(This story contains spoilers for Season 8 of ‘Love Island USA.’)
A hot new couple has entered exited the Villa with a love connection and a $100,000 grand prize.
After six weeks in Fiji, countless “chats” and a series of challenges that required them to do (and sometimes wear) questionable things on-camera for the world, their families and employers to see, Bryce Dettloff and Trinity Tatum were named the winners of ‘Love Island USA’ Season 8 on Sunday.
Throughout the season, fans at home watched as Trinity and Bryce, aka “Brinity” (the only final-four pair that were coupled up with each other since Episode 1), grew closer as a couple, eventually making things official by becoming boyfriend and girlfriend.
The winning couple appeared on Wednesday’s episode of ‘Today,’ where they discussed what’s next for their relationship now that they’re out of the Villa and back in the real world– one where they’ll have to face a long-distance relationship, as Trinity lives in Virginia and Bryce resides in Los Angeles.
“This is my first time being outside of Virginia, like, in L.A. and being around [here], so I definitely want to kind of explore L.A. more and see how I like it,” Trinity said. “But Virginia, they’re not seeing me for too long, I’m not going to be there for too long.
“I definitely want to be wherever Bryce is, that’s for sure,” she continued. “I don’t like being away from him. I get a little separation anxiety, it’s crazy.”
Bryce agreed with Trinity’s “separation anxiety” take, while admitting that he and Trinity weren’t anticipating the “connection” they’ve made.
“… You know, you spend 24 hours with each other everyday for almost 50 days straight,” he said. “And it’s an emotional thing, the whole show [is] … there’s a lot of highs and happiness, but there’s a lot of intensity. There’s a lot of anxiety, there’s a lot of pressure, and one thing that brings us closer is that comfort in those moments, that we look at each other in those challenges and all these things, that I can confide in her and feel safe … .”
As for the immediate future, the Season 8 winners are still adjusting to life outside of the Villa, with Bryce calling the response to his and Trinity’s journey, “unreal to see.”
“ … it’s a little overwhelming, to be honest,” he said, with Trinity adding, “Yes, very overwhelming. [It makes me] anxious a little bit, but we still have to kind of get adjusted [to] being back in the real world. Like, seeing people walk [around], it’s like, ‘Oh, shoot, like, people exist outside of the Villa.’”
As they continue to “get adjusted” to their new normal, “Brinity” shared a message to the skeptics who doubt that two people can find love in less than two months while filming a reality show.
“For me, honestly, because we’ve been around each other for what, six weeks, we’re around each other 24 hours [a day], we’re having intimate conversations that sometimes [viewers] don’t see … we have those really heart-to-heart moments,” Trinity said. “Genuinely, I feel like if you can be around somebody that long and think that you won’t fall in love or love somebody, like, that’s kind of insane.”
The ‘Love Island USA’ Season 8 Reunion airs August 31 on Peacock. You can watch Trinity and Bryce’s full ‘Today’ interview below.
(Photos: Peacock; Instagram; YouTube)
2 Responses
I’ve never watched this show until this season and it was somewhat based on seeing the bio for Bryce…he and trinity just proved Davy in and day out that they were such green flags. I love them both and hope things work for them but even if the real world is too much, they both showed their true colors and they will do well in life
She is so pretty. They’re very lucky to have each other!