June 17, 2026
Love Island (EP 13): Another Shocking Recoupling That Ended In Love
Apple Podcasts 
Spotify 
Castro 
RSS Feed Woah, this episode was a surprise for many fans, and the ending was a nod to a real life tragedy that unfolded in real time for the villa. We saw the couples choose each other via love letters, which left two islanders without a mate. But in a shocking twist, the newly singly islanders got to remain coupled up, in the spirit of love. Host Ariana Maddox referenced the sudden passing of the show’s producer, and the surprise ending was followed by a beautiful tribute to producer James Barker.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey, folks, did is Wednesday, June seventeenth, and Love Island Season eight, episode thirteen is in the books. And didn't we see this week coupling coming? And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ Rope. We were just going back and forth. Some saw it coming, or to some it could be a shocking recoupling. But since here and Melanie have found their way back to each.
00:00:26
Speaker 2: Other, and so have Kenzie and Corbin.
00:00:30
Speaker 1: Found their way back. They never left each other.
00:00:33
Speaker 2: They technically left each other, but they never stopped. I got it. It's so funny. I was so there for it. I wanted them to be back together, Kenzie and Corbin back together.
00:00:45
Speaker 1: They were always together.
00:00:47
Speaker 2: But she got and look, she didn't choose it. She was told by America to recouple with Caleb. And it's funny as sweet as he is, sweet home southern charm, sweet home alibam, like he's that guy. Yes, but they never clicked. So I was never kind of into them, like I just wasn't.
00:01:07
Speaker 1: Caleb hasn't clicked with anybody. Let's just say that Caleb is the nice guy. He needs to get out of there and go find him a good girl in Carolina.
00:01:14
Speaker 2: He'll be able to find someone in South Carolina, no problem.
00:01:17
Speaker 1: The island's not the place, man. We said that from the moment. He's a nice guy, sweet guy. He doesn't belong there.
00:01:23
Speaker 2: He's not you know what, He's not like the others. And look, this is no knock against anyone. It's just he's that that guy that that you grew up with, that I grew up with, that hometown country boy who is just this sweet, wants a white picket fence, wants that girl who's going to be loyal to him and raise some kids and live in this sweet, safe, southern place. That's him.
00:01:52
Speaker 1: Okay, my statement stands he should get off the island. He should love the guy from the moment he stepped in. He is too nice of a guy to be there knock against everybody else, but he's not there to play the same type of games. Okay, let's go with Kinsey. Is she okay? So the takeaway either has to be or the biggest headline has to be the Kinsey situation or the sincere and Melanie situation. Which one was bigger for you? We know which one was bigger for Sabine, who I've been we're traveling. It's been difficult to talk to my thirteen year old because she's just so wound up about this first episode.
00:02:27
Speaker 2: Text you got from her today, I would like you to do a dramatic reading of because it was hilarious. Obviously, we're six hours ahead where we are here in Perry, and we had been up for quite some time. We wake up and we watched the Love Island episode. Just full disclosure, but it took us several hours for her to actually wake up and give her Well. She didn't even ask you how you were doing it, you are or what was going on?
00:02:53
Speaker 1: And she wakes up usually closer to seven. This morning at six seventeen a m. Eastern time. Text, the first thing I interacted with my child this morning was this, did you watch Love Island? My response, We watched this morning. She responds, I hate Kenzie so much.
00:03:12
Speaker 2: And I was shocked.
00:03:13
Speaker 1: She follows, Caleb is so sweet? Why the Kinzie hate? Oh? She was wondering if we were up to date, She said, I'll be quiet, okay. She continued to say, Hey, we're all up to date. Okay. This is hard and I don't want to put this on her because this is this is this is I think this is too strong.
00:03:32
Speaker 2: Right, but this is what this show evokes from folks as young as thirteen.
00:03:38
Speaker 1: In all caps. I hate her next text, she is the definition of that's the one deck, then the next deck says quote, it's only okay if I do it. She goes to the next thing, and she did Caleb so dirty and lied to his face. Babe is a thirteen year old.
00:03:55
Speaker 2: It's so funny. This is people getting so invested. You find the people who you connect with. That's it who you think, that's like me? And you know what, Sabine is a little bit like Caleb. He was quiet, He stayed in the background. He watched, he waited, he took inventory, but he didn't play the game, and he was considerate and he watched and he waited and he said, you know what, I like her. And look, Kenzie was playing the game. So I actually funny enough, like I get what she's saying. Because Kenzi absolutely led Caleb on because she wasn't sure maybe how she felt, but I think we all knew and I wasn't shocked by her decision to go with Corbyn, which is obviously who she had the sexual physical connection with I think maybe she wanted to like Caleb. He was the guy who she knew she was supposed to be with. But her, her heart, her gut, whatever was telling her it was Corbyn.
00:04:55
Speaker 1: So her heart and her gut you want to go with some other parts of her.
00:04:58
Speaker 2: That were picking on corb Yes, the fact that she hasn't had sex in a year and a half and she said she was horny. That all drove her and that's fair, and she's a grown ass woman and I get it, but I understand from Sabine's point of view where she is. I think she identified with Caleb and was like he really was sincere.
00:05:15
Speaker 1: That was the first thing you said. When I told her what Sabine was saying, you said, Oh, she likes Caleb. That's the first thing you said.
