Chelley Bissainthe, Olandria Carthen, and Huda Mustafa finally hash out the latter's claims of bullying in the villa and the racial vitriol spewed online.
The Love Island USA reunion for season 7 has come and gone, but the bombshells will be with fans forever.
Over a month after the latest installment of Peacock's hit dating series came to a close, with Amaya Espinal and Bryan Arenales nabbing the title of winning couple, the islanders came back together for a special reunion episode hosted by Ariana Madix and Andy Cohen that aired on Monday night.
The majority of the cast was in attendance, including runners-up Olandria Carthen and Nic Vansteenberghe, Huda Mustafa and Chris Seeley, and Pepe Garcia-Gonzalez and Iris Kendall.
They were joined by Chelley Bissainthe, Ace Greene, Taylor Williams, Clarke Carraway, 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.
The long-awaited reunion of season 7's headline-making cast featured unseen footage from controversial dumpings and challenges, updates on the couples' current relationship status and more.
Keep reading for Entertainment Weekly's breakdown of the highlights, bombshells, and everything that's transpired since the season 7 Love Island USA reunion.
Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.
While discussing where the couples' stand after July's season finale, Andy asked Bryan about the cheating allegations floating from a TikTok video of him hosting a party and allegedly getting handsy with another woman.
The 28-year-old shut down the speculation, saying fans are "trying to just throw any hate my way, and with the cheating video, the hosting I got paid to be there. I used to bartend back in the day. I had a lapse of judgment and we've [he and Amaya] talked about it."
When asked what his "lapse of judgment" was, Bryan shared that he was "pouring shots around, giving the crowd shots and stuff like that."
Andy then asked Chris about that night, since he was "out with Bryan on the night of the alleged cheating."
"I didn't see s---," Chris responded before adding that he told Bryan not to listen to negative comments on the internet.
Amaya defended her winning partner, adding, "We definitely spoke about it, and I'm also not a woman that would be with someone who doesn't respect me, so if I'm still with him, it's clearly because the relationship dynamic is healthy and great."
As the first couple in franchise history to break up in the finale, it was expected that things would be awkward between Chris and Huda. But the awkwardness was exacerbated by the completely different vibes between the former couple at the reunion.
While Huda said things were "fine" between the two, Chris asserted that it was "Very weird on my end," and confirmed that the two were not on friendly terms.
"I don't respect it at all," Chris said of how Huda talked about him in interviews since leaving the villa. "I just didn't respect the way she handled herself in that interview. She's had a month to apologize and talk about it, but she waited until two or three days before today to reach out. I just can't respect it."
When asked why it took so long for her to contact Chris, Huda responded, "I had started seeing more and more hate towards Chris on my for you page. I just didn't agree with the hate."
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.
Chris ultimately said he could forgive Huda but not be friends.
Jeremiah and Huda's "toxic" relationship was the main topic of conversation throughout season 7 and the reunion allowed a brief moment for the ousted islander to address allegations that he "love bombed" the single mother by showering her with attention in an attempt to manipulate her.
When Jeremiah denied that he had tried to manipulate Huda, she pushed back saying that a person can love bomb without knowing, which is what she said she experienced.
However, Jeremiah pointed that Huda had been the one to push the emotional element of their relationship, from telling him she loved him to several attempts at making him jealous of other men on the island. He also pointed out how Huda would lie to others about their conversations, making it seem like he was trying to move too fast when a different version of events conspired.
Jeremiah also confronted Ace, who had been candidly critical of Jeremiah in the villa, for calling him a "scammer," noting that he would not put himself through "six weeks of hell for $50,000."
Ace said, "when I hear comments about getting the money, when I hear comments about followers outside of the villa, I don't feel this is a genuine connection."
The other male islanders disagreed. Taylor said he thought that Brown was there to find love like the rest of them, with Austin echoing his sentiments that "you can like someone too much and move not the correct way."
One of the most dramatic exits of the season came when the girls chose to vote Hannah out of the villa despite her strong connection with Pepe at the time.
The reunion played a never-before-scene clip of the girls discussing their decision, which ultimately led to Huda, Cierra, Olandria, and Chelley unanimously voting to send Hannah packing.
Upon seeing the footage for the first time, Hannah burst into tears. "It hurts, but I understand. It feels better to know now, I guess the explanation," she said.
"Regardless of who would've gone home, someone was gonna be hurt. And it doesn't mean that those friendships weren't important... you guys are important to me, and you guys treated me so well," Hannah continued. "This wouldn't have happened, Amaya and Bryan wouldn't have happened. Like I am so grateful that these beautiful connections were able to come, even if it was off of like, a heartbreak for me."
The other islanders were as apologetic as they were the night of her dumping. "It felt almost like a betrayal, to be honest," Chelley said of the decision, and Huda agreed. "It f---ing sucks."
The second most dramatic exit was the guys voting off Jeremiah after he had began forming a connection with bombshell Andreina.
The decision came amid tension between Jeremiah and his fellow male islanders, who seemed to hold particular disdain over his turbulent relationship with Huda and his role as a "lovebomber."
