Alerts & Newsletters

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Are Kendall & Nicole Still Together From Love Island USA? The Post-Reunion Update We’ve Been Waiting For

Things went downhill after Kendall's nude video leak.

By Jason Pham

Jason Pham

Are Kendall and Nicole still together from Love Island USA Season 6?

Nicole revealed in an Instagram Story on August 20, 2024, that Kendall had broken up with her a day after the Love Island USA Season 6 reunion aired. “On August 18th, Kendall and I agree our relationship was worth working on, and we were making plans for me to visit him in Dallas soon. However, today, on August 20th, he called and ended things,” she 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 I ask for is privacy during this time.”

Kendall, for his part, also shared an Instagram Story confirming their breakup and asking fans to not send negative comments ot Nicole on his behalf. “I have decided to end things with Nicole. It reached a point where it was not healthy for us to continue the relationship,” he wrote. “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. 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.”

Kendall and Nicole’s split came a day after they confirmed they were still together during the Love Island USA Season 6 reunion, which aired on August 19, 2024. Though they were still together at the time, Nicole revealed during the reunion that they were on the rocks after Kendall lied to her about a nude video leak that occurred after the finale. Nicole claimed that Kendall told her the video was sent to an ex-girlfriend from years ago before admitting that it was to a random person on a dating app at a hotel before he went on Love Island.

In an interview on “The Viall Files” podcast on July 30, 2024, Kendall revealed that he didn’t know at the time whether they would still be together by the time of the Love Island USA Season 6 reunion.

“Nicole and I really want to just work on what we have currently and adjust that to real life,” Kendall said. “Right now, outside the villa, yes, we are together, and it’s just an adjustment of, ‘OK, what is our life? How do we make this work on the outside?’”

During the interview, Kendall also revealed that he and Nicole continued to use the “love” word with each other—which they first told each other in the Season 6 finale—but that their relationship “for sure” felt different outside of the villa. “We’re honestly just taking it day by day because being in the public eye and seeing everyone’s opinions, it affects people differently,” Kendall said. “When I see any negative comments about me or Nicole and me, I just brush it off. But Nicole takes things differently.”

When asked whether he thought he and Nicole would still be together by the time of the Love Island USA Season 6 reunion, Kendall told the podcast. “It’s not 100 I’d say because there’s no guarantees on what will happen. I don’t know the future. I don’t know what’s going to happen in a week or a day. It will be a lie if I said 100 percent chance because I just don’t know. But I believe that when we have those conversations, it can go well.”

That same week, Nicole also shared an Instagram Story in which she asked fans for their understanding amid claims she used Kendall to get to the finale of Love Island USA Season 6. “Some of you have noticed that I’ve been quiet and not posting much so just wanted to provide an update,” Nicole wrote. “While Love Island was an amazing experience, things have not been easy since leaving the villa.”

She continued, “There’s much more to share on what has happened since coming home, and for now, I’ve been taking time to process – these are real feelings and my real life. Thanks for understanding. Love y’all.”

Kendall and Nicole’s comments were a stark contrast to their interview with Us Weekly the day after the Season 6 finale aired, in which they revealed their plans for their relationship now they were back in the real world. (Kendall and Nicole also follow each other on Instagram, at the time of writing.)

“[Sacramento] is not far. It’s good that she lives in California because I have a lot of family there — my sister and my mom are in California,” Kendall said, referring to Nicole’s hometown, which he described as a “three- [or] four-hour plane ride” from his hometown of Dallas. “So it’s a win-win situation when I go there, I get to see Nicole and I also get to see my family.I know my family eventually wants me to move back to California so my mom, specifically, is excited that Nicole is from there.”

Nicole also confirmed that she and Kendall had moved past their awkward moment in the finale where he told her “I love you” and she didn’t say it back. “Kendall caught me by surprise on the date. I’m not gonna lie. Those words mean a lot to me. I just don’t say them to anybody,” she said. “I just needed a second to process it. It’s scary. I don’t know if anyone else out there can relate, but those words, they mean a lot. I’ve been burned in the past, and I think by the time the finale came and I’m writing my speech, that’s when you leave it all on the table. I didn’t wanna have any regrets. And I’ve known how I felt about Kendall for a long time, so I did my big one. I just said it. It scared the living s–t outta me, but it’s good to know that it’s reciprocated and all is well and I really couldn’t be happier.”

Kendall added, “She’s a tougher shell and that’s one of the reasons why I do love her and why it was just such a big moment for us. I’ll always remember that.”

After the Love Island USA Season 6 finale, fans speculated that Kendall and Nicole weren’t together after they were missing from a TikTok video a fan shared of the other three Love Island USA Season 6 couples—Kordell and Serena, Leah and Miguel, and JaNa and Kenny—at a restaurant after filming ended. Kendall and Nicole’s missing appearance was likely due to his nude video leak.

