Officially, we have the launch of CBS’s take on Love Island. For the next four weeks, you’ll be watching people fall in and out of love while frolicking on the beaches of Fiji. As Big Brother fans, you may wonder: How does this show even appeal to me? Well we have answers.
For those who love the romance of Big Brother, you get plenty of that on Love Island USA. It’s just as awkward and cute as many of the past Big Brother showmances. The series also appeals to those who enjoy Big Brother for the psychology elements. You’ll easily find yourselves intrigued and fascinated with what these singles are going to do to stay in the game. You’ll also start to analyze how dynamics change when a threat is thrown into the mix.
Love Island 2019 also has plenty of goofiness and humor with pointless challenges and funny commentary. There are also plenty of twists and turns, and Love Island USA 2019 gives fans some control by letting them vote weekly on how to influence the game. Now that you know why you might want to give this new summer series a chance, here’s what exactly happened on week 1 of Love Island USA.
Tuesday
On Tuesday’s episode, we meet the new singles. Each one comes with their own intro package. Once we meet the first ten singles, the men have the power to pick the woman that they want to couple up with. Host Arielle Vandenberg lets the women know that they could help the boys out by stepping forward to show their interest.
First up is Cashel Barnett. None of the ladies step forward for him, ouch. Then Arielle wants to get a little input in why he wasn’t appealing to the ladies. Caroline “Caro” Viehweg says that he came across a little too shy from her liking. Cashel wants to prove her wrong so he picks her. Cashel and Caro become Love Island’s first couple.
Next out is Yamen Sanders. Alana Morrison likes it so she tries to put a ring on it by stepping forward for Yamen. He picks her as well. Yamen and Alana become the second couple.
Next we have Zac Mirabelli coming out, and the women finally show some life by stepping forward for him, including Caro, who is already coupled with Cashel. This is not a good start to their relationship. Three women in total want the grocery store cashier, but his eyes go right to Elizabeth Weber. Elizabeth and Zac become lucky couple number three.
Country boy Weston Richey comes out next. He is another guy that gets no love from the ladies, but he picks Mallory Santic. Mallory and Weston are the fourth couple.
Finally, model (and Frank Grillo lookalike) Michael Yi comes out. He also gets three ladies to step forward for him, including Caro again. He picks the last girl left, Alexandra Stewart.
Michael and Alexandra complete the first five couples, but wait, there is more. Arielle doesn’t even let the new couples have a moment to breathe, because she announces the first twist. There is a new girl, Kyra Green, who will get to take one of the guys from another girl and couple up with him, making one of the current girls single again. Tensions are already getting high. She’ll pick her new man in 24 hours.
The majority of the rest of the episode is just us watching the couples start to bond and get to know each other. Kyra is also going out of her way to talk to the guys to see who she likes. She immediately expresses attraction to Weston, Zac, and Yamen. Weston isn’t her normal type, which is what appeals to her most about him. She thinks Zac is kind of cute, but doesn’t seem to make much effort to bond with him, but that might be due to Elizabeth and him immediately becoming Love Island’s boy and girl next door sweetheart couple. Yamen and Kyra seem to have the biggest genuine bond, as he’s the first person that she tells that she’s bisexual, and her first serious relationship was with a woman.
Caro and Cashel bond fast. They even have a major cuddle session at night and share a quick kiss. But prior to their bonding, Caro said that she saw Cashel more as a friend, and she even said she wanted them to continue talking to other people. Her dismissing him so fast, comes back to bite her later. Cashel remembers Caro’s words and makes an effort to talk to Kyra.
They start bonding and even have a little bit of nervous energy with each other.Ugh oh. Caro asks Kyra who she might pick, and she says she doesn’t know, but later tells Caro that Cashel is one of her options. Caro isn’t too happy about this, especially because Kyra didn’t tell her this originally.
The episode ends with Kyra about to make her choice of the guy that she wants to couple up with.
Wednesday
The episode starts right where we left off, Kyra is about to make her choice. She picks…Cashel.
Caro is devastated but Cashel seems to be happy with Kyra picking him. Caro shares with the other singles that she’s hurt by the situation but she says that she doesn’t want Cashel now. Sure… Caro tries to brush it all off and move on to the next one, which is Michael. Michael also lets Caro know that he finds her attractive but wants to get to know Alexandra more before deciding. Kyra and Cashel immediately start to develop a strong bond.
Love Island USA has the couples play their first pointless game (seriously they’re just silly and have no prize value). It’s called “Excess Baggage.” How this game works, the women and men take turns opening suitcases. The suitcases will contain a secret by a member of the opposite sex. The person who reads the question, must then kiss the person that they think the secret belongs to.
