Ever since their first day in the Love Island USA villa, Olandria Carthen and Nic Vansteenberghe were the people’s ship. However, it wasn’t until their final few days in Fiji that they fully got to explore the connection that everyone, besides themselves, had seen for the last six weeks.

Producers were working overtime to give the fans what they wanted, particularly when both Carthen and Vansteenberghe failed to find a connection in Casa Amor and, instead of getting dumped from the island, they were given the option to return to the villa as a couple. Despite their steamy kiss in Soul Ties, Carthen continued to pine over Taylor Williams—who left her for Clarke Carraway—and Vansteenberge re-coupled (and eventually closed things off) with Cierra Ortega. It wasn’t until Ortega was removed from the villa over resurfaced posts of her using an anti-Asian slur that Carthen and Vansteenberge were finally able to explore their connection on a deeper level, and ultimately win second place in the show.

“I forgot all about it being a game show. I really was there to find love, genuinely. To be in the final four and to be second place, that never came to my mind,” Carthen told Decider over a Zoom interview, while Vansteenberghe described their trajectory as a “romantic storyline that was completely unwritten.”

The Nicolandria stans have certainly taken over the Love Island USA universe, but there are still some doubters out there who have been questioning whether their relationship is produced.

To that, Carthen said, “None of this is fake or forced. It would be hard to force such a bond for six weeks on TV. That doesn’t even make sense. I think people would be able to see through that,” while Vansteenberghe adorably added, “We know what we have.”

Check out our full interview with Love Island USA Season 7’s power couple below.

DECIDER: You both have had such amazing Love Island journeys. Did either of you ever expect that you would end up together – and as runners-up – at the end of it all? 

OLANDRIA CARTHEN: Absolutely not. While I was in the villa, I just never really thought about the end goal. I forgot all about it being a game show. I really was there to find love, genuinely. To be in the final four and to be second place, that never came to my mind. I never thought I would make it that far. I guess not knowing the date helped because I didn’t know how close or how far the end was for me, so for us to get to that point and for America to feel like I deserved to be in that final four really put things into perspective for me. I was blessed to even be in the final four but to be second place or the runner-up is like, damn. It was so close. 

NIC VANSTEENBERGE: It was a beauty and the mystery and unexpectedness of it all. 

You were both dumped from the villa in Casa Amor, then immediately brought back as a couple. Maybe this is more of a question for Olandria since you went and picked up Nic, but what did that look like behind the scenes? 

OLANDRIA: Honestly, I did not know that until I was sitting with Nic and he got that text, like, “Hey, the only way you can return to the villa is if you’re coupled up.” At that point when we were sitting down talking to each other, I was thinking we were still going to go to the airport after. I thought we were just there like, “Hey, this is what Cierra’s doing. Hey, this is what Taylor’s doing.” And I thought they were going to put us in an Uber and drive us back to the airport. 

NIC: Nice carpool back to Fiji Airport. 

OLANDRIA: Literally. I thought it was the end. We didn’t find out we could return to the villa until we got that text that we could couple up to go.

So we saw it all happen in real time! 

OLANDRIA: In real time. We didn’t have a clue. We were super excited. Obviously, you could see, like, “Oh, hell yeah! We’ll come back as a couple, whatever that looks like.” We were just ready to get back into the villa, for sure. 

We got to see a little bit of your reaction to the Nicolandria shippers on family day. Now that you have your phones back and you’ve seen it for yourselves, what do you think? And do you wish you both had decided to couple up after Casa Amor so you could’ve had more time together in Fiji? 

NIC: Even though at the moment it didn’t feel great, I think I loved the process of how we came back together. It’s truly this romantic storyline that was completely unwritten. 

OLANDRIA: Literally. 

NIC: Yes, we didn’t have time in Fiji, but now we have time in LA, and now we have time in the real world, which I think is even more special. 

OLANDRIA: 100%. Just watching back all these edits, like the first moment leading up into this one, I’m just like, “Bro, this is beautiful.” This looks like a storyline, and for it to just happen naturally — I didn’t even think a lot of our moments were getting picked up by the camera, if I’m being totally honest. So, for that to just get carried out through the whole season to allow the Nicolandrians to bring that together and make a whole edit about it, I’m like, “Bro, this is beautiful.”

We literally watched a rom-com unfold in real time.

OLANDRIA: Reading that on our date, I was like, “Rom-com? What are they watching? What is out there?” So, for us to step outside the villa for a quick second and integrate ourselves into the real world, I’m like, “Bro, this is crazy. I could see why our letters were worded the way they were. This is beautiful.” They literally watched this story unfold from the beginning until the end. They became a fan of ours in the second episode, I think, right? 

It was very, very early on. Olandria, one of my favorite moments was when Megan Thee Stallion came in and was praising you up and down. What was it like to hear that from her?

