Love Island USA stars Kendall Washington and Nicole Jacky have announced that they are no longer together.
The announcement came the day after the Love Island USA reunion aired Peacock.
“Today, on August 20th, he called and ended things,” Nicole wrote. “While I understand and respect his decision, It’s hard to process this one. I opened up to him in the villa, and still love and care for him now. I’m struggling mentally and all l ask for is privacy during this time.”
Kendall issued a statement of his own, saying “I still love and care for Nicole. I’ve never developed such strong feelings for a woman in my life. I have no regrets for the connection I made with her in the villa and it was real,” he continued. “She does not deserve any hate. Please stop with the negative comments/DM’s. We’re taking this time to focus on our mental health. Thank you guys.”
The couple faced a difficult time after somebody leaked an explicit video of Kendall in a compromising position.
Love Island is a dating reality show that originated in the United Kingdom in 2005 as Celebrity Love Island. Created by ITV Studios, it has spawned a second British version in 2015 as well as several international versions.
The show features a group of “single” contestants, known as “islanders” who are sourced from agencies, and live together in a specially constructed villa that is isolated from the outside world, in an attempt to “find love”. The islanders are continuously monitored during their stay in the house by live television cameras as well as personal audio microphones. Throughout the series, the contestants “couple up” to avoid being dumped from the villa. Additionally, the public will vote for their favourite islanders to stay in the villa at points in the series. As old islanders are dumped, new islanders enter the villa. At the end of the season, the public vote one final time to determine the winning couple.