00:05:21
Speaker 2: I knew that the only reason why you would be upset with Kenzie is if you liked Caleb. And then I started thinking about who Sabine is, and I was like, obviously she liked Caleb, because that's very like she's obviously not a Southern girl, but she has some of the same qualities that Caleb has.
00:05:37
Speaker 1: But she's a Southern. She doesn't have the same qualities as a Southern girl like Kinsey has right, she didn't identify that, and again she's please, don't hold this against my daughter. She's just talking to her dad and oh.
00:05:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I was actually shocked, but then it made sense. But that's why. Look, we keep talking about why we love this show because there are a lot of If you actually take a step back, look beyond the entertainment, you can actually see human sociological development taking place where you're you can actually learn and be fascinated by how humans react, interact and why we feel so strongly, whether it's you know, what was it with the whole the summer? I turned pretty You're either team what were those names?
00:06:24
Speaker 1: Jeremiah Conrad?
00:06:26
Speaker 2: Thank you you're either. I love that you knew that. That's amazing. So yes, people love to pick teams from from what was the whole. I'm not going to get into this other the vampire thing where you're like team this or team that. Everybody always picks aside who they want, who they're on, the who they're rooting for. I actually think everything that needed to happen happen, So I'm actually team for whoever everybody chose, because I actually think it worked out exactly the way it should happen.
00:06:59
Speaker 1: Okay, so as we say, all right, episode was say thirteen? Is that one thirteen?
00:07:03
Speaker 2: Yeah?
00:07:03
Speaker 1: Wrote there was not. I know it was a build up, but frankly, things are playing out exactly how we thought that they would, Are they not?
00:07:12
Speaker 2: Yes? And I have to laugh because I did want to talk about this with you because the last episode we talked about Anaya and Case. So funny. This episode starts with them both confused. It's as if he's from Mars and she's from Venus or whatever it is. But literally, you and I identify with part of their communication dilemma. And I love the fact that they both truly like each other, but they couldn't find a way to connect or click or to come back to each other. He was saying, it feels like an effing job. I can't fake who I am just to make you feel more comfortable. She's saying she doesn't believe that he is who he's claiming to be. They're both completely distrustful of one another. And then Love Island asks them to write a love letter to one another or to the person that they want to couple up with, and suddenly when each person reads their love letter to the other, all is forgotten. They were happy as clams, and I just found that to be so fascinating. They were on the brink of disaster. They were on the brink of breaking up and actually throwing away something that I actually think could have been really or will be potentially really, really beautiful. But they were willing to walk away because they were both frustrated by their inability to understand one another. And yet when they took a beat, took a step back, and took the time, as was the assignment for Love Island, to write a letter to the person who you want to be with and why when the other person heard those words from this person that they were not trusting this person, that they were second guessing this person that they thought maybe wasn't who they said, they were all of a sudden love blossomed. I thought that was very telling. Okay, sometimes we just need to take a beat and explain or maybe even talk about or write down why it is we want to be with this person, and maybe some of the stuff we were fretting about and overthinking and maybe even unnecessarily second guessing, maybe it becomes clearer when we focus on what we like versus what we don't like.
00:09:31
Speaker 1: Can I offer another suggestion to that is that it Yes, I don't disagree with anything you said, but it also for me and Robes is a big deal of what happens when you get someone's undivided attention to where they can't interrupt you and they're require to just sit and listen. Just sit and listen and take in what I'm saying, versus trying to have a response, trying to one up me, trying to explain, just listen to me. And I think that is valuable that I just for the longest the back and forth with them was so frustrating because I think they're both solid people who I don't think they lacking and understanding for each other. They're lacking in respect right now for where the other person is, because the only thing that matters is where I am. You need to understand what I'm saying and what I'm going through, and I need you to validate it. That's not respecting where the other person is sitting. And I see them going back and forth constantly. Every time there is a well this is how I'm feeling you did this to me, The response is well, the reason I did that is because a blank and a blank and the blank and a blank and.
00:10:41
Speaker 2: Blank, like both people feel disrespected.
00:10:43
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, it's going back and forth. You can see it, Oh, Ropes, I'm seeing and sitting and going wow. We should study all of us should study this as couples, those two in particular, and in particular, when somebody opens their mouth, if the first thing in your response after they said they're hurt or they're bothered, or they're upsets, anything other than I'm sorry, tell me more, how can we fix this? How did we get if it's anything other than that? If your response is in any way in any way about you or lessening or explaining why they shouldn't feel that way, only if you understood where I was coming. If you do that, Robes, that is one oh one in relationship, Doeszater.
00:11:28
Speaker 2: The problem is when both people feel misunderstood, they're doing it back and forth. They're both feeling like they need to explain. Yes, and that is where and I believe Casey chose not to and Anaya chose too, and that is often the case between men and women. She wanted to explain why she felt disrespected. He just kind of was like, ugh, just get like I think a lot of men just don't even think it's worth it and don't even try. And he was kind of like themself. Yeah, why he felt disrespected. It's just kind of like, okay, I'll just say I'm sorry and just move on, Whereas she was trying to explain and he was not feeling it. But I feel like it was. It was one of those things where I did see so many couple's arguments literally based in exactly what this misunderstanding was between the two of them.
