Love Island USA season six reunion episode succeeded at the former, it severely lacked the latter. Little time was spent on the top-three couples aside from briefly checking in on their relationship statuses. Kordell, Serena, Miguel, Leah, Kenny, and JaNa provided some of the biggest and most-talked about moments from the season, and furthermore, viewers both new and old tuned into the show to watch them, cheer them on, and vote for them when given the opportunity. Too much of the reunion was spent on broken and past relationships when there was an ample amount of good relationships to highlight and celebrate. I mean, it is Love Island right?

WINNER: The Production Crew

The most unproductive part of the season six reunion was the ten minutes the episode spent running footage of Leah, JaNa, Serena, and Kaylor deliberating at the fire pit as they were tasked with dumping Nicole, Andrea, or JaNa from the villa. The footage was aired to show whether Leah pushed for Andrea’s eventual exit in order to possibly resume her relationship with Rob, and in the end, it showed that Leah did not advocate for Andrea’s exit. The ten minutes of footage proved that (1) The production and crew did a great job in breaking down this long and boring conversation that nearly put me to sleep and (2) It didn’t do much to change the stances of fans who are pro- and anti-Leah as it didn’t add much to what appeared in the released episode. It was time wasted that could’ve been spent talking about the journey of the winning and running-up couples.

LOSER: Love Island USA Season 7

Love Island USA put forth its best-performing season in season six. Love Island USA records were broken and its audience expanded to levels that certified the success of a USA spin-off of Love Island. The truth of the matter is that many fans tuned into the show because of mainy for the drama-filled clips that circulated on social media and not so much for the true Love Island experience that is both sweet and sour. When Love Island USA was the most-watched streaming original series in the US, it came during the week of Casa Amor where the Kordell, Miguel, and Kenny — who finished in the top-three — risked their relationships and came back from Casa Amor with new women. The drama from this drew fans into the show, but who knows if the same would’ve happened if things played out differently.

This isn’t to say that fans didn’t enjoy watching the good moments in the relationships of Kordell & Serena, Miguel & Leah, Kenny & JaNa, Kendall & Nicole, and others. The genuine love put on display in the relationships on Love Island USA season six also made it a must-watch. The point is, this season had a unique combination of islanders, personalities, and more that simply won’t be replicated in another season of the show. Love Island USA will return for its seventh season next summer, but matching the beauty and success of season six will be an uphill battle. We’ll just have to wait and see how it plays out.

‘Love Island USA’ season six is now streaming in its entirety on Peacock.