Riyah Collins
BBC Newsbeat
Kim Nunneley/Peacock via Getty Images
Four couples made it to the final where a $100,000 cash prize was up for grabs
This article contains spoilers for the Love Island USA final.
The winners of Love Island USA’s seventh series have been revealed.
Amaya Espinal and Bryan Arenales bagged the $100,000 cash prize ahead of other couples Chris Seeley and Huda Mustafa, Nic Vansteenberghe and Olandria Carthen, and Jose “Pepe” Garcia-Gonzalez and Iris Kendall.
In one final twist, one member of the couple has to decide whether to share the prize fund or keep it to themselves, with Bryan choosing to split it.
The US spin-off of the ITV dating show has been hugely popular this year, with network Peacock saying it had ranked as their most-streamed reality series.
Kim Nunneley/Peacock via Getty Images
Amaya Espinal and Bryan Arenales coupled up late but were voted the favourites by the US public
The 25-year-old content creator from New York coupled up with Bryan, a 28-year-old accountant from Boston, fairly late in the series but the pair made their relationship exclusive on their final date in the villa on Sunday.
“We started kind of late, everything worked out for us,” Bryan said.
“One thing we always said was we’re just going to be us and see where it takes us.”
Asked what they planned to do with the money, both said they wanted to donate a portion of their winnings to charity.
“Mental health awareness is extremely important to me,” Bryan said.
“I went through it when I was younger and I definitely want to help little kids face their emotions and everything.”
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Finalist Nic spent most of the series coupled up with Cierra Ortega before she was removed from the villa
Mental health has been a key theme of the series, with islanders being relentlessly bullied on social media.
The online hate reached a level so bad that the show had to air a statement during one episode saying: “The keyword in Love Island is… Love. We love our fans. We love our Islanders. We don’t love cyberbullying, harassment or hate.”
One islander, Cierra Ortega, shared some of the abuse she’d received online as the final aired on Sunday, which included death and rape threats as well as messages threatening to call ICE [US Immigration and Customs Enforcement] on her and her family.
Cierra, who spent most of the series coupled up with finalist Nic, left the villa a week before the final after a post resurfaced where she’d used a derogatory term for Chinese people.
The content creator from LA, who is of Mexican and Puerto Rican heritage, later apologised, and said the fallout had been “very hard to deal with”.
Love Island says it offers islanders support before, during and after the show and continues to adapt its offering as needed.
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