Zak Srakaew came to the realization “too late” that Amaya Espinal was the right match for him. Hailing from Thailand, he entered this season’s Love Island USA during Casa Amor, where he and Espinal, who calls herself America’s favorite “sensitive gangster,” quickly connected and became a couple. This pairing ultimately kept Espinal from possibly being eliminated from the show. However, upon returning to the villa, their relationship took a negative turn.

During the “Stand on Business” challenge, Srakaew teamed up with Ace Greene and Austin Shepard to critique Espinal for rushing into relationships too quickly. This public confrontation earned him a strong rebuttal from Espinal, who firmly stood her ground and called him an “extremely odd individual.” Interestingly, this viral confrontation reignited Srakaew’s interest in Espinal, despite previously thinking she was “too much” for him.

“I lowkey like a little bit of fire, so seeing that side of her kind of made me like her a bit more,” he confessed during a recent Zoom interview with Decider.

Srakaew’s switch-up practically sent Espinal running into the arms of Bryan Arenales, who credited her affectionate personality to her Hispanic background, something he could understand and appreciate as a Latino man himself (Espinal and Arenales are currently in a couple, and are well on their way to winning that $100,000 when Season 7 ends next week). Unfortunately for Srakaew—who was dumped from the island in Episode 30—it wasn’t until his final days in the villa that he realized his true feelings for Espinal.

“I was looking at her thinking, ‘Damn, I really do like this girl. Shit,’” he recalled. “I couldn’t deny how I felt. I was trying to deny it, but something was telling me, ‘Damn, I do like this girl.’ It was just a little bit too late.”

When Decider caught up with Srakaew, he shared what it was like being a “Casa boy,” his thoughts on Espinal and Arenales as a couple, and who he thinks should win Season 7. Check out the full interview below.

DECIDER: What was your reaction to finding out you’d be joining the show in Casa Amor?

ZAK SRAKAEW: We didn’t really know if we were going in as a bombshell or in Casa Amor. We got flown over there and we were isolated for a while. Every single week, new people got picked out to go on the show. The day before I was going into [Casa Amor], they came into my room and said, “You’re going in tomorrow.” You’re just preparing yourself in your room. You’re like, “Oh, shit, it’s happening.” It didn’t really kick in until you actually got mic’d up. Honestly, it was really exciting. But at the same time, I was nervous as shit. 

Were you guys able to watch the episodes that were airing before you went into Casa Amor? Did you have an idea of the other Islanders? 

Little bits and bobs. We got shown drips and drops. 

Did that influence the way any of the guys in Casa moved?

No, not at all. When we were all in the villa together before the girls came, we were all having a pep talk saying, “Listen, it doesn’t matter what’s happening at the beginning of the show, we’re here as Casa boys. We’re here to take everybody’s girl. Just go 400% and don’t take it easy, and fight for your place.” We just went in there guns blazing and just did our thing.

I was really excited when you and Amaya first coupled up. What was it about her that initially caught your eye? 

She’s a sweet girl, and I liked the way she expressed her feelings. She was very up front with everything. She just seemed like a girl who just needed some love. She was a super sweet girl, and I really enjoyed her company for a while, as you see, until … you know. 

When everyone returned to the villa, the first big challenge was the heart rate challenge, which resulted in some drama between Huda and Chelley. Some fans were speculating that there was more to it that wasn’t shown in the final cut of the episode. What can you say about Huda’s performance on Ace?

There was a challenge, you had to get the heart rate going, and she really wanted to win, which is totally understandable. But at the same time, from a friendship perspective, she went a little bit too extra on some of the boys, depending how you would like to look at it. Some friends were like, “Oh, she was having a great laugh.” But if you look at it from a different perspective, you’d be like, “She’s doing way too much.” To me, I thought she was just having fun. I didn’t think it was too bad. Do you know what I mean? She did a little bit too much on certain people, but it’s just depending on how you want to view it. 

I have to get into the “Stand on Business” challenge. Why did you wait until that night to tell Amaya how you were feeling? Looking back, is there anything you would’ve done differently?

