The hottest reality show of the summer is back this week with an all-new season.
“Love Island USA” Season 8 premieres this Tuesday, June 2, and there is one Floridian in the cast. Last summer, the seventh season of “Love Island USA” was the most-watched yet, garnering more than 18 billion minutes viewed and a six-week run as the most popular reality series on a streaming platform.
Here’s when and how to watch the premiere of “Love Island USA” Season 8 this week, the cast list and how the show works.
‘Love Island USA’ Season 8 premieres this week
The eighth season of “Love Island USA” will premiere Tuesday, June 2, at 9 p.m. ET. New episodes will air on Bravo and Peacock every night except Wednesdays.
Watch ‘Love Island USA’ season 8 with Peacock
Is ‘Love Island USA’ on every day?
New episodes of “Love Island USA” will drop daily throughout premiere week. Following premiere week, new episodes will drop daily, except on Wednesdays.
“Love Island Aftersun,” the show’s companion talk show, will air weekly episodes on Saturdays. On May 11, Peacock announced that Floridian influencer and red carpet host Tefi Pessoa will co-host “Love Island Aftersun” with “Summer House” star Ciara Miller.
Is ‘Love Island’ aired in real-time?
While “Love Island USA” is not a live show, it is filmed in real-time and delayed for a day or two before airing.
Who is hosting ‘Love Island USA’ 2026? Floridian fan-favorite Ariana Madix is back
TV personality and host Ariana Madix is a Melbourne, Florida, native and Flagler College alumna who’s had the entire reality TV realm in a chokehold over the last few years. She first became the host of “Love Island USA” in 2024 and is now many fans’ favorite part of the show.
Aside from her reality TV work for Bravo, Ariana Madix has gone on to write books, open restaurants and even compete on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” in 2023. She also appeared on Broadway in the summer of 2024 as Roxie Hart in the “Chicago” musical.
Madix’s first claim to fame was her appearance on Bravo’s “Vanderpump Rules.” The spinoff show follows the lives of people who work at the West Hollywood restaurant SUR, which is owned by Lisa Vanderpump, one of the legendary Bravo reality show stars from “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.” Debuting in 2013, “Vanderpump Rules” has 12 seasons under its belt.
‘Love Island USA’ Season 8 cast has 1 Florida man.
There were originally 12 islanders in the initial cast, but Vasana Montgomery, a salon owner from Oregon, was already removed from the show.
On Friday, May 29, just one day after the cast announcement, video clips of Montgomery using a racial slur began circulating online, and Montgomery was removed from the cast.
On June 1, there were rumors on social media that Floridian Gabriel Vasconcelos had been removed from the cast; however, there is no confirmation of this by any officials with the show or network.
Here are the 11 islanders who will be the first in the villa on night one, including one Floridian:
Where is the ‘Love Island USA’ villa located?
The villa for the most recent seasons of “Love Island USA” is in the Mamanuca Islands of Fiji.
How does ‘Love Island’ work?
On “Love Island,” a group of single men and women, called “islanders,” “couple up” from week to week and live in a big villa together all summer. In the first episode of each season, each of the women in the villa chooses a man to couple up with, based only on a brief first impression.
Each islander sleeps in a bed with the person they’re coupled up with every night, in the same room as the other couples. There’s a massive bedroom with beds lining each wall. There are surveillance cameras in the bedroom and throughout the villa.
Viewers watch the islanders spend their days lounging by the pool, talking amongst themselves and sometimes participating in challenges that can win them opportunities for alone time with the person they’re coupled up with.
There are “recoupling” ceremonies in which the men and women take turns choosing to either stay with the person they are coupled up with or choose someone else. Since the initial coupling is up to the women, the men usually get the upper hand in the first recoupling ceremony. Any islanders who are single after the recoupling leave the villa.
Viewers also get a chance to vote for their favorite and least favorite islanders and couples from week to week, giving them a say in who’s eliminated from the villa.
The winner of each season is the couple that gets the most viewer votes as the favorite couple in the villa.
During the finale, both people in the winning couple are given envelopes. One envelope has the $100,000 prize, and the other is empty. The person who gets the prize money can choose to keep it for themselves or split it with their partner.
Lianna Norman and Samantha Neely are trending reporters for the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida, covering pop culture, breaking news and more. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY, at https://floridatoday.com/newsletters.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: ‘Love Island USA’ Season 8 starts tomorrow. When to watch the premiere
Reporting by Lianna Norman and Samantha Neely, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