00:12:19
Speaker 1: He's frustrate. What would happen if every relationship and we both gave him credit. Uh two three four episodes ago when he was still nice, when he wasn't so frustrated. She had a problem with something we didn't agree with, whatever her grievance was, but he just listened. He said, I'm sorry, I never want you to feel that way. What can we do? And we both gave him credit. He didn't explain or say this or that and whatever he did that, what if we all did that?
00:12:46
Speaker 2: That's hard, that's really because because you know in your heart that isn't I think the hard thing is when you know the way you're being characterized, isn't at all the way you're feeling. You want to explain like wait, no, I actually and I saw him doing this like I I want you, like I choose you. You're not my backup, you're my first choice. I saw him trying to explain to her what she was feeling wasn't what he was feeling. But he, I guess in that moment wasn't understanding why she felt the way she felt.
00:13:17
Speaker 1: Oh well, we gave him credit previously for just saying, Okay, that's how you feel and I'm just gonna listen, and that's what it is. Robes. He did that several times, you.
00:13:27
Speaker 2: Remember, right, But obviously he didn't understand what she was really upset about because it kept happening.
00:13:35
Speaker 1: No, this is what happens. You're actually looking at it completely through her eyes and not at all. This is fascinating. It's always fascinating. This always happens like this a very basic thing that you gave him credit for.
00:13:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, I did, absolutely.
00:13:49
Speaker 1: So that's the only thing I'm talking about, Like, she complained about something and he didn't try to mitigate. He didn't say, well what I meant was or anything. You gave him credit.
00:13:59
Speaker 2: You Absolutely, he just.
00:14:01
Speaker 1: Validated, accept it and said okay. And what I'm saying is what would happen if everybody did that in a relationship. I know that's hard. I know that's hard, but that is what is required. But when you gave him credit for it. Now, in this conversation, you said, you're still saying, well, he didn't understand it. She was trying to. I'm saying, my point is just listen stop men. Women, when somebody says they're hurt, stop and listen to why. If they're saying you're the one that hurt them, stop and listen to why it is Robes. I know you're saying it's human nature said no, no, no, no, you don't need to be hurt. You need to understand where I was coming from. When you do that, that is disaster. You know that you've been put through it. You've done it to people. I've done it to people. I've had it done to me. That is the thing, and that is the beauty of what I see in Casey and Anaya. The back and forth. They found their way back to each other, and it seems to be okay and working. But when they stopped being able to respond to each other. Just listen to how I feel and leave it at that. It was great when it was positive, So how about this there's something negative. Just listen to how I feel and you don't have to say anything. That is the most That is key to relationships, that communication issue. I love seeing this play out.
00:15:31
Speaker 2: Yes, and they are exhibit A. So it was remarkable to see them like their energy we talked about their energy last episode completely shifted when the letters were read. It was like all the bad, all the negative, all the hurt feelings were wiped away. And that just goes to show you the impact of love and loving words. They can heal massive wounds. That was my takeaway.
00:15:58
Speaker 1: The episode was like an hour and fifteen minutes. They were in the dumps for an hour.
00:16:03
Speaker 2: And they were and so I was so happy to see like, I do feel like I understand everything we just talked about. But I do think the biggest takeaway is love conquers all when you just lead with love and you say you know what, Yeah, my feelings might have been hurt, I might have been upset, but if I've got like, if I can just be loving, it negates all the bad shit. But it's hard. It is hard. It is so hard, all right, when we come back. We talked a lot about an I in Casey, more than we thought we would. But we still have Kenzy and Corbyn to talk about. And oh, let's think about Sincere and Melanie. Hello, we're just getting started. Welcome back everyone to this episode of Why Say the Island episode of Amy and TJ, because we're on episode thirteen and there was so much to talk about from this episode. We had a recoupling, which was huge, and what each islander was asked to do was to write a love letter to the person that you want to couple up with, which of course set up the perfect drama for the end of the episode, where Kenzie ended up with two letters in her mailbox and Sincere ended up with two letters in his mailbox. We both saw that coming, did we not at all? Yes, So Kenzie had two from Corban and Caleb, Sincere had two letters from Soul and Melanie.
00:17:39
Speaker 1: So Soul that no letter and Caleb got no letter.
00:17:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was that was sad.
00:17:44
Speaker 1: It was tough to watch to see this playoffs.
00:17:47
Speaker 2: You mentioned this, You talked about how hard it was to hear the gushing love letter to the person they chose and the other person a la Caleb and Soul had to listen to the person who they wanted to couple up with, who they wrote a love letter to talk about how much they loved another person.
00:18:09
Speaker 1: Or This is one where I will give the producers of this show credit. This was the best game or setup or this wasn't even around the fire pick count. This was the best one I've seen. I haven't seen this before.
00:18:19
Speaker 2: I've never seen this before, and I thought it landed. It was sincere and actually really good.
00:18:27
Speaker 1: We complained, I hated the kissing games and all this stuff they were doing. I'm giving you all full credit. This was a brilliant setup and it made for great drama. That think my problem and you talked about Caleb no excuse me, Yes, Caleb and Corn and Corbyn. Yes. So Caleb finds out he is essentially does have a letter. Nobody's picked him, so he has to hear the love letters that Kinsey and Corbyn essentially wrote back and forth to each other. That sucks, Robes. I am the last four episodes maybe sincere. I'm really wanting to like this brother and I was with him in the beginning, but he's making some errors and we all do he can still a good dude. Seems like a really decent dude, it really and maybe I shouldn't take it out on him and maybe just put all my sympathy with Soul. But to have to stand there and listen to the guy who has been telling you for days how much he's into you, wants to be with you, wants.
