Love Island USA Season 7 started with Olandria Carthen and Chelley Bissainthe being the first to enter the villa together, full of hope. Now we're in the fifth week of the season and these original Islanders aren't much closer to love. Episode 26 challenged everyone to write a note to a fellow Islander and "stand on business." This resulted in these poised women being worn down by their romantic and platonic relationships. There is criticism of how they're handling it all, but if there is anyone who deserves to be fed up … it's them.
In her introduction, Chelley was open about dating women and men in the past. She admitted to liking "all different flavors," perfect for exploring in the villa. Luckily, she reconnected with Ace Greene following a chance meeting outside the villa — and he was also open to exploring. Chelley got to know him as she was coupled up with Austin Shepard. She made it clear that she doesn't chase men. Ace put in effort with dates unlike Austin, but he also got to know bombshells including Amaya Espinal and Iris Kendall. Chelley told Ace she wasn't happy to hear that he wanted to pull Iris for chats, but she followed his lead and explored other people too.
The frustrating thing as a viewer in Season 7 is that the men aren't taking initiative at all. Every Love Island season shows the men asking their partner to close the relationship with big gestures in the villa. This usually happens before Casa Amor, which raises the stakes. Will the closed couples stay loyal or break their partner's trust when tempted with a half dozen new Islanders? This season we didn't have any closed couples in time for Casa Amor, and the twist was shortened and changed.
Ace chose Chelley over Casa Amor's Coco Watson, but didn't hint at closing their relationship in his speech. He simply told her that he missed her. So it shouldn't be surprising that Chelley continued to explore with Casa Amor's Chris Seeley. Ace talked about this lighting a fire under him, but that quickly changed after the heart race challenge when an interaction between Ace and Huda Mustafa offended Chelley. Ace chose to complain about Chelley being open to Chris instead of supporting her for being hurt from the challenge. Chelley saw this as a betrayal because she respected the boundaries around Huda's serious relationship with Jeremiah Brown, prior to his dumping.
Olandria was also there for Huda repeatedly. The season started with her warning Huda against moving too fast with Jeremiah. There were multiple episodes where she and Taylor debriefed Huda after a challenge, separately from the cast because tensions were high. Huda often asked Olandria if her behavior was appropriate, and Taylor tried to keep her from talking to Jeremiah the second time she was saved from being dumped from the island. That's a lot of energy Olandria used in service of someone else instead of herself.
Who knows what Olandria's journey would've looked like without that distraction? The public coupled her up with Jalen Brown and she noticed he was more complimentary and physically attracted to her than Taylor. Taylor admitted to Ace early in the season that the physical chemistry wasn't there with Olandria. But Ace advised Taylor to put in effort because Olandria wouldn't wait forever. The night Huda was in danger of being dumped, her competition was Jalen.
Olandria didn't regret her decision to give Huda another chance over keeping Jalen. But weeks later we saw Olandria dumped twice, once in Casa Amor because she was too devoted to Taylor to make a stronger connection with Zak Woodworth. This led to all of the women breaking down in tears except for Olandria, who usually stays strong for others.
The second time Olandria was dumped was when Taylor chose Casa Amor's Clarke Carraway over her. Taylor avoided telling Olandria the truth about his feelings, and Episode 26 finally showed Olandria at her breaking point. It's one thing to not return romantic feelings, but it's another to not care if Olandria wasn't around anymore after using her to stay in the villa.
Chelley and Olandria experienced extreme heartbreak with the Casa Amor dumping. They started the season together and have a unique connection as the Black women in the cast. Multiple islanders have used them emotionally. They've been a shoulder to cry on for Huda multiple times. Olandria just realized she was used as a placeholder for Taylor. Chelley is annoyed that Ace wants to guilt trip her over Chris instead of making the vulnerable move to ask to close their relationship. She also couldn't get him to establish boundaries after she was hurt from the heart race challenge.
It seems like everyone in the villa genuinely loves Chelley and Olandria. They haven't had arguments before this. But no one also goes out of their way to emotionally support them. Taylor, Ace, and Huda have gone back on their words at different points. Huda claimed she knew what she did in the heart race challenge was wrong in her confessional only to defend it in the mail challenge. She also claimed to prioritize their friendship over everything when she pettily complained to Chris about giving Chelley more food for breakfast. Taylor would say one thing to Ace and not Olandria to get further in the house. Ace talked about fighting for Chelley only to do nothing but complain to her after her falling out with one of her friends in the villa.
Boundaries have become a topic of conversation in Season 7. Chelley put her foot down with Huda by waiting to talk to her about the heart race situation only for producers to have a mail challenge, thus forcing them to interact. It's not surprising that things became ugly because of this. Chelley wasn't the only one to seemingly be worn out by Huda. Olandria also avoided comforting her after Chelley established this boundary.
As a viewer, It's hard not being emotionally drained along with Chelley and Olandria. However, their fight to be heard after hearing everyone else out for weeks feels familiar as a Black woman. The stability and kindness they offered to others weren't returned, or it was minimized once it wasn't needed anymore. However, there is one thing that brings comfort: the season is almost over. They should hold their heads up high once the show is over. People aren't treating Chelley and Olandria the way they deserve, but that doesn't make them any less deserving.
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