The clear animosity between Jeremiah and Ace split viewers between their respective squads, with some speculating that Ace was the "ringleader" in his trio and steered Nic and Taylor to vote Jeremiah out.
The previously unaired footage proved that Nic was the sole male islander to vote for Austin to be voted off while Ace and Taylor voted for Jeremiah.
When Cohen asked Ace if he understood why he was thought of as a ring leader, the content creator responded that he was simply a vocal personality.
"I will say, I was vocal. But in these vocal moments, everybody has something to say," Ace noted. "If you think I'm just gonna have a conversation with myself throughout the whole entire thing, it's kind of silly to believe that."
Jeremiah insisted that Ace was the "main antagonist" in the villa, which Ace denied before owning that he regretted sending Jeremiah home, and wished he had voted for Austin instead.
The long-awaited extended footage of the season's "heart rate challenge" was played to show the controversial dance between Huda and Ace that led to the end of her friendship with Chelley.
After watching the clip that showed her licking Ace's crotch and twerking in his face after Chelley and Chris had stopped their portion, Huda acknowledged that she "took it a step too far for certain people, and I do apologize if I made anyone feel uncomfortable."
"Everything was consensual," she added. "There was no limitations, and we all made that very clear at the beginning of the challenge."
Chelley stood her ground, telling Andy and Ariana that she "definitely feel like I was justified."
"We've always mentioned this whole consensual thing, and everyone's like, 'Yeah, we're all open to everything.' It comes to a thing of friendship and sisterhood. It was never because we didn't consent to this," she added.
Chelley continued, "When you do certain challenges, it's with intention, because you're interested in a person," she continued. "To my knowledge, you didn't have any interest for Ace. So, to go as far as that -- [with] me being your friend -- I think my reasons were very justified."
As Chelley put it, "I don't feel like I have to sit here and be like, 'Hey, don't lick the person I'm connected with's d---.' It's just an invisible boundary, where I just don't have to say that."
A montage of "Hurricane Huda"s most explosive moments was played, which also featured most islanders expressing their exasperation with Huda's many explosions.
Despite the showcase of her worst moments, Huda laughed throughout the montage and said: "I've done so much self-reflection and so much work that I can look back on these moments and laugh."
She added, "Now I would handle things so differently," to which Andy incredulously responded, "So you did a month of self-reflection and you're a better person now?"
Huda said that after seeing clips back from the show, there were moments she felt bullied, though she did regret the "cursing" and "the name-calling."
This led to the confrontation that fans had seemingly been waiting for -- when Andy asked Huda to clarify when she felt bullied because he didn't see it as a viewer, Olandria and Chelley spoke up about how they became the biggest targets of bullying from Huda's fans because of her comments.
Olandria became emotional as she revealed that she received racist messages on social media from Huda's fans and asked the fitness influencer to directly address them, which she didn't.
"We were super close in the villa," Olandria noted. "Upon exiting the villa, once we got our phones back, I saw the amount of hate that I was getting from her stans, and I expressed the Huda, 'Hey, I really feel like it's important, especially if you consider yourself being very close to me -- and you was close to Chelley at some point -- to speak out to your fans and address the racism.'"
According to Olandria, once they arrived in L.A., Huda told them she would make a post to her fans.
"I was like, 'You know what? Thank you. That's all I ask,'" Olandria recalled. "Two or three days went by, and she hadn't even decided to address her people. It pained me. Me and Huda was so close, like, I wasn't even worth a post? To address your people when they have the whole narrative wrong. You kind of just got into the real world and kind of fell into that narrative and fed it."
Olandria said she experienced more online vitriol after Huda alleged she'd been bullied on the show during her Call Her Daddy interview.
"They thought I was one of the bullies," she said. "That s--- added more hate. I don't think you understand that that s--- was f---ing with me mentally. It was so bad."'
Huda she hadn't made the post addressing her fans' racism against Olandria and Chelley because she was "dealing with so much outside of that."
"I didn't know what to say in that moment because I was dealing with so much I wanted to address," she added. "I was getting hated on as well racially."
Olandria -- who said she unfollowed Huda amid the fallout -- responded, "I get that, but your face was not plastered on f---ing George Floyd's body."
"I'm really sorry about that," Huda said. "I told people I don't want anybody getting hate. I don't want any bullying... I don't want you guys getting hate in that way. I think that's wrong. Racism is wrong."
Chelley noted that since leaving the villa, it felt like a "complete switch" from Huda after she alleged she was bullied during the show.
Chelley said she does not want to be friends with Huda again but wishes her well "from a distance."
"I love her to death, but that really was a turning point for me," Olandria said in agreement.
During the reunion -- which was filmed on Aug. 12 -- Amaya and Bryan, Nic and Olandria, and Iris and Pepe all described that their connections were still progressing outside the villa. Clarke and Taylor confirmed they were still exclusive with no plans on separating, and the same was said for Chelley and Ace, with the latter declaring that when he officially asks Chelley to his girlfriend, she will be his first "and last" girlfriend.