The new season of “Love Island: USA” just started and the drama is already brewing!
The mayor and police chief of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, are criticizing “Love Island USA” star Sean Reifel for quitting his job as a police officer to join the new season of the show. After Season 8 of “Love Island USA” premiered Tuesday, Sean was called out by city officials for costing Bethlehem a lot of money to train him as a police officer, only to have Sean throw it away in order to appear on a reality show.
During the first episode, fans were introduced to Sean, one of “12 sexy singles” who were invited to find love in the villa. Sean revealed that before being cast on the show, he was a police officer in Bethlehem. He claimed that as a police officer, “you could be having the worst day of your life, and [he’d] just help you sift through that.” He also shared his nickname, which has already caught on in the villa and with fans.
“Someone ran into me in the street and she was like, ‘Me and all my family forgot your name, so we call you Officer Sexy Pants,’” he said. “Officer Sexy Pants was a hit at work.”
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However, “Officer Sexy Pants” is not a hit with the mayor of Bethlehem, J. William Reynolds. Mayor Reynolds spoke to local news station ABC 27: WHTM on Tuesday to exclusively share that Sean was actually no longer working for the police department, having resigned before filming for the show.
(Unlike many other reality TV shows, ‘Love Island USA’ is filmed in real time, meaning the events that occur in an episode only happened a day or two before airing. This means that Sean most likely quit his job and arrived on the island for filming less than a month ago.)
“Our police department spent a lot of time training [him], and we paid thousands of taxpayer dollars to send him to the police academy,” Mayor Reynolds said. “We are disappointed he left as we now have another vacancy in our department that is impossible to fill until next year.
“I never thought I’d see the day in America where reality show participation wins out over being a police officer,” he added.
Police Chief Michelle Kott— who is Sean’s former boss— spoke to The Morning Call about Sean choosing to leave the police force to appear on ‘Love Island USA.’
“I love Sean, he’s a good guy, he was a great officer, but I’m disappointed,” she said. “Just because we work so incredibly hard to try to recruit the best people we can to be part of the Bethlehem Police Department.”
Chief Kott confirmed that Sean’s last day with the force was May 20. She added that it would have been unlikely for the police department to give Sean a temporary leave of absence to appear on a TV show.
“At this time, I don’t think there’d be a department that would be willing to allow someone to leave for ‘x’ amount of weeks to go on a television show when everyone’s hurting right now and overtime is being utilized to fill those gaps. Officers are getting burnt out. It’s just a bad look to me,” she said, adding that Sean has the option to apply again if he wishes to return to the police force after the show.
Sean joined the department less than a year ago, as per a Facebook post from the Bethlehem Police Department.
The post claims that Mayor Reynolds swore Sean in last August and took “his oath to serve and protect the City of Bethlehem with integrity, professionalism, and dedication.” They also claimed that the police department was sending him to a “Field Training Officer program” as part of his new career with them.
Sean has not made a statement as of press time. His sister, however, hit social media to defend him in the comment section of an Instagram post about the mayor and police chief dragging him.
Sean’s sister commented underneath an Instagram post about her brother, writing: “Sean’s sister here. This could have been a great opportunity for the mayor and police department to connect with the community, generate positive publicity for the town, and help improve perceptions of law enforcement.
“Instead, they chose a response that will likely reinforce the stereotypes they should be working to change. That said, I couldn’t be more excited for my brother and this amazing opportunity. We’ll be cheering him on every step of the way.”
In another comment, Sean’s sister pointed out that the situation could have been avoided if the police department had allowed Sean to take a leave of absence from his job.
“If the department had allowed Sean to take unpaid leave and participate, it could have been an opportunity for people to see that not every officer fits the stereotypes they may have about police. In fact, people on TikTok and other social media platforms are already sharing stories about how Sean treated them with professionalism, kindness, and humanity while serving as an officer.
“That’s why the mayor’s decision to release a public statement denouncing him feels unnecessary,” she continued. “Rather than supporting an employee who has represented the community well, it comes across as an attempt to draw attention to himself. At a minimum, it was a missed opportunity to improve perceptions and foster a more positive dialogue between law enforcement and a younger generation.”
“Love Island USA” airs Tuesday nights on Peacock.
(Photos: Peacock, Instagram)