Yeah, 100%. I’m not good under pressure [or with] saying things in front of people. Everybody had cards. The producers didn’t actually show everybody’s cards. All the Casa girls got one, all the Casa boys got one – me, Bryan, everybody. To me, it was just a way to express your feelings because you had to“stand on business,” or say how you feel. I think it was just a time to air a little bit of how you were feeling. I felt like everybody did their big one. 

The next day, Amaya called you a extremely odd individual – a moment that has since gone viral. What were your thoughts when you got out and realized how much that moment had blown up?

I watched it back and some of the clips were cut short and some of the conversations were cut short, so it made me look like an absolute dickhead. But at the same time, it is what it is. They can’t control what you say. Everything I said came out of my mouth. I’m not going to back up on it. I meant some of the things I said, but I wish I could have just said it in a different way. I’ve got severe ADHD or ADD, so my brain, how it functions is like, I have a million thousand things to say. It doesn’t come out right when I say certain things, especially in front of thousands of cameras and people. The pressure is always there to try to say the right things at the right time, but I always try to be my genuine self. I said what I said. But when she called me an odd individual, I was just like, “Yeah, OK. Whatever.” The thing is with me, I lowkey like a little bit of fire, so seeing that side of her kind of made me like her a bit more.

Amaya has had a lot of viral moments. Have you seen them? Do you have a favorite?

On TikTok, there’s just been edits of me and Amaya everywhere. I think we’ve got over thousands of edits. All my friends are sending me all the edits and they’ve all got over two or three million views. She also has a lot of her own one-liners. I feel like me and Amaya are very similar people in certain ways, because she can’t pronounce certain words properly but neither can I. It’s quite scary how many similarities we had. Both of us are very clumsy, both of us couldn’t pronounce certain words properly. She’s a great girl. I’ve got nothing bad to say about her at all apart from, obviously, our relationship. Some things that she was doing were just a little bit too much for me.

Like she said, she’s not everyone’s cup of tea. 

It is what it is. I can have fun with the girl, but sometimes there are some things you can’t agree with. You can’t just fake it. If I really wanted to, I could have just faked it, been with her, told her how much I liked her, told her how much I loved everything she was doing. But I can’t be fake. I’m a real person.  I have to be genuine. At the end of the day, I just met this girl a week ago. I can’t treat her like she’s my girlfriend. To get comfortable with somebody, it takes time to build.

All the guys were flocking to Amaya once they realized that she was America’s favorite. Would you say that maybe some people weren’t as genuine in their motives? 

I don’t really know. I’m not saying she was the only option but everybody else was really closed off so it felt like she was the only person. Obviously, at the time, people see me and her have had a lot of arguments, we’ve had a lot of fallout so I think that was an opportunity for them to get in to find somebody. I totally get it. Honestly, I’m being truthful with you, I didn’t know Bryan and Amaya were kissing behind the scenes. They didn’t tell me any of it. I didn’t know any of this was going on. So when I watched it back, I was like, “Damn, we were Casa boys, we were friends, they didn’t tell me none of this.” I did give him the green light to speak to her, but I didn’t know they were getting it on like that. 

What was your reaction to Amaya choosing Bryan at that last recoupling? Were you surprised? 

Not really. After our argument and our disagreement, I did apologize to her because it was weird. I don’t care about the ranking, I don’t care about winning, I don’t care about all that bullshit. From the beginning, I did build a little bit of resentment towards her because she was just a bit too much for me. And then after spending so much time together … I was looking at this girl a few days before I left – obviously, I didn’t know when I was leaving – but the last few days I was in the villa when I was spending time with her, I was looking at her thinking, “Damn, I really do like this girl. Shit.” I couldn’t deny how I felt. I was trying to deny it, but something was telling me, “Damn, I do like this girl.” It was just a little bit too late. 

You and Olandria also had a bit of a connection. What was your reaction when she chose Nic? 