00:19:29
Speaker 2: To explore you, could see a future with you.
00:19:31
Speaker 1: Making out with you, stand there one she opens the thing and she knows she's getting rejected. That's awful enough, But to have to hear Melanie read the words that Sincere wrote about Melanie. I think he should have backed it off. I think he should He knew what that moment was going to be. He should have. I just think something she deserved this a little more. I hate a Soul right now. My heart is going out to her. But that I didn't like how that played out.
00:20:04
Speaker 2: I thought she handled it really, really well. She I thought she was gonna cry. She did not, And she said, you know what, call it woman's intuition. I guess I thought we had a good thing going. She said, it's sad. I guess I was wrong, but here it was my favorite part of the whole damn episode. We are thinking, obviously, we know how Love Island works. We're not newbies to this. Caleb and Soul are now single and vulnerable. The I one hundred percent believe that both of them were going to be kicked off the villa, like you got thirty minutes to pack, you gotta get out of the villa. And they said today is all about love, and they said, you are now a couple. We hope you guys can figure it out. That was the cool twist that I thought. They claimed that it was a night about love, a night about and we even heard we even heard the host of the whole show talk about how love is now the theme of Love Island, and in that spirit, in that theme, they wanted to have them stay together instead of getting kicked off the island together, which I thought was really cool.
00:21:20
Speaker 1: Who knows how things will work out, And they've been thrown together. Other couples have been thrown together. I mean, Casey and I didn't initially pick each other. What was it, Trinity and Bryce didn't initially pick each other, got thrown together.
00:21:34
Speaker 2: That's true.
00:21:34
Speaker 1: We never know how it goes. I think America, the folks that are watching the show are okay with that because we all generally from the moment they came in like these two. Actually the bombshells Jen as well. I'm liking her. They came in not as a holes. They didn't come in they got a job to do, but they didn't come in malicious. I would necessarily say, we like so, we like Caleb for sure, and so they're going to stick around for a while, okay, just if they give them a few more days just to hang out.
00:22:03
Speaker 2: I'm excited that they're still staying, and I think it adds some drama because of who they were once coupled up with, and that.
00:22:10
Speaker 1: You break these folks up now, I don't think that that's done. What Bombshell is breaking?
00:22:16
Speaker 2: Casa Amore or what Cassa A Moore is the big thing that's coming this week, right next week, it's impending. I don't know when. Oh no, it's the what is it?
00:22:26
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that's next week that's coming.
00:22:29
Speaker 2: Is going to be huge.
00:22:29
Speaker 1: They're solid. It's fine to one couple's already had sex. Bryce and Trinity been through enough hell Melody and sincere if they don't get married at this point is going to be a disappointment. Who else is left? Uh, you've got Gabrielle. Gabrielle, He'll couple with anyone when it comes in the building.
00:22:48
Speaker 2: You feel like he's kind of good with anything that's breathing.
00:22:50
Speaker 1: And Corbyn and Homegirl, they can't wait to get into the private suite thing.
00:22:54
Speaker 2: Yeah they're hot and heavy. But I loved how this ended. I loved how so Ariano Mattox when she I don't know, did you take this away from the ending where she was saying it's all about love and you guys are staying and you're a couple now. And then she told the Islanders basically, you never know what tomorrow will bring and tells Islanders to love one another. And then they end with a very touching tribute to the forty year old producer who unexpectedly died in Fiji. His name was James Barker. He had been with Love Island since twenty twenty and so after she made this announcement and told the Islanders basically, you never know, like you have to just seize the day basically, it then shows a full screen for James and then there was a beautiful photo montage of him on the set with folks and they said, James Barker, we love you. And I thought that was beautiful, just an homage to this unfortunate, unexpected death of a producer they had.
00:23:56
Speaker 1: They get the show gets it right sometimes there are times they get it right, and there's times they seem to understand the impact they have culturally and a lot of people are watching. And if you have a chance to do the right thing, do a sweet thing, do a kind of thing that you should. And I don't know, Robes, if he hadn't passed and it wasn't that, you know what.
00:24:13
Speaker 2: It might have been voted off. I actually thought that too.
00:24:15
Speaker 1: But and you know what, that wouldn't have worked seeing two people voted off and that we're gonna have a nice tribute. That wouldn't have been nice. Now maybe who knows, and who knows, Robes, if his death now is going to lead to them having a love connection change, who knows, who knows how it's gonna work. But I give them credit, Robes, we were I will say I I was down on this show to the point I didn't want to watch after episode three, four five, just the kit it was too sexualized.
00:24:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree with you. It was.
00:24:45
Speaker 1: It's coming down to that. And this is why I've always jumped on board and loved the show and have no problem saying I'm a fan. I love this show. I love seeing this experiment play out. I love it.
00:24:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, and more so than married forst sight. Now, I agree, and you know it because it it is authentic. They have cameras and microphones twenty four to seven. No one's manipulating anything, and no one's basing this off of information they're getting on the internet. They are truly in a social experiment that we are watching and hopefully learning from. And I did think it was a beautiful moment how they honored James Barker and his passing. But here's the cool thing. Now, America votes for their favorite couple and we have a reprieve tonight. The next episode is Thursday night. But yes, someone almost certainly and maybe a couple is being voted off or out of the villa on Thursday, So we will of course be watching, and we always appreciate you listening to us. Everyone. I made me Roebuck alongside TJ. Holmes. We will talk to you soon.
