Yes, Ace — America Actually Loves Amaya

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard or seen someone talking about season seven of “Love Island USA.”

You know, the show where a bunch of 20-somethings occupy a villa in Fiji without contact with the outside world for weeks on end in the hopes of finding love. Oh, and winning the $100,000 cash prize.

Unlike seasons past, where the prize has seemed to be an afterthought for contestants, this year’s islanders seem to be “hyper-aware of their role as entertainers and competitors,” Business Insider’s Callie Ahlgrim assessed, adding that they’re “much too preoccupied with how they’re being perceived by an invisible audience to be truly honest and vulnerable with each other.”

But just because they’re aware America is watching doesn’t necessarily mean they’re truly self-aware, or have a grasp on how the audience will feel about them — at least until some of the viewer votes start rolling in and actually affect their experience.

That was made especially clear in last night’s episode as the audience rallied around fan-favorite Amaya Espinal, fondly known as “Amaya Papaya.”

Amaya has received criticism from her fellow islanders

Amaya has been critiqued by her fellow islanders throughout her “Love Island” experience for being “too emotional and affectionate,” but her peers finally got to see just how much America’s been rooting for her in a challenge called “Hate to Burst Your Bubble.”

In the game, contestants were asked to assess fellow islanders based on categories like “Most Trustworthy” and “Most Genuine” and rank each other from most to least. Then, they’d see how America answered the same questions.

When asked to rank the women from most to least trustworthy, the men ranked Amaya third to last. America, however, ranked her first, as the most trustworthy, prompting a raised eyebrow from her former connection, Ace Greene, who commented, “That wasn’t in my parlay.”

Although Ace and Amaya were previously coupled up, their pairing was a contentious one, filled with miscommunications and tension. A particularly notable exchange that’s reverberated throughout the season centered around Ace telling Amaya he wasn’t comfortable being called “babe” so quickly. When she tried to explain that she “calls everyone babe,” she slipped up and called him the pet name in the process.

Her subsequent connections, Austin Shepard and Zak Srakaew, also expressed similar sentiments in the recent “Stand on Business” challenge.

For the next category, the men ranked Amaya as the second-most genuine, and America voted her first again.

This challenge showed the cast what the viewers see

Finally seeming to catch on to Amaya’s popularity with viewers, the islanders collectively ranked her and her connection, Zak, as the couple the audience would most like to go on vacation with, and, unsurprisingly, they were right.

As a viewer who voted for Amaya as one of my favorite islanders, I hope this challenge served as a seemingly much-needed confidence boost for her to continue being her authentic self in her search for love, and a reminder to the other islanders that authenticity — not strategy — is the strength of “Love Island.”