Love Island USA Season 6 runner-ups Miguel Harichi and Leah Kateb are still going strong a year after their romance began on Peacock’s hit dating series. Now ready to share their lives with the world again in the new spinoff Love Island: Beyond the Villa—which premiered on Peacock today—the couple seems happier than ever. Harichi confirmed this during a recent Zoom interview with Decider.
Season 6 was fortunate enough to have three couples leave the villa together: Kateb and Harichi, JaNa Craig and Kenny Rodriguez, and winners Serena Page and Kordell Beckham. All announced at the reunion that they had made their relationships official (or, if you will, closed things off in the real world). It’s been a year since then, and each couple is still thriving, particularly Kateb and Harichi, whose fellow Islanders speculated would be the first to get engaged.
“I don’t have a timeline, but I can definitely see that being a possibility,” Harichi enthusiastically told Decider while promoting Beyond the Villa. “I know I’m gonna marry that girl. I know 100%.”
Unfortunately, not everyone was able to find love in the villa last year. Olivia “Liv” Walker and Connor Newsum, both of whom entered the show as bombshells, were dumped from the island in Season 6 after failing to couple up with someone. But their television journeys are far from over, since they will also star in Beyond the Villa. For Newsum, part of the reason he signed on for the spinoff was so he could “smooth things over” with Craig amid lingering tensions from their drama last season. Walker, for her part, is fighting with her BFF Kaylor Martin in the first episode, and while there are hurtful things said in the “heat of the moment,” the Australian bombshell promised to always “keep it real.”
Check out our full interview with Harichi, Walker, and Newsum below.
DECIDER: I’m so excited to chat with you guys and congrats on all your post-Love Island success. What has been your favorite perk of fame over the last year?
CONNOR NEWSUM: Free stuff on airplanes. I feel like every flight attendant in the world watched Love Island. You just get like a bunch of free drinks and stuff.
LIV WALKER: Wow. I haven’t gotten anything. I need to fly where you’re flying.
CONNOR: Spirit?
LIV: I feel like every brand trip or being able to work with brands that I shopped when I was young has been a pinch me moment. I feel like every opportunity, I’m like, “No way. So-and-so is here? Or this is this brand?” I’m very grateful.
MIGUEL HARICHI: Yeah, I double that. Just the opportunities that come by, and also the free gym membership. I was really happy about that.
CONNER: Yeah. That too.
Miguel, some of your castmates think you and Leah will be the first to tie the knot. What do you think about that? And do you have any sort of timeline you’re going by?
MIGUEL: I don’t have a timeline, but I can definitely see that being a possibility. I know I’m gonna marry that girl. I know 100%.
Connor, we see in Beyond the Villa that JaNa is still harboring some resentment toward you. Were you surprised that she was still upset over everything that went down last summer? And why did you decide to pull Kenny for a chat instead of JaNa at the Love Island party?
CONNOR: I knew that she was still upset. I didn’t know to what degree. Obviously, we didn’t have a chance to talk at the reunion in New York. And there was a lot that I wanted the chance to sit down and talk to her about. I feel like I pulled Kenny first because I could kind of see, from JaNa’s body language, that a conversation that night wasn’t gonna happen, whether I wanted to talk to her or not. Also, Kenny has a good finger on the pulse on how that situation is. I felt like I might as well talk to him first and feel it out a little bit. Part of the reason for coming back to the show was also to try to smooth things over, have conversations that we previously weren’t able to have.
Liv, I’m so sad to see that you and Kaylor are fighting in the show. I want to ask about a comment Kaylor made at the end of Episode 1. She suggested that you might’ve been crying after your argument not because you were hurt, but because you care more about the public opinion. What’s your response to that?
LIV: I feel like people say things in the heat of the moment and we don’t always mean it. I feel like I am someone who keeps it real, and I am confident in myself, and that’s something that I am proud of. I feel when you are a very straight-shooter and you say it how it is, you tend not to care what a lot of people think because if you cared, you’d probably know to shut your mouth a few times. I know people say things in the heat of the moment. I can say, obviously, I’m human, I care what the public thinks, but I’m not caring to switch up in that sort of way.
Question for all of you. I’d say Beyond the Villa is starring pretty much all of Season 6’s heavy hitters, but is there anyone from your season of Love Island that you’d like to see on potential future seasons of Beyond the Villa?
MIGUEL: I’d love to see Harrison [Luna]. I like that guy. I’m not gonna lie, I’m surprised he’s not on here. I’ve passed him, like, five times. He’s a really good dude. It’d be good to see him.
CONNOR: I’m obviously pretty close with Rob [Rausch]. Having Aaron [Evans] there was great because that’s also like a great friend of mine, too. But the three of us together would have been super fun. So moving forward, if he ever had the opportunity to come on too, that would be great.
LIV: The more the merrier.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Love Island: Beyond the Villa premieres on Sunday, July 13, and new episodes will stream on Peacock every Thursday following.
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