Love Island USA Spinoff Snub: The Real Reason Nic, Olandria and Huda Are Missing
Peacock's Beyond the Villa is reuniting season 7 standouts from Love Island USA — but conspicuously missing are Nic Vansteenberghe, Olandria Carthen and Huda Mustafa.
Peacock is rolling out season 2 of Beyond the Villa, and if you watched Love Island USA season 7, you will recognize a lot of faces. A few big ones are missing, though, and there are some reasons for that. Let me break it down.
Quick refresher: what the main show actually is
Love Island USA throws a bunch of singles into a luxury villa in Fiji. They live cut off from the outside world, on camera basically 24/7, and they have to couple up to avoid getting bounced. Make it to the end, and there is $100,000 on the table.
Who is back for Beyond the Villa season 2
Nearly a year after their season aired, these season 7 Islanders signed on for the spinoff:
- Bryan Arenales
- Gracyn Blackmore
- Jeremiah Brown
- Clarke Carraway
- Amaya Espinal
- Hannah Fields
- Pepe Garcia
- Iris Kendall
- TJ Palma
- Andreina Santos
- Chris Seeley
- Belle-A Walker
- CoCo Watson
- Taylor Williams
Who is missing (and why)
The runners-up, Nic Vansteenberghe and Olandria Carthen, are not featured. It is not drama; they are just busy. Nic has been leaning into his DJ career, and Olandria hit the runway for her modeling debut. The trailer for Beyond the Villa does tease a quick Nic cameo, but Olandria is not in that footage.
Huda Mustafa is also absent. She started dating Louis Russell after the show and has seemed to step back from the rest of the cast, so she is not in the sneak peek either.
How the returning Islanders are framing it
In a chat with Us Weekly, the group basically said they are using the spinoff to show sides of themselves that did not make the cut on Love Island USA. Clarke Carraway said people saw a handful of clips last season and decided they knew who everyone was, which did not reflect the full picture. Doing Beyond the Villa, for a lot of them, is about getting to actually show their personalities.
'A lot of people refer to us as side characters,' Belle-A Walker said, adding that Beyond the Villa is a chance for viewers to get to know them better — and maybe change some minds.
She also pointed out that many of them were not in the villa for very long the first time around, so the initial cast reveal for the spinoff drew a little 'Really? These people?' from parts of the audience. Fair or not, that is part of what they are up against.
Hannah Fields called the return an adjustment. Last time, you live in a bubble and have no idea how anything is playing outside. Now that they know how quickly perception forms, she said she caught herself thinking more carefully about how choices might land — even off camera — and trying to process in real time before moving forward.
When and where to watch
New episodes of Beyond the Villa drop Wednesdays on Peacock.