I was very confused. I felt like she and I had some amazing chats. A lot of chats with us weren’t aired. We did really have something great going. With Olandria, it was just somebody that I was very curious about and interested in because I liked the way her mindset was. But at the same time, it didn’t surprise me too much because I knew she and Nic got voted off together, they spent some time together, they coupled up, they kissed and all that. They’ve had a little bit of history, so it didn’t surprise me too much. What did surprise me, obviously, is that she picked him after going back to Cierra saying, “Sisterhood, blah, blah blah, it felt wrong, it didn’t feel romantic.” And next think you know, it’s like, “Oh, maybe we are meant to be together. Things are bringing us back together.” There’s something fishy going on there.

Besides Iris, you were the only one to stand behind TJ during the “Hate to Burst your Bubble” dumping. Why did you choose TJ over everyone else? 

I didn’t manage to make any connections with any of the new girls because I didn’t really speak to them. We were only there together for three or four days. All the other boys were pursuing those girls. I already had Olandria and Amaya on my plate. I just wanted to save TJ because I saw how much Iris liked TJ. I felt like a lot of relationships when I was there were friendship-based or it was the only option they had. I thought these two really, really liked each other from what I saw. I didn’t want to break that up. I wanted them to continue that journey together, so I gave it a chance and stood behind TJ. 

Taylor was obviously saved that night, but him and Clarke were sent home this week. What was your reaction to that? 

I was lowkey pissed off because when I was in that villa, I spent a lot of time with Taylor and Clarke behind the cameras. Them two really, really loved each other. Out of everybody in there, I felt like they were the only two people who actually had genuine feelings for each other. To me, I felt like they shouldn’t have been voted off. Clarke is a very, very sweet girl and I felt like she just got caught up in gunfire. She didn’t do anything wrong at all. When I was spending time with Taylor and Clarke, they were a super sweet couple and they genuinely, genuinely did like each other. I felt like them two had the strongest connection in there. 

I thought so too. I think they definitely got the short end of the stick because of all the drama post-Casa. 

Olandria had too many fans from the get-go because she was an OG. I feel like a lot of the Love Island fans are not going off who’s the most compatible or who’s the most loving. They’re just going off who they like the most. 

Now that you’re home and you have your phone back, what has been the most surprising take you’ve seen about this season, and is there anything you’d like to clear up about yourself or your time on the show? 

There’s nothing particular because every action, everything you say, it is down to you, and everything’s recorded. All I can say is it’s not the full conversations that are recorded. You only see one hour out of the 24 hours. Let’s put it this way: you could be the nicest person for 23 hours and that one hour you fuck up, that’s the recording they will show. That’s all I can say. But apart from that, I love the show, I loved being on there. I had a great time. I knew my own intentions for why I was the way I was. As long as I know and I stay true to myself, that’s the only thing that really matters to me. 

The Season 7 finale is coming up. Who are you voting for to win the show? 

I’m going to put my two votes. I’m gonna go with Amaya and Bryan because obviously Amaya is a sweet girl. She deserves it. And also Chris and Huda. 

Last season there was a reunion. If there’s a reunion this season, what’s one thing that you really hope to address? 

I want to apologize to [Amaya] for going in on her the way I did and also just admit that I wasn’t really super open with my feelings because it was just too soon for me. I’ve never really had to open up to someone so quick. It was a difficult place to be. I did try my best to be the best as possible. At the same time, I will pull Bryan up. I’ll be like, “Yo, bro. I didn’t know you were getting on with her like that. You didn’t tell me.” Because as much as [Bryan’s] a nice lad, he kept his cards close to his heart. He didn’t give anything away. All the boys would get together and we’d be, like, “Oh, so who have you spoken to? How have you been?” He’d be just like, “I’m keeping my options open, I’ve spoken to her a little bit.” But he never really told us what really went on behind the scenes with him and the girls he was with. I felt like he was very tactical. He didn’t share too much. He’s in the fucking finals, so obviously he played the game right. At the same time, all the boys, we shared all the love, we shared all the information. He was very closed off with his information.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

New episodes of Love Island USA air every night (except Wednesday) at 9/8c on Peacock.