Speaker 1: Hey, folks, did is Wednesday, June seventeenth, and Love Island Season eight, episode thirteen is in the books. And didn't we see this week coupling coming? And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ Rope. We were just going back and forth. Some saw it coming, or to some it could be a shocking recoupling. But since here and Melanie have found their way back to each.
00:00:26
Speaker 2: Other, and so have Kenzie and Corbin.
00:00:30
Speaker 1: Found their way back. They never left each other.
00:00:33
Speaker 2: They technically left each other, but they never stopped. I got it. It's so funny. I was so there for it. I wanted them to be back together, Kenzie and Corbin back together.
00:00:45
Speaker 1: They were always together.
00:00:47
Speaker 2: But she got and look, she didn't choose it. She was told by America to recouple with Caleb. And it's funny as sweet as he is, sweet home southern charm, sweet home alibam, like he's that guy. Yes, but they never clicked. So I was never kind of into them, like I just wasn't.
00:01:07
Speaker 1: Caleb hasn't clicked with anybody. Let's just say that Caleb is the nice guy. He needs to get out of there and go find him a good girl in Carolina.
00:01:14
Speaker 2: He'll be able to find someone in South Carolina, no problem.
00:01:17
Speaker 1: The island's not the place, man. We said that from the moment. He's a nice guy, sweet guy. He doesn't belong there.
00:01:23
Speaker 2: He's not you know what, He's not like the others. And look, this is no knock against anyone. It's just he's that that guy that that you grew up with, that I grew up with, that hometown country boy who is just this sweet, wants a white picket fence, wants that girl who's going to be loyal to him and raise some kids and live in this sweet, safe, southern place. That's him.
00:01:52
Speaker 1: Okay, my statement stands he should get off the island. He should love the guy from the moment he stepped in. He is too nice of a guy to be there knock against everybody else, but he's not there to play the same type of games. Okay, let's go with Kinsey. Is she okay? So the takeaway either has to be or the biggest headline has to be the Kinsey situation or the sincere and Melanie situation. Which one was bigger for you? We know which one was bigger for Sabine, who I've been we're traveling. It's been difficult to talk to my thirteen year old because she's just so wound up about this first episode.
00:02:27
Speaker 2: Text you got from her today, I would like you to do a dramatic reading of because it was hilarious. Obviously, we're six hours ahead where we are here in Perry, and we had been up for quite some time. We wake up and we watched the Love Island episode. Just full disclosure, but it took us several hours for her to actually wake up and give her Well. She didn't even ask you how you were doing it, you are or what was going on?
00:02:53
Speaker 1: And she wakes up usually closer to seven. This morning at six seventeen a m. Eastern time. Text, the first thing I interacted with my child this morning was this, did you watch Love Island? My response, We watched this morning. She responds, I hate Kenzie so much.
00:03:12
Speaker 2: And I was shocked.
00:03:13
Speaker 1: She follows, Caleb is so sweet? Why the Kinzie hate? Oh? She was wondering if we were up to date, She said, I'll be quiet, okay. She continued to say, Hey, we're all up to date. Okay. This is hard and I don't want to put this on her because this is this is this is I think this is too strong.
00:03:32
Speaker 2: Right, but this is what this show evokes from folks as young as thirteen.
00:03:38
Speaker 1: In all caps. I hate her next text, she is the definition of that's the one deck, then the next deck says quote, it's only okay if I do it. She goes to the next thing, and she did Caleb so dirty and lied to his face. Babe is a thirteen year old.
00:03:55
Speaker 2: It's so funny. This is people getting so invested. You find the people who you connect with. That's it who you think, that's like me? And you know what, Sabine is a little bit like Caleb. He was quiet, He stayed in the background. He watched, he waited, he took inventory, but he didn't play the game, and he was considerate and he watched and he waited and he said, you know what, I like her. And look, Kenzie was playing the game. So I actually funny enough, like I get what she's saying. Because Kenzi absolutely led Caleb on because she wasn't sure maybe how she felt, but I think we all knew and I wasn't shocked by her decision to go with Corbyn, which is obviously who she had the sexual physical connection with I think maybe she wanted to like Caleb. He was the guy who she knew she was supposed to be with. But her, her heart, her gut, whatever was telling her it was Corbyn.
00:04:55
Speaker 1: So her heart and her gut you want to go with some other parts of her.
00:04:58
Speaker 2: That were picking on corb Yes, the fact that she hasn't had sex in a year and a half and she said she was horny. That all drove her and that's fair, and she's a grown ass woman and I get it, but I understand from Sabine's point of view where she is. I think she identified with Caleb and was like he really was sincere.
00:05:15
Speaker 1: That was the first thing you said. When I told her what Sabine was saying, you said, Oh, she likes Caleb. That's the first thing you said.
00:05:21
Speaker 2: I knew that the only reason why you would be upset with Kenzie is if you liked Caleb. And then I started thinking about who Sabine is, and I was like, obviously she liked Caleb, because that's very like she's obviously not a Southern girl, but she has some of the same qualities that Caleb has.
