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Credit: Ben Symons/Peacock

Season seven of Love Island USA has come to an end, and now fans only have the reunion to wait for. However, there’s still more fallout from Cierra Ortega‘s past, which led to her exiting the villa before the finale. Now, her former partner on the show, Nic Vansteenberghe, is opening up about the situation.

Some of Cierra’s past social media posts came to light as Love Island USA was airing. Notably, there were two separate posts that contained anti-Asian rhetoric. The latest of the two was from 2023, while the first came in 2015.  She has since issued a statement on the matter. 

According to E! News, Nic was recently on the Chicks in the Office podcast and opened up about Cierra’s exit from the show. He revealed that he was initially left in the dark about her removal, stating, “It was a completely normal day. She just left.”

Nic continued and said that producers then talked to him, but they only gave a “very vague” explanation. He went on, “It was some sort of personal reason or something along those lines.” Nic also said they “never told the details of anything.”

In describing his bond with Cierra, the Love Island USA star said they had a “really close” relationship. This led to him “definitely strongly considering leaving” when she left. 

As for why he didn’t leave the show with Cierra, Nic said he felt “lost and confused” because he didn’t have the details for why she was departing. He went on, “I had to talk with myself and behind-the-scenes kind of stuff, and I also told myself, ‘If whatever is happening in the outside world is something I don’t align with, then that could be perceived as me supporting that.’”

Of course, he now knows why Cierra had to leave the series. He responded to her posts by saying, “Coming out now, seeing what it is and whether or not those values believe in what I value, now I can kind of have a better perception on it.” Additionally, Nic faced some criticism for moving on from Cierra so fast on the show. 

According to him, “I wasn’t really ready to switch as fast as possible, straight to Olandria Carthen. It wasn’t like that. And Olandria and I had talked about that. We both had strong connections. She had that strong connection with Taylor [Williams], and I had that strong connection with Cierra. So, for us, it was more like we felt lost and confused together through those first couple days.”

Regarding his coupling with Olandria, Nic recalled, “It took a lot of time and a lot of conversation and really feeling lost together. I think that’s what bonded us at first, and that’s how we got to where we are now.”

Fans can watch the Love Island USA reunion on August 25 on Peacock.