Love Island USA season eight contestants Melanie Moreno and Kenzie Annis addressed their friendship fallout at the August 31 reunion, hosted by Ariana Madix and Andy Cohen.
The rift between the 24-year-olds began on the reality show in episode 29, when Georgia native Annis felt hurt by Philadelphia native Moreno and partner Sincere Rhea voting for her in an elimination. Annis considered Moreno her "best friend here" and told her, "I'm not even putting her on a [chopping] block next."
Moreno countered that the friendship felt one-sided when Annis bonded with bombshell Sol Dean while Moreno flirted with Rhea. "I don't feel like we talk that much anymore," Moreno said. "When you even called me your best friend, I just felt like I'm your best friend, but it never felt like you were my best friend."
Moreno added it was fine they were friends, but "you never checked up on me." Annis tearfully apologised, explaining she was supporting Dean through a "really hard time" but regretted her distance. "I'm sorry I made you feel that way," she said. "Because I do want to be there for you."
Tensions escalated after Fiji, triggered by Annis seemingly unfollowing Moreno on Instagram and acknowledging on a July 15 Call Her Daddy podcast that she had called season eight "the Melanie show" during a livestream.
At the reunion, Annis defended the remark, noting Moreno's airtime but insisting she "would never talk s--t about her. I don't think that that is talking s--t." Annis added, "I was always there for you."
Moreno took issue with becoming a topic of conversation in her absence: "It just caught me off guard that everyone's together, and that is even a conversation. I have not done anything to you." She added, "I feel like these little comments that I'm hearing don't add up to me. Even watching the show back, I've never seen it."
Moreno pointed to Annis's boyfriend Dylan Wrona's social media, accusing him of liking a post that called Moreno, Aniya Harvey and Kayda Bosse "birds" and posts claiming the trio bullied Annis. "I see you liking stuff saying that we're bullying her," Moreno said. "We never bullied you, Kenzie."
Both women admitted reconciliation was possible. Annis said she still loved Moreno, calling her "like my sister. So it hurts that she's hurt by it." Moreno agreed: "Right now I really just want a friendship where we pour into each other outside of that crazy environment."
Rapid turnarounds and Fiji time
The reality show shoots in Fiji, which is 16 hours ahead of the US East Coast. The USA version has filmed there since season five and for its first season. The time difference allows editors to turn Monday's footage into Tuesday's episode.
Executive producer Claudine Parrish told The Wrap in 2024 that the control room commissions scenes from 85 hidden cameras in real time. "The islanders wake up, the control room [will be] commissioning scenes based on what's happening," Parrish said. "They'll label them like, 'Boys make breakfast for the girls,' and 15 minutes after it's happened, it's in our edits, and editor [is] on it and making it into a scene."
A team of about 30 editors and 20 producers weave the narrative together, though Parrish admitted, "We don't always get it right. We're always making that call on, 'Is this important or is this going to change by tomorrow?'"
Catering and dinner rules
While the men prepare breakfast for the women on the USA show, lunch and dinner are catered. UK season four winner Dani Dyer told Hello! in 2021 that "there are no menus, it is catering, so obviously breakfast you cook yourself, so you have like eggs, bacon, toast and that kind of stuff." UK season eight contestant Luca Bish claimed in a July 2023 TikTok that food from "some mystery chef out in the field somewhere" was delivered, and he mostly ate hummus and crisps.
Men and women eat separately and with producers, except on dates. UK season three's Olivia Attwood told The Sun in 2022 that it runs like a boarding school. "When we have dinner, it's like them telling us we need to clean the bedroom, that laundry day is tomorrow and asking us what we want for our breakfast the next day, all just things that make the house run smoothly," she said.
UK season eight's Samuel Agbiji told Closer in 2024 that discussing the show during meals is banned: "It was mad, because when you're eating you want to talk about what's going on, but you can't because it affects the filming."
Contestants get one drink of beer, wine or bubbly per night. USA season four's Phoebe Siegel noted on TikTok in June 2024 that wine was "not a generous pour" and open bar drinks for a Casa Amor challenge win were "completely watered down."
The voice of the villa
Scottish comedian Iain Stirling narrates both the UK and USA versions. He told Today in 2024 that he logs onto the UK show at 12 PM UK time. "By that point, the show's all but finished," he said. "Then we'd write for two or three hours. Done by about 4, half 4. Then I'd get a child dinner, bath time, bed time, I'd love for it to be more rock 'n' roll than that, but that was my life."
