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Ariana Madix and Iain Stirling on ‘Love Island USA' Season 7 Surprises, Heart-Rate Challenge Aftermath and Toxic Fans: ‘To Be Cringe Is to Be Free'

Ariana Madix and Iain Stirling on ‘Love Island USA' Season 7 Surprises, Heart-Rate Challenge Aftermath and Toxic Fans: ‘To Be Cringe Is to Be Free'

Yahoo10-07-2025
Iain Stirling, the comedian and narrator of 'Love Island' and 'Love Island USA,' is shutting down rumors that he's leaving the dating show competition.
Back in May, a TikTok account claiming to be Stirling announced his departure from the U.K. version to focus solely on 'Love Island USA.' The post sent shockwaves among the fandom, since Stirling's voice has become synonymous with the British dating show since its launch on ITV2 in June 2015.
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'I'm staying, OK,' Stirling told Variety over Zoom. 'I love both of them so much. I'm going nowhere. It was a fake account that made a fake post.'
Stirling is well known to American audiences as the voice behind the Peacock mega-hit reality dating series 'Love Island USA,' and has been narrating the islanders' activities since joining for Season 4 in July 2022. While the cast and crew film in Fiji, Stirling records his quick and witty voiceovers from his in-home recording studio in London.
'Love Island USA' has experienced a significant increase in viewership after the immense popularity of Season 6. Currently in its seventh season, the show's success has continued, with this season drawing more than 1.6 billion minutes watched the week of June 13-19, according to Luminate's streaming data.
When asked what makes this season different than last year, Stirling talked about the team dynamic among the current islanders. 'Last year had legendary love islanders, and you never have that many excellent contestants on one series,' he said. 'It was a weird fluke. This season is more of a team sport. Everyone's just moving mad, and creating this beautiful synergy. This year, the show's doing all the work, and last year, the individuals were.'
In an interview later in the day, 'Love Island USA' host Ariana Madix said: 'Going into this season, people would ask me what advice would I give for the islanders going into Season 7. My biggest thing was to not try to be anything like anyone in the past season, and I feel like they've lived up to that.'
She continued: 'What's really beautiful about this show in general is that the audience can always suss out if they feel like someone's being genuine and authentic. As the season gets closer to ending, people's true colors will continue to come out, and the audience will have their say.'
Here, Madix spoke with Variety about the dynamics of Season 7.
I immediately felt that going into night one — they seemed more nervous and reserved. And I thought, 'Is this a Gen Z thing? Am I witnessing the difference between being a millennial and being Gen Z right in front of my face? That they're just more scared of being perceived?' I don't think it's more about the audience or wanting to be a certain way because of cameras. I think it's genuinely being nervous just to be open, because they have been perceived their whole lives online, and there's a genuine fear sometimes of being called cringe. I wish people would take a tip from the older millennials, such as myself, that to be cringe is to be free. As the season has progressed, you're seeing a lot more of their inner cringe come out, and they feel a lot more relaxed.
I feel protective of them because I know — regardless of whether the audience likes them or not — every single one of them is in that villa doing their absolute best. Even if they make a wrong choice or they do something that people watching the show say they would never do, no one can ever know what it's like until you're in their shoes. I love our passionate fan base and engaging with a lot of the online discourse about the show, because the community is part of what makes the show so amazing. But if you are harassing, doxing and cyberbullying, that's not a true fan of the show — because our fans wouldn't do that. Those are people who I would rather they either don't engage at all or find a way to engage in your group text.
There's a conversation that could be had with Ace as well, because he seemed very enthusiastic about Huda's performance. But when I watched the whole episode, it was hard for me to pinpoint where they said that she went too far, because I felt that all of the islanders were participating to the fullest. We'll have to see how that conversation pans out with Chelley and Huda. With Huda's skills, I would feel some way, too, just because I can't do that.
It's hard to say. Moments before that, I saw people doing splits on people and three-way kisses. I saw a lot happening that makes it difficult for me to say, because I'm curious about what the line is.
I love sisterhood. I love it when girls support each other. Sometimes, this season, it has felt a little like they wanted to be a sisterhood before they got to know each other well enough to say that. It feels like that makes them scared to be honest with each other. Hopefully, this will be a moment of honesty between them. Although, I didn't like when Huda was mad during those challenges. Now, I don't like when anyone gets mad during the challenges. I support people not getting mad in challenges and going all out. It is interesting that [Huda's] feelings have changed, although I wish her feelings would have changed back then.
That shakeup was so necessary, because we've seen season after season girls go to Casa and not engage whatsoever, only to be loyal to people who are then not loyal in return. We also see people try to use their return from Casa as a way to garner goodwill with the audience. It's happened where it's been very genuine. However, we've also seen people try to use being loyal or doing a lot in Casa just to come back single to be with their partner. I don't want to see people try to recreate things from the past because they think that that's going to be their way to skate through to the finale. Making it so the islanders don't know what to expect prevents anything like that. It was necessary because we also see some Casa people come in every year and not have any choice in anything that goes on. They come in for a few days, and then they're gone. We don't get to know them. We also see Casa people come in every season and be villainized entirely because they did exactly what Casa people are supposed to do.
This year, I love that we gave the Casa people agency over who they wanted to get to know. I loved the way that we made it so that everybody was going to recouple; nobody was singled out and couldn't be villainized for the crime of just getting to know a new person.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
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Love Island 2025 Grafties results: Who did the public vote for?
Love Island 2025 Grafties results: Who did the public vote for?

