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Short kings, pour one out: Ace Greene is exiting the villa, along with partner Chelley Bissainthe. To say their presence on Love Island USA — along with season seven as a whole — has been divisive is an understatement; having entered the show with a million TikTok followers, Greene has been at the center of wider discussions around casting influencers on reality shows and the gamification of dating TV. That the two had previously met before the season aired also inspired conspiracy theories that they’d try to win based on the strength of their existing relationship rather than the one they formed in the villa. Fan skepticism plus a hiccup or two around a certain heart-rate challenge culminated in America ranking Bissainthe and Greene toward the very bottom of the polls, surprising all the Islanders including themselves. But just as public sentiment swung back on the side of “Chellace” thanks to an adorable s’mores firepit date and a romantic night in the hideaway, America cast its vote. When we caught up mere hours before the episode aired, the duo was still in Fiji and had yet to get their phones back — meaning the public’s reasoning (and their many memes) is all a mystery to them.
You guys met before the villa. How did that happen?
Ace Greene: I had met her once outside of a club in New York for my birthday, and we exchanged social media. And sure enough, Love Island reaches out to me. Love Island apparently reached out to her. We go into the villa, and I’m like, “Yo, I know who you are.”
Chelley Bissainthe: I’m like, “What the fuck are you doing here?” We’ve been told there’s a whole bunch of rumors of like, we’ve had a relationship before this, we have kids, we lived together or something. All these crazy things. I’m like, Yo, this is actually insane. We met and then we knew each other through social media. So you’ll see him in my comments, you’ll see me in his comments. And even past that, we knew other Islanders. Amaya is someone I knew outside of here. Andreina knew Pepe. This whole process, like, we don’t choose to go in there. They brought us in.
Which New York City club was it?
CB: It was in the Bronx, it was a brunch place … Republica!
Did you think America’s assessment in the Burst Your Bubble rankings was fair?
CB: America is going based off what they see, and if what they see made them feel like that, then they’re right. But everyone in the villa is great people. For us, it didn’t feel good to be at the bottom and to see how America felt. But we also took into bigger consideration how our peers ranked us — and we were pretty high every single time. Those are the people who know the 24-hour version of us, not the one hour.
Ace, do you think Huda crossed the line during the heart-rate challenge?
AG: So … [Laughs.]
You can say yes.
AG: During the heart rate challenge, uh, a lot of things transpired. But I’m still rooting for everybody who’s still in the finale.
Chelley, have your feelings regarding the heart-rate challenge evolved at all?
CB: No. Lines were definitely crossed, but that’s something we were able to talk about and resolve and understand each other on.
Ace, I asked Taylor this, and now I have to ask you: What was behind your decision to dump Jeremiah?
AG: Let me make it clear that I love Jeremiah. We might have disagreed on certain things when it comes to how we go about love, but as a person, I really, really like Jeremiah, and I really hope we can be cool outside the villa. And I want to play basketball with him as soon as I got back. But that whole decision sucked because it’s never comfortable sending anybody home.
Jeremiah’s situation, I told him, like, “Yo, I have my own opinion. I’m gonna keep it to myself.” And he was like, “No, I want you to express how you feel to me.” We agreed to disagree. So that whole decision of sending Jeremiah home was based on what we had seen as far as the Huda situation translated into the Andreina situation. It was a group decision to either send one person home or another. We did have to make a tough decision.
Chelley, same question for you regarding Hannah. Out of the three girls, it felt like she had the strongest connection. What was your reasoning there?
CB: It was such a tough decision. No one could ever understand how it feels to make those decisions in the moment. Initially when everyone was deciding how we should go about it, they wanted to go with the strongest connection. I didn’t think that was fair because we’d seen a prime example of what a strong connection was and how fast it crumbled. So it was a thing of like, No, who is actually coming in here and doing the exploring and putting themselves out there? Not to say that Hannah wasn’t, but we had to go based off each individual person and their experience. Who should we give that second chance to?
I still think Hannah deserved more of a chance, but again, you have to choose somebody. If I could keep them all, I would have. But we just can’t. And today I’m seeing Amaya and Iris in there and still in their connections. Amaya met an amazing person, they’ve grown, and she went through so many different people to find this person. She’s got the full experience. Iris too came in here coupled up with so many different people. Her and Pepe took us by surprise. They have a really great connection. I can’t help but feel like in the end it worked out.
