'Love Island USA' crowns Amaya and Bryan

LOS ANGELES — "Love Island USA" culminated a tumultuous summer full of explosive breakups and shock exits in its season finale Sunday. A public vote (spoilers ahead) crowned Amaya Espinal, 25, and Bryan Arenales, 28, as the winning couple of its seventh season. The Peacock reality series has had a chart-topping run since the season premiered on June 3. "Love Island" brings young singles together in a remote villa in Fiji to explore connections with the ultimate goal of finding love. Espinal and Arenales formed a connection late in the season, bonding over their shared Latino culture. Espinal, a New York City native, is Dominican, and Arenales is of Puerto Rican and Guatemalan descent, according to his Instagram page. "I often said how much I wanted to provide that safe place here for you, but little did I know that you would do that for me, too," Arenales said during his final speech before the winners were announced. "You said I was the water to your fire, but you are my peace to this madness." Each contestant in the winning couple randomly picked from two envelopes, one which contained the $100,000 prize and the other nothing. Arenales got the full prize, and chose to split it evenly with Espinal. Olandria Carthen and Nicolas Vansteenberghe were the runners-up, and Huda Mustafa and Chris Seeley — who went through an awkward and emotional breakup during the finale — came in third place. Iris Kendall and Jose "Pepe" Garcia-Gonzalez placed fourth. The show's host, Ariana Madix, also announced that the entire cast of Season 7 will come together again for a New York reunion, which will be released on Peacock on Aug. 25, she said. A season of shake-ups and scandal The show, an American spinoff to the UK series, has shaken up reality TV, becoming Peacock's most watched entertainment series on mobile devices, according to NBC Universal. It became a breakout success and captured mainstream attention last summer, and this season grew into a true cultural phenomenon. "Love Island: Beyond the Villa," a new series spinoff, premiered Sunday and follows Season 6's main cast as they navigate relationships, life and newfound social media fame in Los Angeles. This season also came under fire as two contestants — Cierra Ortega and Yulissa Escobar — left the villa following resurfaced posts in which they used racial slurs. Ortega, who was half of one of the season's strongest couples with Vansteenberghe, left the villa just a week before the popular reality show's finale after old posts resurfaced that contained a slur against Asian people. She apologized for the resurfaced posts in a nearly five minute TikTok video Wednesday. Friday's episode saw the elimination of Ace Greene and Chelley Bissainthe, setting the stage for the finale. Green and Bissainthe were the only couple to maintain a relationship throughout most of the show. A 'Dominican Cinderella' story The final four couples each went on dates during the last episode before the winners were crowned. Espinal and Arenales were given a photo book with pictures of each other throughout their lives, culminating with photos from their relationship during the show. The two bonded over family traditions. "With you, I don't ever cry out of sadness. Every time I feel like a heightened emotion with you, it's always just like happy tears," Espinal said. The date ended with Espinal and Arenales taking a picture, a final memory from their time on "Love Island USA." The couple then made their relationship exclusive, noting they will only focus on each other when they leave the island. "I feel like I'm a Dominican Cinderella when I'm with you, and I finally found my perfect glass slipper," Espinal said during their date. How 'Love Island USA' works Stripped of their phones and connection with the outside world, five men and five women arrive in the villa and coupled up based on initial romantic interest. Throughout the season, the show introduces a steady stream of bombshells, new contestants who are brought in to disrupt existing relationships and build new storylines. Contestants are routinely dumped from the villa, removed either by a public vote or by the islanders themselves. Under constant surveillance, contestants partook in kissing competitions, heart rate challenges and drama-inducing games ripe for viral moments. Halfway through the season, established couples were temporarily separated for Casa Amor, the show's ultimate test, and encouraged to explore new relationships with a fresh group of single contestants. Amaya and Bryan, from late arrivals to America's sweethearts Espinal made waves when she walked in as a bombshell early in the season and has been credited for some of the season's most viral moments. "I never said I was perfect. I never said I didn't have any flaws. But at least I'm pretty, and at least I'm a little funny, and at least I'm my own best friend," Espinal sang to herself in the makeup room, which prompted various covers online and inspired a Google pop-up message when you search up her nickname, Amaya Papaya. The New York City native, who labeled herself a "sensitive gangster," tested various connections, including Greene, Austin Shepard and Zak Srakaew, that all fizzled out. Her previous partners on the show said Espinal, who is Dominican, expressed affection too quickly. A connection sparked between Espinal and Casa Amor contestant Arenales late in the season after he defended her, saying that "coming from a Hispanic household, calling someone babe, mi amor, mi vida, that's just how we talk." "Every time I talk to you, like, my energy is up. I'm walking out smiling. That's what I want in my life," Arenales told Espinal during their final date. Espinal said Arenales lets her express her emotions freely, a difference from her previous connections, which she said "made me feel misunderstood and as if the love I had to give to the world needed to be watered down, but every decision led me to find my personal prince charming." Arenales ended his speech by calling Espinal, "mi diabla, mi alma, y mi loquita," which translates to "my devil, my soul, and my madness."