00:05:37
Speaker 1: But she's a Southern. She doesn't have the same qualities as a Southern girl like Kinsey has right, she didn't identify that, and again she's please, don't hold this against my daughter. She's just talking to her dad and oh.
00:05:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I was actually shocked, but then it made sense. But that's why. Look, we keep talking about why we love this show because there are a lot of If you actually take a step back, look beyond the entertainment, you can actually see human sociological development taking place where you're you can actually learn and be fascinated by how humans react, interact and why we feel so strongly, whether it's you know, what was it with the whole the summer? I turned pretty You're either team what were those names?
00:06:24
Speaker 1: Jeremiah Conrad?
00:06:26
Speaker 2: Thank you you're either. I love that you knew that. That's amazing. So yes, people love to pick teams from from what was the whole. I'm not going to get into this other the vampire thing where you're like team this or team that. Everybody always picks aside who they want, who they're on, the who they're rooting for. I actually think everything that needed to happen happen, So I'm actually team for whoever everybody chose, because I actually think it worked out exactly the way it should happen.
00:06:59
Speaker 1: Okay, so as we say, all right, episode was say thirteen? Is that one thirteen?
00:07:03
Speaker 2: Yeah?
00:07:03
Speaker 1: Wrote there was not. I know it was a build up, but frankly, things are playing out exactly how we thought that they would, Are they not?
00:07:12
Speaker 2: Yes? And I have to laugh because I did want to talk about this with you because the last episode we talked about Anaya and Case. So funny. This episode starts with them both confused. It's as if he's from Mars and she's from Venus or whatever it is. But literally, you and I identify with part of their communication dilemma. And I love the fact that they both truly like each other, but they couldn't find a way to connect or click or to come back to each other. He was saying, it feels like an effing job. I can't fake who I am just to make you feel more comfortable. She's saying she doesn't believe that he is who he's claiming to be. They're both completely distrustful of one another. And then Love Island asks them to write a love letter to one another or to the person that they want to couple up with, and suddenly when each person reads their love letter to the other, all is forgotten. They were happy as clams, and I just found that to be so fascinating. They were on the brink of disaster. They were on the brink of breaking up and actually throwing away something that I actually think could have been really or will be potentially really, really beautiful. But they were willing to walk away because they were both frustrated by their inability to understand one another. And yet when they took a beat, took a step back, and took the time, as was the assignment for Love Island, to write a letter to the person who you want to be with and why when the other person heard those words from this person that they were not trusting this person, that they were second guessing this person that they thought maybe wasn't who they said, they were all of a sudden love blossomed. I thought that was very telling. Okay, sometimes we just need to take a beat and explain or maybe even talk about or write down why it is we want to be with this person, and maybe some of the stuff we were fretting about and overthinking and maybe even unnecessarily second guessing, maybe it becomes clearer when we focus on what we like versus what we don't like.
00:09:31
Speaker 1: Can I offer another suggestion to that is that it Yes, I don't disagree with anything you said, but it also for me and Robes is a big deal of what happens when you get someone's undivided attention to where they can't interrupt you and they're require to just sit and listen. Just sit and listen and take in what I'm saying, versus trying to have a response, trying to one up me, trying to explain, just listen to me. And I think that is valuable that I just for the longest the back and forth with them was so frustrating because I think they're both solid people who I don't think they lacking and understanding for each other. They're lacking in respect right now for where the other person is, because the only thing that matters is where I am. You need to understand what I'm saying and what I'm going through, and I need you to validate it. That's not respecting where the other person is sitting. And I see them going back and forth constantly. Every time there is a well this is how I'm feeling you did this to me, The response is well, the reason I did that is because a blank and a blank and the blank and a blank and.
00:10:41
Speaker 2: Blank, like both people feel disrespected.
00:10:43
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, it's going back and forth. You can see it, Oh, Ropes, I'm seeing and sitting and going wow. We should study all of us should study this as couples, those two in particular, and in particular, when somebody opens their mouth, if the first thing in your response after they said they're hurt or they're bothered, or they're upsets, anything other than I'm sorry, tell me more, how can we fix this? How did we get if it's anything other than that? If your response is in any way in any way about you or lessening or explaining why they shouldn't feel that way, only if you understood where I was coming. If you do that, Robes, that is one oh one in relationship, Doeszater.
00:11:28
Speaker 2: The problem is when both people feel misunderstood, they're doing it back and forth. They're both feeling like they need to explain. Yes, and that is where and I believe Casey chose not to and Anaya chose too, and that is often the case between men and women. She wanted to explain why she felt disrespected. He just kind of was like, ugh, just get like I think a lot of men just don't even think it's worth it and don't even try. And he was kind of like themself. Yeah, why he felt disrespected. It's just kind of like, okay, I'll just say I'm sorry and just move on, Whereas she was trying to explain and he was not feeling it. But I feel like it was. It was one of those things where I did see so many couple's arguments literally based in exactly what this misunderstanding was between the two of them.
00:12:19
Speaker 1: He's frustrate. What would happen if every relationship and we both gave him credit. Uh two three four episodes ago when he was still nice, when he wasn't so frustrated. She had a problem with something we didn't agree with, whatever her grievance was, but he just listened. He said, I'm sorry, I never want you to feel that way. What can we do? And we both gave him credit. He didn't explain or say this or that and whatever he did that, what if we all did that?