Why do you think so many couples weren’t closed off before Casa Amor, which is supposed to function as a test for established relationships?
AG: For us going into Casa Amor, Chelley could possibly find her type, I could possibly find mine. We wanted to see if our connection was strong enough after Casa Amor. And you know, we really went through the ringer with that one. And we came out on top.
CB: Casa Amor really is like the big test of it all. So it’s like, if we make it through Casa Amor, then we’re locked in, you know? But it would suck to say, “Hey, let’s lock in before Casa Amor,” and not allow you to have that experience to explore because that’s what we’re here for. And after coming back, you see so many relationships change. Some grew deeper. I think everyone was waiting for the right time.
Real talk: Did you think Olandria or Cierra was a better fit for Nic?
CB: Honestly, that’s a tough question. They’re both amazing women. I’m very close with both of them. Nic was happy with both. It just comes down to what feels right in the end, what feels good. I’m sure he’ll make a great decision.
Do you think Olandria and Cierra would be able to have a friendship outside of the villa?
CB: I would like to think so, but I don’t know.
Amaya has become such a fan favorite, but back in the early days, it seemed like the boys just weren’t really feeling her at first. Ace, was there something you all saw in the villa that the cameras weren’t picking up on?
AG: It’s 24 hours in a day. The TV shows one hour. It sucks that me and Amaya started out rocky, but we have a really great friendship right now. Before I left, she had made me a smoothie in the kitchen. We was chopping it up. She’s found her person now and I’m rooting for her to win the whole thing.
That spoils my next question, which is, who do you want to win?
AG: I definitely want Amaya to win, but me and Nic, we have a really close friendship. And I’m close with Olandria. I’m torn between the two.
CB: It’s Nic and Olandria or Amaya and Bryan. Either of those two truly deserve to get crowned.
There’s been some discourse around reality shows casting influencers who already have big platforms. Having gone into the show with established online presences, how do you feel about that?
AG: I don’t consider myself an influencer. I might be a person with influence, but never an influencer where my whole job is social media and that’s what I do for work. I wanted to take a summer off, find my person, and be outside the social media world. I didn’t wanna come in with that mindset of, “I’m gonna entertain every second of the season, and that way, I can get more follows.” I didn’t need that coming into here. I wanted to find my person, and it looks like I did.
CB: Sure did. And a lot of people in there weren’t influencers. Everybody had different jobs. Olandria is in the elevator industry. It’s like, yeah, we probably are on social media, but we also have a whole other career outside of that. We didn’t recognize each other as influencers.
How do you plan to adjust to post-villa life?
CB: For now it’ll definitely be long distance since I’m in Florida, he’s in LA. But eventually I am moving to LA. That’s something that’s gonna happen. When exactly, that’s still the question mark. But we’re definitely gonna navigate long distance. With us being the intentional people that we are and knowing what we want, it’s not gonna really be a challenge.
Ace, do you have any plans to add Chelley’s face to portraits on your body?
CB: I told him to put me on his back.
AG: If things get to that point, I’ll definitely get her face tatted on my ribs.
Have you learned anything about yourselves from going through this process?
AG: Oh, how to express my feelings. That was a big thing for me. I’m not a very open person. It takes time to get to express what’s going on inside my head. She was the person who really got me out of that shell to be really vulnerable. I really did appreciate that throughout this experience. So thank you for that.
CB: Of course. I learned how emotional I actually am. I cried the most in the villa. And also communication. He had his walls up with me, but I was no better. Just us spending that time together, I learned that it’s okay to let your guard down and trust someone. So, thank you too, because you helped me with that.
I don’t wanna start beef, but Austin replied to a TikTok comment and said that you are not 5’10”. What is the truth? Set the record straight.
AG: Wow. That’s news to me. I don’t go around with a ruler, to everybody’s height. I’ll just say that measures his character at the end of the day.
What was your favorite moment from the whole experience?
CB: Oh, that’s gonna be the babies.
AG: The babies were my favorite, yeah. I loved taking care of the kids. The entire day we were going back and forth with Nic and Olandria’s kids.
Even though you guys didn’t pass the test?
CB: Allegedly.
AG: Allegedly! Some parents had their babies by the stove with the bacon grease hitting their kids in the face.
CB: Some parents didn’t know where their babies were. You asked them, “Where’s your baby?” They’re pointing the finger at each other. I still don’t know how we failed. I would love to know.
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