Does “Love Island USA” Finally Have a Queer Couple?

Before I write what I’m about to write, please accept this confession: I have never seen a single episode of reality dating TV. However, I have read D’Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding, a sapphic romance about fake dating turned real love on a reality TV show, about ten times. And I think you should read it too, but only if you love love and/or swooning, so only if you’re awesome. But that’s not why we’re here today. We’re here today to talk about Peacock’s Love Island USA, which apparently had a surprise bisexual coming out and also now has a queer couple(?) on it.

There’s a contestant named Johnnie Garcia, and she came out as bi in the most recent episode, because she confessed her feelings to Kassy Castillo, who said she’s never been with a woman but was attracted to Garcia and interested in giving it a go. And then they smooched on the mouth in their swimsuits.

The main thing I know about Love Island is that the producers were worried about having gays on the show due to “logistical difficulties,” which is one of the more ridiculous excuses I’ve ever heard for not casting queers. Executive producer Richard Cowles eventually told BBC that casting LGBTQs was “not impossible.” As I understand it, the people on the show are supposed to select someon who is not their gender to couple-up with, so I’m not even sure if Johnnie and Kassy are playing by the rules? But if they’re not, even better! All the way together in episode 31! I’m not really sure what the exact details are, but one of these girls did cheat with the other girls’ boyfriend, but that’s not an insurmountable challenge. It’s “not impossible,” as they say.

Twitter, at least, seems to be really rooting for these two, and if they do win, they’ll be the first wlw couple to do so on any of the Love Islands!

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Heather Hogan

Heather Hogan is an Autostraddle senior editor who lives in New York City with her wife, Stacy, and their cackle of rescued pets. She's a member of the Television Critics Association, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, and a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer critic. You can also find her on Twitter and Instagram.

Heather has written 1718 articles for us.

2 Comments

  1. There’s actually been a wlw bit before on Love Island UK back in 2016! It didn’t work out particularly well but still they were the first queer coupling on the show as far as I’m aware

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