Are Iris & Pepe Still Together From Love Island USA? She Seemingly Responded to the Cheating Rumors
Jason Pham
They may not have coupled up until the final week of Love Island USA Season 7, but Iris and Pepe had the invisible string theory going for them the whole time, according to their friends and family.
Iris Kendall, a 25-year-old from Los Angeles, California, and Jose “Pepe” Garcia-Gonzalez, a 27-year-old from Santa Ana, California, both joined as bombshells on Day 9 of Love Island USA Season 7. They coupled up for the first time on Day 16 after both of their strongest connections, Thomas “TJ” Palma and Hannah Fields, were dumped from the island due to a public vote from America. They remained together until the Love Island USA Season 7 finale.
Related: All the Love Island USA couples who are still together across all seasons
Since they coupled up, Iris and Pepe’s Love Island USA exes have had a lot to say about their relationship. “It was definitely a shock at first [and] something I wasn’t expecting,” TJ told Us Weekly. “But looking back, I think it has been a long time coming. They both came in together and they’ve had a lot of shared experiences and they really know each other well. If she was gonna get to know anyone, it would probably be him. I’m not mad about it. That’s what Love Island is for.”
He added, “I’m just glad that they’re going through with the experience, if that makes sense. And they’re not like, ‘Oh shit, TJ is my friend or I was coupled up with TJ, this is wrong.’, I’m glad that they’re actually pursuing something.” Still, TJ confessed that it wasn’t easy watching Iris and Pepe couple up. “I’m human. It’s definitely not the best,” he said of watching their connection unfold. “And you don’t see everything, so it always has my mind wondering,” he said.
Hannah, for her part, told AZ Central that she would be open to reconnecting with Pepe outside of the villa if he was single, but she had no plans of “forcing anything” between them. “I do feel really validated, because I did think about him a lot,” Hannah said. “But also, I was giving him the time to really experience, testing connections, getting to know people. So, it wasn’t something that I ever wanted to force. I think, when he comes out, it is something that I’m open and willing to explore, but I’m not forcing anything in my life for sure.”
Now that we’ve heard from the exes, we can’t help but wonder: Are Iris and Pepe still together from Love Island USA? See the secret invisible string theory that may have put them together this whole time.
Are Iris and Pepe still together from Love Island USA?
Iris and Pepe are seemingly not together after the two unfollowed each other just a day before the Love Island USA reunion. The weekend before the revelation, rumors swirled that Pepe had cheated on Iris
Shortly after the cheating rumors emerged, Iris posted an Instagram story of a picture of a sunset with Fleetwood Mac’s “Silver Springs” playing in the background. That song is notoriously about a breakup and includes the lyrics “Time cast a spell on you, but you won’t forget me / I know I could’ve loved you, but you would not let me / I’ll follow you down ’til the sound of my voice will haunt you / You’ll never get away from the sound of the woman that loves you.”
Prior to the rumors, Iris and Pepe confirmed they were still together in an interview with Access Hollywood after the Love Island USA Season 7 finale, in which Iris also explained a TMZ video of her meeting her villa ex, TJ, after leaving the villa. “TJ and I, we obviously left off at a very hard [time],” she said. “It was very hard for me to express to him how I felt with having microphones on and everything going on. I knew the whole time I was there that I needed to have that conversation with him as soon as I get out. So that’s what it was. It was just me having a conversation. Explaining everything that I felt. Everything that I feel. Just having that closure conversation with him. He’s such a great guy. He’s very kind. Very mature. I have nothing but love and respect for him and we’re friends. I’m glad I was able to breathe and have that conversation with him. It felt good.”
Pepe also confirmed that he was aware Iris and TJ planned to meet up after the villa. “Yeah, we spoke about it before and she spoke to me about how we definitely should have that conversation with our respective previous partners in the villa. She’s 100 percent correct,” he said. “I think everybody deserves that closure. We all went through this crazy experience. There’s no reason we shouldn’t be friends outside of this. She told me about it. She told she was holding a lot on her chest and she needed to let it out. She wanted to make sure TJ knew and she didn’t just move on from him like this. It took some time.”
Iris added, “And that it was genuine. Just my feelings. I think the best thing to do is to be honest and just not hold things back, even if it’s hard. Being in the villa, that’s something you have to do. Just being honest and upfront with people. That’s the best way to move in order ot keep the peace.”
While Iris and Pepe don’t live in the same city, they do live the closest of any other couple from Love Island USA Season 7. Iris is from Los Angeles, California, while Pepe lives in Santa Ana, California—less than an hour and a half drive away.
Iris’ best friend, Malyssa Molina, also hinted at the invisible string theory between them in a TikTok comment, in which she revealed their mutual connection. “On the other hand, pepe is one of my other bridesmaids good friends, so im a little bias towards them working out bc it feels like fate to me. Like the red string theory. But im a hopeless romantic,” Malyssa wrote.
What could affect their relationship in the real world, however, are their feelings for their Love Island USA exes, TJ and Hannah. “Every morning, I was excited to see you, and going to bed with you was amazing,” Iris said in her goodbye message to TJ as he teared up. “Everything that we did together in the short amount of time that we had together was truly amazing and I’m not gonna forget you, so don’t worry. And I’m really, really grateful to have met such a wonderful guy like you. I had a great time and I’m really gonna miss you.”
“I didn’t think I was gonna shed a tear today, but, it was nice to hear from her,” TJ responded. “She’s fucking amazing.” He went on to confirm that he planned to see her again once she was out of the villa. “We’ll see each other on the outside for sure,” he said. When asked where he plans to bring Iris once they both returned to the real world, TJ responded, “Probably the beach. She loves coffee, too, so maybe a coffee spot.”
Hannah, for her part, told People that she had a stronger connection with Pepe than her former Love Island USA partner, Charlie Georgio, who was suddenly dumped from the villa earlier in the season due to a public vote by America. “I think my connections with both of them were very different,” Hannah said. “And maybe it would’ve played out differently if Charlie was still there, but I saw a completely different side of Pepe after Charlie left, and I maybe would never have known that about him.”
She went on to claim that many of her and Pepe’s sweeter moments were “not shown” on the show. “Our connection was not really shown, but literally everyone was always taking pictures of us and being like, ‘Oh my gosh, so cute,'” she said.
Love Island USA streams on Peacock.