Well this game does have some value, because it creates some more tension. The ladies either have a high impression or very low impression of Cashel, because he gets kissed the most, four out of the five answers. One time, he’s kissed by his new Love Island boo, Kyra, and then another time by his ex-Love Island boo, Caro. Both women really go for it with him, which makes things awkward. In his direct to camera confessional, Cashel says that the kiss with Caro was a little weird, but we think he says this to not look jerky by admitting that he enjoyed it.
By the end of the game, it’s a two-two tie, so they all lose. Another drama that comes from this game is that one of Zac’s secrets was that he left a girl to go have sex with his ex. Immediately, this makes Elizabeth question Zac because something like this happened to her in the past. This awkward situation forces Elizabeth and Zac to talk about this secret, and Zac shows a lot of remorse for the situation. He doesn’t want Elizabeth to judge him for his past mistakes.
This discussion seems to bring the two closer. The singles continue to get to know each other with Truth or Dare and Spin the Pineapple. After a night of laughing, Zac and Elizabeth sneak off to talk some more. Zac makes a move and they share their first kiss. We hate to be that person but “aww.”
Thursday
Let the drama continue with Love Island bringing in two new dudes. We meet Dylan Curry and Cormac Murphy. The new guys show up before the original singles even wake up. The women are excited about the possibility of new men, but some of the guys feel threatened, especially Michael, who starts making weird voices and starts talking about his confidence. Meanwhile, Yamen gets asked about his kiss with Alana during the game of spin the pineapple. He didn’t want their first kiss to happen like that, and he’s not sure how he felt about it. But you got to play the game right? Alana asks him about their relationship and he assures her that he likes her, but we’re not too sure.
The audience gets to make their first decision of the game and they picked the two ladies who get to go on a date with Dylan and Cormac. America picks Alexandra to go on a date with Dylan, and Caro for a date with Cormac. Alexandra and Dylan start to bond even before their date, but the date seems to bring them even closer. Caro and Cormac have a nice date, but she later tells the house that she doesn’t see a future with him. Love Island sends another twist the daters way, Cormac and Dylan actually get two dates. They now get to pick two additional girls to date.
Cormac shocks Elizabeth by picking her as his date. Prior to this date, Elizabeth tried her best to make sure none of the new men wanted to pick her. She’s happy with Zac. Elizabeth even presented herself to them as more of a friend, and even tried to play matchmaker. Cormac found this appealing because he’s had girlfriends in the past who have started off as friends, and he sees that potential with Elizabeth. Elizabeth and Cormac’s date goes fine but she’s Zac’s girl, at least in her and everyone in the house’s mind.
Dylan picks Mallory and their date also goes fine, but he seems to have more chemistry with Alexandra.
Friday
The looming recoupling is near. One male will be eliminating and leave the Love Island villa at the end of the night. Mallory and Weston establish that they’re just friends at the moment, but both remain hopeful of their romantic potential. Following her date with Cormac, Caro goes back to flirting with Michael to keep him interested. Yamen even mentions how he thinks Caro’s game is to flirt with as many men as possible so that she has options and isn’t sent home. He might be on to something, but Caro trying to win the money so we respect her game.
The villa occupants play another game, it’s called “Going Commando,” and it’s a whole lot of awkward mess. The men have to complete an obstacle course in the sexiest way possible. The ladies pick a winner. We have a montage of a whole lot of unsexy moves before Michael is crowned the winner. It’s getting closer to the recoupling ceremony, and Caro doesn’t know who to pick.
She knows it’ll all depend on her and she hasn’t connected with anyone.
She asks Alana if she can talk with Yamen. Alana gives her the go ahead. Caro asks Yamen if he would be interested in coupling with her. In so many words, he says no.
Time for the recoupling ceremony
Kyra goes first and picks Cashel.
Elizabeth goes next and picks Zac.
Alana goes third and sticks with Yamen.
Mallory picks Weston
Alexandra changes thing up and picks Dylan.
It all comes down to Caro. She must pick between Cormac and Michael.
She picks…Cormac.
The daters say goodbye to Michael, as he’s the first person eliminated from the Love Island USA game. Caro starts to cry because she feels bad. Everyone comforts her, including Michael.
And that concludes the first week of Love Island USA. How do you feel about America’s version of the series? Will you continue to watch? Enjoying our recaps? Let us know!
Make sure to subscribe to CBS: All Access to watch Big Brother 21 and Love Island USA on demand. Keep it here all summer for more Love Island recaps (if it doesn’t get cancelled) and of course Big Brother.
It’s Big Brother 21 season, so keep it here all summer for news, recaps, exclusives, spoilers and much more. Make sure to subscribe to CBS: All Access to get your live feeds and enjoy more exclusive content. Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to stay updated on all the Big Brother news!!