OLANDRIA: That was by far probably one of the best days I’ve had. I love her to death so for her to know my name, I’m like, “Bro, I’m fan-girling right now. You know me?” And she was like, “What is the workout routine?” I was like, “Girl, that’s genetics, what?” And no one believed me until my mom came! Now her ass is fuckin’ viral on TikTok. I’m like, “Oh, my God, I’m gonna kill the camera guy.”

NIC: I had to tell them I was natural, too. I’m natural, I swear. 

Nic, during one of the earlier challenges, you read a card that asked you to name the best kisser other than your partner. There have been some fan conspiracies that the card didn’t say “other than your partner,” and you just wanted a reason to kiss Olandria. Can you confirm or deny these rumors? 

NIC: I can neither confirm nor deny. 

OLANDRIA: Plead the fifth, guys. We will never know. 

Olandria, you were the first one to give Clarke and Taylor a hug when they were dumped from the villa. How are you feeling about them now? Is there a world in which you guys could be friends? 

OLANDRIA: I know that Taylor is one of Nic’s close guy friends. I will have to be cordial, regardless. I don’t want to ever make the atmosphere weird. I have no hard feelings towards Clarke or Taylor. We were all there to find a true connection or a romantic connection. I can’t get upset with Taylor because he did that, regardless of who that’s with. I support love regardless of who’s involved. I love love that much. So, I did not let me and Taylor’s experience define any ongoing feelings towards him. Do I wish he was communicating with me a lot more than what he did? Yes, because I feel like I would have had a better outlook of what my journey could have looked like. But yeah, there are no hard feelings there at all. 

NIC: We’ve hung out with them a couple of times and it’s only been a few days. 

Right! Wasn’t everyone at Disneyland the other day?

NIC: Yeah, the six of us. The three stooges and their ladies. 

Ace and his minions, right? 

NIC: [Laughs] We’re his minions. 

Nic, your mamacita scene with Huda has gone beyond viral. Which celebrity reenactment surprised you the most? 

NIC: JB. Oh, my gosh. Justin Bieber. He was saying, “Clock it,” in the beginning, and then I saw my face on his Instagram. I know his new album dropped, too, so good things for JB. I love that he did that. It was cool. 

That makes you a part in promoting that new album, too.

NIC: Yeah. JB, I want to go to your concert. 

Question for both of you, what does post-Love Island life look like for you? Do you have plans to continue exploring your connection in the real world or even make things exclusive?

NIC: Yeah, the plan would be to go to a Justin Bieber concert now. That’s on the bucket list.

OLANDRIA: Yeah. We definitely want to continue to explore each other. Those words were never a lie. We said we just want to explore outside the villa and we’re actually taking action to that. Right now, we’re just trying to map out and schedule out when I’m going to Florida to have dinner with Miss Jennifer and the family, and also getting him to Decatur to meet my family as well. They’re super excited to meet him. I think once we see how that feels and if it feels right, we want to continue to progress from there. So, meeting each other’s families first is gonna be the telltale all for what the future of us look like, but we definitely want to continue to get to know each other and progress forward. 

What do you say to the people who think your connection is fake or set up? What’s your response to the haters out there?

OLANDRIA: Why would we fake that? That’s just weird, first of all. Why would we get our parents so involved and so caught up in our story? That doesn’t even make sense. Just having that validation from both sides, like his family, my family – and my mom and his mom started their own bond. They’ve been talking for the past few days. Even before they met us, they were already talking, and they loved each other from the moment they met each other. I don’t know. That gave us so much insight or stability within ourselves. It was like, you know what? It’s only right that we need to go forward with this and just see where it takes us. Because our family supports us. Apparently we have a whole Nicolandria stan or whatever. It’s natural. None of this is fake or forced. It would be hard to force such a bond for six weeks on TV. That doesn’t even make sense. I think people would be able to see through that 

NIC: I think we’re really good at clapping back, but we take the high road. We know what we have. 

OLANDRIA: Yeah, and I think Amaya and Bryan did a great job of bringing us up in her interview as well. Like, “Nah, what they have is real.” We have the support from our fellow Islanders. They’ve seen all of it. So nothing is forced this way, I can promise you that.

I see the genuine connection here and I’m very happy that you guys found your way to each other. One last quick question before I let you go. We have the reunion coming up. What’s one thing you’re each most excited to address? 

NIC: I’m absolutely most excited to address the minion allegations. Minion-gate. So that’s something I’m excited for. 

OLANDRIA: I haven’t watched the show back yet, so I don’t know from the show standpoint. I definitely want to address a few podcasts, the people that went on podcasts and spoke of my name. I just want to kind of address that just to see like, “What was that for?” I have a lot of questions. I’m still doing my homework because, obviously, people are still going on podcasts and talking. So let’s just see how that all works out. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Love Island USA Season 7 is currently streaming on Peacock.