Amaya & Bryan Reveal New Details About Their Breakup in Beyond the Villa Premiere
The Love Island USA Season 7 winners split a month after leaving the Villa. They explain why.
Amaya "Papaya" Espinal and Bryan Arenales may have taken home $100,000 and the coveted title of Love Island USA champions, but their romance fizzled soon after they left Fiji. Now, we're seeing the aftermath on the new season of Love Island: Beyond the Villa.
The couple made history, becoming the first Latino couple to win the show, but the cracks in their relationship began to show during the Season 7 reunion. Co-host Andy Cohen asked the couple to address cheating rumors sparked by a video circulating of Bryan partying with other girls.
Bryan denied any infidelity said he was "paid" to be at the club, but did admit to a "lapse in judgement." Amaya stood by him saying, "I'm also not a woman that would be with someone who doesn't respect me. So if I'm with him and still with him, it's clearly because the relationship dynamic is healthy and great."
However on August 27, two days after the Season 7 reunion dropped on Peacock, Amaya and Bryan announced their split in their own respective statements.
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During the Beyond the Villa Season 2 premiere, Amaya admitted to feeling like "boo boo the fool at the reunion" for defending Bryan. Find out more, below.
What we learned about Amaya and Bryan's breakup on Beyond the Villa
In their one-on-one confessionals, both Amaya and Bryan shed light on what really went down during their split, revealing they hadn't spoken to each other since. The "cheating videos" addressed during the reunion were just part of the story.
“First time being intimate with him, he knows how serious I take that and that I’m not an easy girl," Amaya said. "Then, boom. He breaks up with me through a text message. To me, that’s a cowardly move."
Bryan's texts read:
Everything I’ve said about caring for you has always been real. I always wanted to be your safe space. I don’t want to completely lose you from my life, but I think as far as a relationship, we’re not in the right place rn
Maybe with time and space, things could look different but for now, it’s just not healthy for us and it’s just not working rn.
Again I completely hate doing this over text, but if you do want to talk and end this in a respectful way we can do that. But I’m just not gonna be able to do back & forth we have been doing. It has been a lot for us mentally doing that lately.
Later on in the episode, Amaya told a friend, "I feel played. I was so excited for him to meet my family, and he then he tells me that his tummy hurts, and then you’re back out at a bar drinking, again. I finally told him I loved him, and I thought we were gonna be endgame."
Bryan addressed the criticism he got from fans in the days leading up to the breakup, clarifying that he "never cheated."
"Even though I didn’t really do anything, it just looks terrible, and I had to really learn this new life," he said. "Coming out, everyone was just throwing money at us to do club appearances, and I kind of forgot I have to behave a certain way. I didn’t leave the island single so certain things just look terrible in a way... I’m a 28-year-old man, and I can take accountability for the shit I did wrong, and I played a big hand in f*****g stuff up with Amaya. It sucks that I hurt her."
Later on in the episode, Bryan clarified the reason he broke up in a text before he was set to meet her father.
“We got in an extremely bad argument the day before," he told Hannah Fields. "My thing was, ‘Amaya, I’m not happy and you’re not happy. We’re arguing.'”
Will these exes be able to make amends and remain cordial? We'll just have to see as new episodes of Beyond the Villa stream every Wednesday at at 6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET, only on Peacock.
