Although the summer journey of "Love Island American Edition" has ended, those lovers who successfully held hands in the finals did not stop there.
In an interview with the champion couple, Amaya Espinal and Bryan Arenales, the two candidly shared their emotional state and future plans outside the camera.
"I want to meet his family, especially his mom," Espinal told Variety via Zoom on Wednesday."He also needs to meet my siblings. Without cameras and microphones, we want to do something simple but meaningful together - like dates, movie nights at home. We just want to simply enjoy each other's company."
However, Arenales and Espinal are not the only pair who decided to continue their relationship.Nic Vansteenberghe and Olandria Carthen, as the original contestants who first entered the island together, did not spark love in the early stages of the show, and did not really get together until the last moment.
This couple, affectionately called "Nicolandria" actually showed a tacit understanding as early as the beginning of the show.Despite frequent interactions during the challenge, they each had other concerns: Carson and Taylor Williams were close to each other, while Feinsteinberg was deeply involved in emotional entanglement with Cierra Ortega.
At one point, they were at risk of being eliminated because they were both single while in Casa Amor.However, fate gave them a chance to choose: either leave the island and stay single, or become a couple and return to the stage.They chose the latter and quietly transformed friendship into love in that kiss that changed everything.The relationship finally grew freely as Taylor finally chose to reunite with Clarke Carraway and Sierra's unexpected departure from the island.
After walking out of the villa, the couple was interviewed by Variety, talking about their love experience in the real world, their psychological adjustment in the face of cyber attacks, and the issues they might raise on the reunion night.
Olandria Carson: "All the support is incredible. The fans of 'Nicolandria' have flooded negative comments with positive energy, and I am very grateful for their company. Whenever I feel down, I look back at the tweets and videos that encourage us. These support helped me adapt to my new life after leaving the villa."
Nico Feinsteinberg:"Outside support is very reassuring. When you are on the island, you can hardly hear the outside world. On the flight home, we watched videos of editing about us for ten hours in a row. The biggest pleasure in our free time now is watching them repeatedly. When we are in a bad mood, it is really heartwarming to have so many fans speak up for us. The content on TikTok and Reels makes us feel that passion again."
Nicole:"We know how special the connection between each other is, and even our family can feel it."
Olandria: "What the outside world sees is just the hour we are in front of the camera, not the real life around the clock. Nico and I have had a special attraction since day one. I even kissed him on the first day. Although I didn't choose to be with him at the time, that doesn't mean that feeling doesn't exist. It took us a long time to get to where we are today, and that's why this relationship is so precious."
Nicole:"Fans say that was a 'a kiss that can be heard all over the world'."
Olandria:"At that moment, Nico and I were still concerned about others. At that time, I still had feelings for Taylor, and Nico felt that he owed Hiera a lot. We suppressed our inner feelings because we couldn't betray each other. We even tried each other for a while: 'Do you have any feelings?'' No.' But we all know in our hearts that something was happening quietly."
Nico:"There were indeed subtle changes at that moment, but we did not say them out. Because we each had strong emotional connections, we could only hide this feeling. But from the bottom of our hearts, we have taken a critical step to the present."
Olandria: "Before that, the kiss between us was all about challenging the mission. That was the first and only close contact in a non-mission situation. I realized: 'It turns out that this is really heart-warming.' But I felt guilty. We were all in a complicated mood. It wasn't until the other relationships were officially over that we really returned to the initial throbbing."
Nico: "Continuing this relationship in real life is to date together. We went to Disney last night, and that was our first real date. We still have a lot of plans next, including travel."
Olandria:"We are all trying to adapt. Nico will jump around and take pictures excitedly, and I am quieter. When someone approaches to say hello, I will hold his hand tightly nervously. It's all new to me and I'm still getting used to it."
Nico:"This feeling is unique, and we have never experienced it. I am more extroverted and like to yell and express my happiness. I think I am more excited than them!"
Olandria: "My feelings for Taylor were not fully presented. If I had known from the beginning that he had no physical attraction to me, I wouldn't have been so persistent. I didn't want anyone to force me to accept me. Maybe we could have been just friends. The show never showed what Taylor did for me. He remembered everyone's coffee, tea, and breakfast preferences; he was the 'ideal boyfriend' in everyone's eyes. Even when Huda was on the verge of elimination, he would wipe her tears with his clothes and put down his emotions to comfort her. Taylor had a lot of glittering lights.But unfortunately the audience didn't see it.He kept cooking for me and taking care of me.If I was cold, he would take off his coat and wear it for me; if I was grinding my feet with high heels, he would take off my shoes, carry my shoes, and hold my hand all the time.None of these was broadcast, so it looked like I was blindly pursuing someone who didn't love me.Even if he was not physically attracted, he always praised me for her good clothes and told me that I was beautiful.If these were not shown, it would be a pity.People would think I was just a 'girl who wanted attention'.But I knew my value - I was a beautiful woman, and I wouldn't chase people who didn't want me."
Olandria: "I don't blame Taylor for finding real belongings, but I hope he can confess sooner. When he was with Clarke, he told me that he still wanted to explore the possibilities between us. He never made it clear that he no longer likes me or finds me attractive. He kept telling Chelley and me that he had a hard time making a choice. If he had decided to choose Clarke, he should have told me directly. Then I could focus on other directions, not distract from him. That's where I was really dissatisfied."
Olandria: "That time was hard. I even heard people say I was George Floyd and Huda was a policeman. This metaphor was too sensitive to the black community and disgusting. I couldn't understand how a love reality show could be used to make such comments. I received death threats, and even my family wasn't spared. It shouldn't happen. As a black woman, this experience was especially heavy. We often didn't dare to express ourselves in real terms, fearing being labeled. I've always been a support for everyone, so you can see the scene of me crying when I was eliminated by Casa. They all said, 'She is the bond of this family, and it always makes people feel seen and understood'. But the show portrayed me as a vicious girl. I really don't understand how it turned out to be like this. I hate this misunderstanding, but I'm grateful to my friends for coming forward to defend me."
Nico: "We had to make a collective decision at the time, but now I just want to leave these details for the reunion night. Things are much more complicated than they can see on the surface. Whether Jeremiah knows it or not, I have a deep respect for him."
Nico:"I am slowly learning about her entire experience now and focusing on our new life with Orlandrea."
Nico:"If I had no idea at the time, walking out of the villa might have made people mistakenly think that I agreed with her point of view. But I actually knew nothing and I was kept in the dark. Staying on the island was the right decision to give me the opportunity to continue the relationship and to establish a deeper connection with Orlandria."
Olandria:"I'm not sure what to say on Reunion Night. I have to listen to those podcasts first. My name often appears, but I don't know the specific reason. After I finish the information, I will decide who I want to communicate with."
Nico:"I want to talk to Belle-A and Jeremea. This is my first choice."
Nicole: "Some people went on podcasts and said something that might be misunderstood. The public has a lot of opinions about what happened between us and Hiera. I want to explain why she was chosen over others."
This interview has been edited and deleted.