00:12:46
Speaker 2: That's hard, that's really because because you know in your heart that isn't I think the hard thing is when you know the way you're being characterized, isn't at all the way you're feeling. You want to explain like wait, no, I actually and I saw him doing this like I I want you, like I choose you. You're not my backup, you're my first choice. I saw him trying to explain to her what she was feeling wasn't what he was feeling. But he, I guess in that moment wasn't understanding why she felt the way she felt.
00:13:17
Speaker 1: Oh well, we gave him credit previously for just saying, Okay, that's how you feel and I'm just gonna listen, and that's what it is. Robes. He did that several times, you.
00:13:27
Speaker 2: Remember, right, But obviously he didn't understand what she was really upset about because it kept happening.
00:13:35
Speaker 1: No, this is what happens. You're actually looking at it completely through her eyes and not at all. This is fascinating. It's always fascinating. This always happens like this a very basic thing that you gave him credit for.
00:13:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, I did, absolutely.
00:13:49
Speaker 1: So that's the only thing I'm talking about, Like, she complained about something and he didn't try to mitigate. He didn't say, well what I meant was or anything. You gave him credit.
00:13:59
Speaker 2: You Absolutely, he just.
00:14:01
Speaker 1: Validated, accept it and said okay. And what I'm saying is what would happen if everybody did that in a relationship. I know that's hard. I know that's hard, but that is what is required. But when you gave him credit for it. Now, in this conversation, you said, you're still saying, well, he didn't understand it. She was trying to. I'm saying, my point is just listen stop men. Women, when somebody says they're hurt, stop and listen to why. If they're saying you're the one that hurt them, stop and listen to why it is Robes. I know you're saying it's human nature said no, no, no, no, you don't need to be hurt. You need to understand where I was coming from. When you do that, that is disaster. You know that you've been put through it. You've done it to people. I've done it to people. I've had it done to me. That is the thing, and that is the beauty of what I see in Casey and Anaya. The back and forth. They found their way back to each other, and it seems to be okay and working. But when they stopped being able to respond to each other. Just listen to how I feel and leave it at that. It was great when it was positive, So how about this there's something negative. Just listen to how I feel and you don't have to say anything. That is the most That is key to relationships, that communication issue. I love seeing this play out.
00:15:31
Speaker 2: Yes, and they are exhibit A. So it was remarkable to see them like their energy we talked about their energy last episode completely shifted when the letters were read. It was like all the bad, all the negative, all the hurt feelings were wiped away. And that just goes to show you the impact of love and loving words. They can heal massive wounds. That was my takeaway.
00:15:58
Speaker 1: The episode was like an hour and fifteen minutes. They were in the dumps for an hour.
00:16:03
Speaker 2: And they were and so I was so happy to see like, I do feel like I understand everything we just talked about. But I do think the biggest takeaway is love conquers all when you just lead with love and you say you know what, Yeah, my feelings might have been hurt, I might have been upset, but if I've got like, if I can just be loving, it negates all the bad shit. But it's hard. It is hard. It is so hard, all right, when we come back. We talked a lot about an I in Casey, more than we thought we would. But we still have Kenzy and Corbyn to talk about. And oh, let's think about Sincere and Melanie. Hello, we're just getting started. Welcome back everyone to this episode of Why Say the Island episode of Amy and TJ, because we're on episode thirteen and there was so much to talk about from this episode. We had a recoupling, which was huge, and what each islander was asked to do was to write a love letter to the person that you want to couple up with, which of course set up the perfect drama for the end of the episode, where Kenzie ended up with two letters in her mailbox and Sincere ended up with two letters in his mailbox. We both saw that coming, did we not at all? Yes, So Kenzie had two from Corban and Caleb, Sincere had two letters from Soul and Melanie.
00:17:39
Speaker 1: So Soul that no letter and Caleb got no letter.
00:17:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was that was sad.
00:17:44
Speaker 1: It was tough to watch to see this playoffs.
00:17:47
Speaker 2: You mentioned this, You talked about how hard it was to hear the gushing love letter to the person they chose and the other person a la Caleb and Soul had to listen to the person who they wanted to couple up with, who they wrote a love letter to talk about how much they loved another person.
00:18:09
Speaker 1: Or This is one where I will give the producers of this show credit. This was the best game or setup or this wasn't even around the fire pick count. This was the best one I've seen. I haven't seen this before.
00:18:19
Speaker 2: I've never seen this before, and I thought it landed. It was sincere and actually really good.
00:18:27
Speaker 1: We complained, I hated the kissing games and all this stuff they were doing. I'm giving you all full credit. This was a brilliant setup and it made for great drama. That think my problem and you talked about Caleb no excuse me, Yes, Caleb and Corn and Corbyn. Yes. So Caleb finds out he is essentially does have a letter. Nobody's picked him, so he has to hear the love letters that Kinsey and Corbyn essentially wrote back and forth to each other. That sucks, Robes. I am the last four episodes maybe sincere. I'm really wanting to like this brother and I was with him in the beginning, but he's making some errors and we all do he can still a good dude. Seems like a really decent dude, it really and maybe I shouldn't take it out on him and maybe just put all my sympathy with Soul. But to have to stand there and listen to the guy who has been telling you for days how much he's into you, wants to be with you, wants.
00:19:29
Speaker 2: To explore you, could see a future with you.
