‘Love Island USA’ Ends With a Franchise First. Here’s How It Got There.

After a dramatic six weeks of “Love Island USA” that generated constant headlines and social media controversy, the seventh season wrapped up on Sunday night with a lukewarm outlook on love.

The show was a pop culture constant this summer, with Peacock airing six new episodes per week. It became one of the most streamed programs, and its popularity was also reflected in the millions of votes that viewers cast to try to keep their favorite islanders in the villa on the Pacific island of Fiji.

Just because the season is wrapped doesn’t mean that “Love Island” will be off our screens for long. Far from it. The show’s host, Ariana Madix, will be joined by Andy Cohen for a reunion special on Aug. 25. And on Sept. 16, Peacock will begin airing “Love Island Games,” a spinoff coming back for its second season. It features contestants from different iterations of the show — U.S., U.K., Australia and others — as they compete in challenges while also trying to date.

After the finale, here are the big moments and takeaways for the show’s seventh season.

Though “Love Island” seasons are often unpredictable, finales always tend to follow a set formula. The four final couples go on elaborate dates, film slow-motion make-out scenes and talk about how they will approach their relationship outside the villa.

And then, based on viewer votes, a winning couple is crowned.

On Sunday night’s finale, most things went according to that blueprint — until the date between Huda Mustafa, 24, and Chris Seeley, 27. Instead of sharing kind words and dreaming about the future, they broke up and decided to go “no-contact” after leaving the villa — a franchise first. While other couples literally rode off into the sunset, Mustafa downed a glass of champagne before walking away from dinner by herself. In the past, couples have broken up shortly after the finale wrapped but never during.

Because fans’ votes were locked in before the finale, the noncouple of Mustafa and Seeley took home third place, ahead of Iris Kendall and Pepe Garcia.

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