Cosmopolitan

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  • Cosmopolitan

Love Island 2025 Grafties results: Who did the public vote for?

Love Island's official award ceremony the Grafties are back! And wow are they back with a vengeance as tonight's episode got intense, and we've got all the winner results here. The awards showcase some of the biggest moments in the Villa, revealing hidden conversations, unspoken moments and savage commentary from the Love Islanders about each other. The clips of these scenes were played on Instagram for the public to vote a few days ago and in tonight's episode the Islanders were played the clips and the winners were revealed. And here's everything you need to know about who won in the 2025 Love Island Grafties. The nominees were: Dejon, Helena, and Conor The winner is: Dejon Dejon was voted for by the public as the winner of the 'Eat, Sleep, Crack on Repeat' award, which showed a series of clips of him flirting with teh various bombshells that entered the Villa including Toni, Billykiss, and Andrada. When accepting his award Dejon said he was just a fan of "beautiful women" and was glad to have a girlfriend as beautiful as Meg. He said: "I think that beauty comes in all different shapes, sizes and ethnicities. And yeah I'm glad that my girlfriend is outrageously beautiful inside and out. Thanks for the award guys." The nominees were: Dejon and Helena, Toni and Shakira, and Helena and Meg The winner is: Toni and Shakira Toni and Shakira were awarded best double act but before they received the award, they also received some serious heat. During the clips that were played of them, the pair were seen talking negatively about Meg, following movie night. Meg expressed how hurt she was by the girls comments, and went onto claim she hadn't said anything bad about them, and that she supported the girls when they were down. Toni and Shakira also called out Harry and Dejon, with Shakira calling them the "most crazy manipulative men". Toni was then heard saying: "I don't want to have a conversation with any of these people," and Shakira added: "I hate them all." The islanders were shocked to hear what the girls had previously said and Dejon went onto defend Meg. Meg went onto say she felt Shakira and Toni were "fake to her face" and Toni then rebutted saying: "So are you. You act like you never say a bad thing about anyone." Toni then recalled the moment Meg had previously made fun of the way Toni and Shakira walked down the corridor. Meg was then seeing getting tearful and whispering to Angel and Ty, "I don't want to give them the time of day." Toni and Shakira then accepted their award, with Shakira saying: "We said what we said, it was after Movie Night. I don't know why it's so surprising, we had a scrap that night." The nominees were: Harry, Jamie and Harry & Angel The winner is: Harry and Angel After being two out of the three nominees it was perhaps unsurprising that Harry won this award. A series of clips were played of Harry and Angel being very flirty with each other after she entered the show as a late bombshell. The Islanders watched on in stunned silence, with Helena looking downcast at Harry's behaviour. Harry then expressed his confusion at their reactions saying, "I'm not sure what I really need to say on that? I don't think a bit of flirting really hurts to be honest." He then turned and asked Helena: "Do you agree?" She then replied: "You said you were flirty in the chats, but you lay it on thick don't you?" Helena then said how stupid she felt she looked as one of the clips showed her walking over to Harry while he was deep in flirting mode with Angel. Harry said he only gave Angel an eight out of 10 in the kissing challenge, to which Helena reminded him he also gave her that score. He defended himself and said: "Eight out of 10, that's like 80 per cent good." Harry and Angel then went to collect their award, and Harry said: "I wouldn't' really say I'm the flirtiest performer but I accept the award nevertheless. I think for me that was pretty harmless flirting, there's levels to go from that." Angel ended their speech by saying: "Cheers to no more flirting." The nominees are: Emma and Harry, Conor and Megan, and Shakira and Harry The winner is: TBA The nominees are: Cach, Shakira and Toni The winner is: TBA The nominees are: Dejon, Harry and Toni and Shakira The winner is: TBA The rest of the Grafties will air in tomorrow's night episode. Love Island continues on ITV2 and ITVX