A nude video of Kendall leaked on Twitter the day of the Love Island USA Season 6 finale, which led fans to call on the show to protect him, which may be the reason why he and Nicole weren’t seen in public like the other final couples. Kendall’s sister, Taylor Washington, also shared an Instagram Story calling on Love Island USA to take care of Kendall’s mental health. “I do not have the capacity to respond to everyone individually but I appreciate everyone reaching out concerned about Kendall’s mental health. I am too,” she wrote. “@LoveIslandUSA I really hope y’all have serious mental health resources in place for him so he doesn’t come back from the high of this experience to seeing he’s been unfairly exposed on top of the general reality TV backlash. If y’all have a history of suicide from people on your show, I’d really hope you all get a handle on this expeditiously.”

Kendall also addressed the nude video leak himself in his first Instagram Story since returning from Love Island USA. “What a way to get my phone back y’all,” he wrote. “I just want to address the content that came out from my past. That was something I shared to someone in confidence and trust. It’s unfortunate that it’s no longer private but it is what it is.”

Not much time has passed since when the Love Island USA Season 6 finale filmed and when it aired. The Love Island USA Season 6 finale aired on July 21, 2024, while voting ended for the winner on July 19, 2024. That meant that, at the time the episode made it on Peacock, the final four couples, including Kendall and Nicole, had only been out of the villa for a day or two. Coye Simmons, an original contestant on Love Island USA Season 6, also confirmed to The Sun that episodes air only a “matter of days” after they’re filmed.

Nude video aside, the odds for Kendall and Nicole’s relationship, unfortunately, didn’t look the best. Only three couples from Love Island USA’s past five seasons are still together at the time of writing: Marco and Hannah (Season 5 winners); Bergie and Taylor (Season 5 finalists); and Kyra and Will (Season 3 runners-up),

Distance is also a main reason that many Love Island USA couples—as well as couples cross the franchise internationally—break up after leaving the villa. Kendall is from Dallas, Texas, while Nicole is from Sacramento, California. That said, it was possible for Kendall and Nicole to make it work, if it wasn’t for their outside drama. All three of the Love Island USA couples who are still together today are from different states—and even different countries. Marco is from Ohio, while Hannah is from California; Bergie is from Minnesota, while Taylor is from California; and Kyra is from Hawaii, while Will is from Colombia. In comparison, Texas to California is a lot less further than some of these distances.

Another advantage was that Kendall was an original islander who arrived in the villa on day one, while Nicole entered as a bombshell less than a week later on day 6. Of the three Love Island USA couples who are still together now, all three of them have at least one member who is an original islander.

Another obstacle to Kendall and Nicole staying together, however, could also have been Kendall’s alleged ex-girlfriend, Miami Dolphins cheerleader, Ariana McClure, who shared a since-deleted TikTok claiming that Kendall broke up with her to go on Love Island USA Season 6. “Me realizing that his karma for ending it with me to go on Love Island is having to say my name every time he sees the host,” Ariana wrote in a TikTok video.

Though Ariana didn’t confirm that her ex-boyfriend was Kendall, many fans speculate that he was the ex she was referring to because of where Kendall’s hometown is. Prior to cheerleading for the Miami Dolphins, Ariana was a cheerleader for the Dallas Cowboys based in Dallas, Texas, where Kendall is from. Though Kordell, who was coupled up with Serena, and Kenny, who was coupled up JaNa, are also from Dallas, Kendall is the only Love Island USA Season 6 contestant to follow Ariana on Instagram, according to TikTok account @therealkatherine. “This makes me believe that this TikTok is 100 percent about Kendall,” the account said. He is playing Nicole so that he will win. I don’t think he actually likes her which makes me so sad because I love Nicole. She deserves better.”

Users on Reddit also speculated that Kendall is Ariana’s ex-boyfriend because he also follows Ariana’s sister and friend. The user also cited Netflix’s docuseries, America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, in which Ariana talks about her other career in medical device sales, the same industry that Kendall works in.

“If Kendall has no haters, I’m dead. This guy is SO FAKE and he’s literally been bouncing and giddy through all his friends’ breakdowns. He def thinks he’s ‘top dog’ because of his relationship with Nicole being the only solid one in the house, but I think they’re fake af and a boring couple,” a Reddit user wrote.

Another user added, “He isn’t even good at hiding it at this point… He thinks he is a lot smarter than he is. And the message that he is pushing is actually pretty harmful. It annoys me that they keep giving him the screen time. PLEASE do not vote for this clown. He has to go.”

Love Island USA is available to stream on Peacock.