Stirling married former UK host Laura Whitmore in 2020 and they welcomed a daughter in March 2021. He logs onto the USA show at 8:30 PM UK time, watching rough cuts over Zoom and recording on his home microphone before Peacock's legals and standards team reviews the episode. "We'd try to finish by about 12 or 1 in the morning, then I'd stay up till half to 3, which is still not the end of the show for the U.S.," Stirling said. "In a dream world, I'd be staying up 'til like, 5, 6, in the morning, but that would basically involve me never sleeping."
Soundtracks and silence
USA executive producer James Barker told Rolling Stone in June 2025 that he was inspired by the UK show's music. "It really was seeing Love Island UK for the first time where I was like, 'Oh, it just is a leveling up of reality and how we can tell stories when you have this personal connection to a pop song and you see it used in context of a story that you're watching on TV," he said. "I think that this is where my brain immediately said, 'One, this is amazing, and more shows should be like this. And two, how do I work on Love Island?'"
A music clearance company works months ahead to license an "arsenal of tracks" from artists like Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, Charli XCX and Olivia Rodrigo. "We work to get hundreds or sometimes thousands of songs ready to go, because we don't know where the story's going," Barker explained. "'OK, this track is going to be great for when somebody eventually breaks up with somebody, or this track is going to be the perfect first-kiss song when that comes up.'"
The USA version features Janelle Monae's "Make Me Feel" and the theme "From Fiji With Love" by The Daniel Pemberton TV Orchestra. However, islanders cannot listen to music in the villa to avoid audio interference and clearance issues, with exceptions for challenges, slow-motion dance parties or if a driver is playing music in a cab.
Grooming and neutral hosting
Production provides unbranded skin care and makeup, but professionals handle complex grooming. UK season five contestant Lucie Dolan told Capital FM in 2021 that hair and nails are done every two or three weeks. "Being in there that long, the nights are very long and no one sees how long they are, so you need a bit of a down day and a bit of a chill," she said.
Whitmore told OK! that when there is no show on Saturdays, "their eyelashes and acrylic nails get redone." While early series contestants left the villa, Whitmore added that now "they have a girl who comes in to do their roots."
USA host Madix must remain impartial. She told The Wrap it is "hard because part of me wants to jump in there sometimes. But also as a host I have to be somewhat impartial, at least in front of them." She intervened in season six, advising Rob Rausch to reconsider leaving alongside Andrea Carmona after she was voted off. "I don't think that making a big decision like that in a highly emotional moment is the best thing to do," Madix explained. "Also, part of me felt like I wanted to call his bluff because I didn't really think that he wanted to leave."
Hidden cameras and bombshells
Madix, who lives in a nearby hotel with a view of the villa, noted there are no cameramen near the islanders. "There are cameras set up throughout the entire villa, and then there are walls where they have sliders and there are cameramen behind the wall that can move, but the islanders never really see the cameramen," she said, adding that there are no blind spots outside the toilet or shower. "So you might think you're having a secret conversation in a corner that's not the case."
The kitchen pantry has no cameras, but UK season nine contestant Samie Elishi said on YouTube in April 2023 that only one person is allowed inside because "some stuff happened in the pantry with a couple before." Show-branded condoms are provided, and contestant JaNa Craig told Cosmopolitan that participants take STD tests beforehand.
Before entering, bombshells can watch every episode except the one airing before they arrive, and provide their top three islander choices, UK contestant Chloe Burrows revealed on her Chloe vs. The World podcast in April 2023.
USA executive producer Ben Thursby-Palmer told The Wrap producers manipulate the plot but "play along with what's happening in real time in the villa. If everyone's really happy in their couple, there's no real point to recoupling." If islanders sleep in different beds, he said, "We need to reset and put them back together." Elishi added the show is not scripted "at all," but producers encourage certain conversations. "You do get encouraged to have certain chats, but what's said within them is completely up to you," she said.
Phones are provided only for texts, photos and producer alerts. UK season two's Liana Isadora Van Riel told The Sun in 2019 that "nobody really uses them. They're only really there for the whole 'I've got a text' aspect." Siegel added that islanders cannot use Google, watch TV, access socials or text anyone outside the show.
Contestants get one day off per week, which is why the USA show does not drop new episodes on Wednesdays, when filming pauses. UK season three's Kem Cetinay told This Morning in 2017 that islanders take off their microphones and are forbidden from discussing the show. "You can all sit and chat but they are quite careful about what you talk about because they want to keep it so everyone at home can see and get it on video," he said. "It's more a day off from all the intense games, all the intense dates, deciding who you like and don't like." Men and women cannot share beds on their days off.