00:19:31
Speaker 1: Making out with you, stand there one she opens the thing and she knows she's getting rejected. That's awful enough, But to have to hear Melanie read the words that Sincere wrote about Melanie. I think he should have backed it off. I think he should He knew what that moment was going to be. He should have. I just think something she deserved this a little more. I hate a Soul right now. My heart is going out to her. But that I didn't like how that played out.
00:20:04
Speaker 2: I thought she handled it really, really well. She I thought she was gonna cry. She did not, And she said, you know what, call it woman's intuition. I guess I thought we had a good thing going. She said, it's sad. I guess I was wrong, but here it was my favorite part of the whole damn episode. We are thinking, obviously, we know how Love Island works. We're not newbies to this. Caleb and Soul are now single and vulnerable. The I one hundred percent believe that both of them were going to be kicked off the villa, like you got thirty minutes to pack, you gotta get out of the villa. And they said today is all about love, and they said, you are now a couple. We hope you guys can figure it out. That was the cool twist that I thought. They claimed that it was a night about love, a night about and we even heard we even heard the host of the whole show talk about how love is now the theme of Love Island, and in that spirit, in that theme, they wanted to have them stay together instead of getting kicked off the island together, which I thought was really cool.
00:21:20
Speaker 1: Who knows how things will work out, And they've been thrown together. Other couples have been thrown together. I mean, Casey and I didn't initially pick each other. What was it, Trinity and Bryce didn't initially pick each other, got thrown together.
00:21:34
Speaker 2: That's true.
00:21:34
Speaker 1: We never know how it goes. I think America, the folks that are watching the show are okay with that because we all generally from the moment they came in like these two. Actually the bombshells Jen as well. I'm liking her. They came in not as a holes. They didn't come in they got a job to do, but they didn't come in malicious. I would necessarily say, we like so, we like Caleb for sure, and so they're going to stick around for a while, okay, just if they give them a few more days just to hang out.
00:22:03
Speaker 2: I'm excited that they're still staying, and I think it adds some drama because of who they were once coupled up with, and that.
00:22:10
Speaker 1: You break these folks up now, I don't think that that's done. What Bombshell is breaking?
00:22:16
Speaker 2: Casa Amore or what Cassa A Moore is the big thing that's coming this week, right next week, it's impending. I don't know when. Oh no, it's the what is it?
00:22:26
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that's next week that's coming.
00:22:29
Speaker 2: Is going to be huge.
00:22:29
Speaker 1: They're solid. It's fine to one couple's already had sex. Bryce and Trinity been through enough hell Melody and sincere if they don't get married at this point is going to be a disappointment. Who else is left? Uh, you've got Gabrielle. Gabrielle, He'll couple with anyone when it comes in the building.
00:22:48
Speaker 2: You feel like he's kind of good with anything that's breathing.
00:22:50
Speaker 1: And Corbyn and Homegirl, they can't wait to get into the private suite thing.
00:22:54
Speaker 2: Yeah they're hot and heavy. But I loved how this ended. I loved how so Ariano Mattox when she I don't know, did you take this away from the ending where she was saying it's all about love and you guys are staying and you're a couple now. And then she told the Islanders basically, you never know what tomorrow will bring and tells Islanders to love one another. And then they end with a very touching tribute to the forty year old producer who unexpectedly died in Fiji. His name was James Barker. He had been with Love Island since twenty twenty and so after she made this announcement and told the Islanders basically, you never know, like you have to just seize the day basically, it then shows a full screen for James and then there was a beautiful photo montage of him on the set with folks and they said, James Barker, we love you. And I thought that was beautiful, just an homage to this unfortunate, unexpected death of a producer they had.
00:23:56
Speaker 1: They get the show gets it right sometimes there are times they get it right, and there's times they seem to understand the impact they have culturally and a lot of people are watching. And if you have a chance to do the right thing, do a sweet thing, do a kind of thing that you should. And I don't know, Robes, if he hadn't passed and it wasn't that, you know what.
00:24:13
Speaker 2: It might have been voted off. I actually thought that too.
00:24:15
Speaker 1: But and you know what, that wouldn't have worked seeing two people voted off and that we're gonna have a nice tribute. That wouldn't have been nice. Now maybe who knows, and who knows, Robes, if his death now is going to lead to them having a love connection change, who knows, who knows how it's gonna work. But I give them credit, Robes, we were I will say I I was down on this show to the point I didn't want to watch after episode three, four five, just the kit it was too sexualized.
00:24:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree with you. It was.
00:24:45
Speaker 1: It's coming down to that. And this is why I've always jumped on board and loved the show and have no problem saying I'm a fan. I love this show. I love seeing this experiment play out. I love it.
00:24:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, and more so than married forst sight. Now, I agree, and you know it because it it is authentic. They have cameras and microphones twenty four to seven. No one's manipulating anything, and no one's basing this off of information they're getting on the internet. They are truly in a social experiment that we are watching and hopefully learning from. And I did think it was a beautiful moment how they honored James Barker and his passing. But here's the cool thing. Now, America votes for their favorite couple and we have a reprieve tonight. The next episode is Thursday night. But yes, someone almost certainly and maybe a couple is being voted off or out of the villa on Thursday, So we will of course be watching, and we always appreciate you listening to us. Everyone. I made me Roebuck alongside TJ. Holmes. We will talk to you soon.