Chicano punk icons Juanita y Juan keep on rocking for new generations
Chicano punk icons Juanita y Juan keep on rocking for new generations

Los Angeles Times

timean hour ago

  • Los Angeles Times

Chicano punk icons Juanita y Juan keep on rocking for new generations

Punk rock is not the first thing one might associate with a children's puppet show. But on Sunday morning at the Ford Theater, L.A. punk pioneers Juanita y Juan and puppeteers from the Bob Baker Marionette Theater put local kids to the test. After a morning spent crafting their own paper marionettes in the foyer, children marched towards the stage to revel in the weirdness of Juanita y Juan's electro-cumbia guitar jams — a musical fusion they call 'loud lounge.' The duo was accompanied by vintage marionettes and their handlers, who played backup dancers in the shapes of jellyfish, cats and aliens. Families bounced and gently moshed along to the drum machine beats as 'Juan,' also known as Kid Congo Powers, regaled them with a story about his hair catching on fire while playing a candlelit punk show with the Cramps. And when a couple of rowdy kids started to climb onstage, bouncers swiftly intervened. 'Oh, that's very punk!' said 'Juanita,' better known as Alice Bag. It was a familiar scenario for Bag and Powers. When the two first crossed paths in the 1970s — one being the front woman of the Bags, the other a guitarist in such bands as the Gun Club, the Cramps and later Pink Monkey Birds — they could hardly surmise how influential their scrappy community would become in its nascent years. 'We were all trying to create some kind of new subculture or protest against the bland music of the day,' said Kid in a Zoom call before the show. 'We bonded under the flag of punk rock,' added Bag. In the storied history of the Los Angeles punk scene, Chicanos were, and remain, permanent fixtures. But after predominantly white bands like Germs, X and the Go-Go's were commemorated in countless books and documentaries as architects of the genre, Bag and Powers decided to start sharing their own perspectives as Mexican Americans who broke the mold. First, they committed the stories of their lives to the page. In 2011, Alice Bag published a memoir titled 'Violence Girl: East L.A. Rage to Hollywood Stage, a Chicana Punk Story,' and in 2022, Kid Congo Powers followed with 'Some New Kind of Kick.' But it was after collaborating on a song for the 2022 Peacock mystery series 'The Resort' that their duo, Juanita y Juan, was born. They spoke to De Los about their salad days, their new album, 'Jungle Cruise' and how young Latinos can navigate this time of upheaval in the U.S. The following interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Tell me about your supergroup, Juanita y Juan. What sparked this idea for you? Kid Congo Powers: Juanita and Juan are the alter egos of Alice and I. Our reference was Marty & Elayne, who were a cabaret covers act at the Dresden Room [in Los Feliz]. They got a huge following; they were in the movie 'Swingers.' And the songs are fun. We first reconnected as friends after Alice [released] her book, 'Violence Girl.' Then we got asked to write a song for a [2022] TV show on Peacock called 'The Resort.' Me and Alice are on the same label, In the Red Records, out of L.A. They asked for a song by 'a beach lounge act,' and they wanted it to be in Spanish. We are both Mexican Americans, Chicanos, but I thought, 'Alice is much more fluent in Spanish.' She was like, 'Why don't we try to do it as a duet?' And they liked that idea. Alice Bag: With 'The Resort,' we had a springboard of this 'loud lounge' idea. But it morphed into several different things that were very much our personality, and very much not something we would normally do — exploring different rhythms, like Latin rhythms and tropical rhythms. I spent a month in Tucson, and we actually wrote and recorded songs [that became the album] 'Jungle Cruise.' So how did this puppet show come into play? K.C.G.: The [Bob Baker] Marionette Theater heard our music and thought it would be appropriate for a kids' punk thing. A.B.: I have actually worked with Bob Baker's Marionette Theater before. We did a video together for a song on my 'Sister Dynamite' album, which was released in 2020. Also, I'm a former teacher. I used to take my classes to the old theater, so I have a very warm association with childhood and how enchanted kids are when they see a puppet show. You both are really inspiring to me as Latinos who helped shape punk in its very early days. Learning about you and other Latin punks like Jeffrey Lee Pierce (The Gun Club) was affirming to me as a young Latina and punk. How did you two connect over your Mexican American experience? A.B.: There were a lot of Latinos in the early