“Love Island USA” winners Amaya Espinal and Bryan Arenales have emerged as reality TV megastars after America voted them Season 7’s favorite couple over the weekend — and the two are only just learning just how beloved they’ve become.
The two joined TODAY on Tuesday morning, live from Los Angeles, for their first TV interview since the show’s finale Sunday night. They just returned to the U.S. after spending six weeks isolated in a luxurious villa in Fiji, along with dozens of other single people determined to find love.
Amaya told TODAY’s Savannah Guthrie and Willie Geist that they’re just “digesting” how the show became a phenomenon.
“I think we haven’t realized how big it is yet,” Bryan said. “Our first calls were to our families. And then we haven’t really checked anything out other than that. So catching up.”
“It’s amazing, the support and the love that we have,” Amaya added.
“We have each other (and) support each other. That’s most important thing,” Bryan said. “Super grateful just hearing that.”
Amaya, 25, from New York, and Bryan, 28, from Massachusetts, were chosen as winners of “Love Island USA” Season 7 based on votes by U.S. voters. They became a couple in the back half of the season, after the popular Casa Amor episodes, when groups of new cast members — better known as “bombshells” — are added to the show to test connections.
As winners, Amaya and Bryan were given a $100,000 prize that they decided to share between each other. They said on TODAY how they plan to use that money.
“We both want to invest it, but we also want to put it to charity,” Bryan said. “I know she wants to do a Thanksgiving drive, and I definitely want to donate some to mental health awareness. That’s something that’s extremely important to me. I struggled with it as a kid growing up, so I just want to help kids face their emotions and know how to deal with them.”
“Love Island USA” is a show that streams on Peacock in real time — well, nearly — so the events viewers see in each episode take place just days before. Dozens of islanders rotated in and were dumped from the villa over the last six weeks before the finale dwindled down to four couples. Those runners-up were Iris Kendall and Pepe Garcia-Gonzalez, Huda Mustafa and Chris Seeley, and Olandria Carthen and Nic Vansteenberghe.
Bryan and Amaya were crowned the winners — many thanks to Amaya, who joined the show early in Season 7 as a bombshell and captured the hearts of viewers with her animated personality and one-liners.
Bryan said on TODAY that Amaya’s quirks are what drew him to her.
“I remember there was a challenge where they were kind of trying to dim their light a little bit,” he said. “The stuff that they were saying are pros to me, (and) what I’m looking for in my life. And I was like, let’s see where it goes. And here we are now.”
Though some skeptics say Amaya and Bryan’s romance is just one for the cameras, the two assured their connection is genuine.
“We’ve been like this since we sent chairs, so I don’t think you can really fake that,” Bryan said. “Honestly, I’m so happy to be here with her. Trust me, it’s real.”
“I’m also a bad actress and a bad liar — I think people would be able to catch on quickly,” Amaya added. “I’m like, I need Botox after this, he makes me smile this much.”
“Love Island USA” streams on Peacock, which is part of TODAY’s parent company, NBCUniversal.
This article first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
