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Love Island Games Season 2 may have seen Love Island USA Season 7 star Andreina Santos betrayed by Johnny Middlebrooks, but does she have her eye set on reuniting with an alum of her original season?
In her exit interview with Blavity’s Shadow and Act, the reality star talked about yes, Jeremiah Brown, as well as feeling done dirty by Johnny, feeling supported by Tyrique Hyde, and being able to show more of her personality in the spinoff.
On Tyrique, she said, “I do have good feelings when it comes to Tyrique. We talked a little bit before Love Island Games, so basically what happened is I left Season 7, and Tyrique followed me on Instagram, and then he DMed me. He was like, ‘I’m your biggest fan.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, how come?’ And then he’s like, ‘I’ve been talking about you.’
Andreina says Tyrique called her ‘the baddest Islander of all-time.’
She then said he sent her TikToks that he did during Season 7, calling her “the baddest Islander of all-time.” They ended up talking a bit after Season 7, but she had a lot going on.
“He was in the UK, I was in the USA, so I wasn’t really given it my time and attention, but we talked a little bit,” she added. “It was never super deep. So yeah, it was great seeing him on Love Island Games at the beginning, obviously I thought that was going to be a thing, but then Johnny came, and I’m like, ‘Oh, wait a minute’ [laughs]. But I think now I could call him my friend. I think we’re cool, and I really appreciate it that the times that Johnny talked to him about me, he was like, “Then you have to stop being so affectionate with her if that’s how you feel.” So I feel like in some type of way, Tyrique had my back. So that was nice to watch.”
The background of her relationship with Johnny
As she told us about Tyrique, she also gave the origin story of her and Johnny’s pre-existing relationship before coupling up in the Love Island Games villa.
She explained, The thing with Johnny is that when we met in person before Love Island Games, we just had chemistry right away. And he seemed like this great guy. He used to be super sweet. This man used to kiss my feet. So I feel like when we met, it wasn’t the right time to restore a connection because it was right after Season 7. Again, I had a lot going on, and he also told me that he was going to film a show. At that point, I didn’t know that I was going to do Love Island Games, so I told him, ‘Listen, I don’t want to get to know you. I don’t want to get intimate with you before you go on your show, because that’s just not the right way of doing things. So after your show, if you come back single, we can try things out.’ So, he was super respectful about that. He was like, ‘No problem, we can just talk and hang out.’ And that’s what we used to do. We used to hang out all the time, and all we had was conversations and our presence. So it was a surprise to me that he based his reason on us not having a connection, because we had a connection even before the Love Island Games.”
So, when she saw him enter the villa, she thought that may be a sign, explaining, “It was like, ‘OK, when we met before, it wasn’t the right time, but maybe it wasn’t because now it is the right time.’ And that’s why I really liked him, and I really thought that, I mean, I literally saw us leaving Love Island Games together and building something outside. So it was really a surprise when he did that to me…I’m not going to keep having feelings for a person that talked behind my back, betrayed me, and didn’t care about me or my feelings. I feel like now, coming back [to the outside world], I want nothing to do with Johnny, 1,000%.”
Showing more of her personality than she did Season 7
Because she was on this season longer and was featured in the majority of it, Santos believes she was able to showcase more of her personality, including her laughter, on Love Island Games than Love Island USA Season 7.
“I feel like Season 7 was really hard for me because that was the last bombshell,” she said. “And it’s hard for me to integrate into a group that’s already established. At the time I entered the villa in season seven, everybody seemed a little locked in. So, it was just hard for me to move around. And then I didn’t really have a connection after Jeremiah. So, I was basically there just chilling and waiting for my time to go home. [Love Island Games] was way different, because I was an OG. So, it’s like when you’re an OG, you’re just there, and connections just happen. You don’t really have to work for them. And I feel like that helped me a lot when it came to being myself.”
What she says about Jeremiah
As for Jeremiah, Santos played coy about whether they could be an item.
“I would say stay tuned, but I have a love for him, and I think he has love for me, too. He’s a great guy, and I’m excited to see him when I go back to LA for sure.”
Watch the full video with more of Gray and Seeley’s responses above. The interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
The Love Island Games finale airs Sunday at 9 p.m. on Peacock.