punk scene. Not just Kid and I, but like, Trudie Arguelles, who was the face of L.A. punk. K.C.P.: Yeah, she was the it girl. A.B.: And Margot Olavarria, who was the original bassist for the Go-Go's, was a big shot in the scene. Tito Larriva, who formed the Plugs. Robert Lopez, Hector Penalosa, all the Zeros! There were a lot of Latinos around. But I think one of the things that happened is — I'm Alice Bag, although Bag is not my last name. Our last names got lost, and people just thought of the band names as our family names, like the Ramones! We banded under the flag of punk rock. Our ethnicity was present, but it wasn't always the first thing that you noticed about us because of how we dressed. People did not know what punk was. They would make comments like, 'Is the circus in town? Are these people in a gang? Are they they gonna beat us up?' So we bonded, and we had to hang out together as self-defense. We were the weirdos. Alice, in your memoir ('Violence Girl') you spoke about the tension between the Mexican cultural mores that you grew up with and what you were creating anew with punk. A.B.: I think people got the wrong idea about me very early on because they knew I was from East L.A. I grew up around gang culture and learned to stick up for myself, so people thought I was scary. Even Kid Congo Powers said I was scary. Did you think she was scary? K.C.P.: I thought she was intense. Anything could happen when Alice Bag got on stage. And that was what drew me to her and the band. There was a menace to them, something volatile. This could be a riot, or it could be an orgy. And Kid knows chaos very well. You held your own in bands like the Cramps. Could you think of a Latin entertainer who helped influence your own performance? K.C.P.: Iris Chacón. Wow, I didn't know you got down like that! K.C.P.: My mom watched her on TV. That was exciting. A.B.: That's where he got his maraca work from. K.C.P.: And my outfits. But there was Ritchie Valens, of course. I like old rock 'n' roll. And then when I met Jeffrey Lee Pierce of the Gun Club in 1978 or '79, we bonded on being Chicano. We both grew up in San Gabriel Valley — me in La Puente, Jeffrey in El Monte. We'd reference riffs coming out of a garage in La Puente, some Chicano garage band playing Santana or War. We shared the outsider-ness of being born in America, but we were in Chicano world. And throw in the fact that I knew I was queer from a young age ... I didn't know if I was in or out. A.B.: My influences were from Spanish-language music. Raphael was a Spanish singer who's very intense and very dramatic. And I also am a big fan of José Alfredo Jiménez, who wrote all these ranchera songs that were very emotional. I think there's a connection between ranchera music and punk — it's for everybody. It's better when everybody joins in and sings along. Punk and ranchera are the people's music. That calls to mind the resurgence of corridos among young people. Some of the songs generate controversy, but it's interesting to see a similarly rebellious spirit as punk. What do you think? K.C.P.: People are always saying to me, 'Don't you feel sorry for young people today? They don't have what you had, this and that.' But I would never in my life underestimate younger people. There's something going on, and I don't know about it. You don't know about it, because it's not for us to know about. You both have shown many Latinos how to live authentically to your identity, to your values. What's a quick bite of encouragement or advice for young, weird Latino kids? Especially now, when it's hard not to feel demoralized about what's happening across the country? K.C.P.: Well, to live authentically is a path that can be lonely. But it's also very empowering. And I get to be in my 60s and say I've done music exactly as I've pleased. That is possible. I had no idea how to play guitar until Jeffrey Lee Pierce said, 'Here's a guitar. I think you can do this. And you're gonna do it.' I thought, 'If this one person believes in me, then I'm gonna try it.' You just have to say yes to yourself. A.B.: I would also say you're not alone. Every day, there's a bombardment of things in the world and in the U.S. that you want to resist. It's very easy to become despondent and overwhelmed. But you don't have to feel like you're lifting this whole weight by yourself. It's important to know that you do have a community that stands with you. We're all working in different ways. We're all a band. We're going to make it through this together.

Peacock renews 'Days of Our Lives' for 2 more seasons
Peacock renews 'Days of Our Lives' for 2 more seasons

UPI

timean hour ago

  • UPI

Peacock renews 'Days of Our Lives' for 2 more seasons

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