While it’s been nearly a year since the latest Temptation Island cast left the final bonfire, it appears that they still have scores to settle and tea to spill.
Alexa Santamaria and now-fiancé Lino Troisi sat down with Tyler Breshears, Tayler Byrd, Grant Larsen and Ashley Moore during the Thursday, March 27, episode of “The Viall Files” to rehash all the drama from season 9.
“[Joining the show] honestly seemed like a God-send,” Lino said on Thursday, referring to joining Temptation Island with then-girlfriend Alexa. “It was, you know, either we were ready to make that next big step and having this test was exactly what we needed. Going in, we knew exactly what we wanted to get out of it and we did it.”
On Temptation Island, couples are forced to live apart in side-by-side villas with a cast of “tempters” or “temptresses” hoping to come in between the preexisting relationships. While Lino and Alexa didn’t set any “boundaries” going into the experiment, they ultimately weren’t interested in entertaining other options and they got engaged in the finale.
However, none of the other couples passed the same test — and they still conflict over what went wrong. Keep scrolling for a full recap of the biggest takeaways from “The Viall Files” cast reunion:
How Lino Picked Alexa’s Dream Ring — And What Went Down During Proposal
“On the show, it showed him ring shopping [and] he hated all the rings that the producers offered, so he told them to get an emerald-cut [with a] gold [band],” Alexa recalled. “They made it in L.A., overnighted it to Hawaii and he proposed the next day! He was not going to do it without something I didn’t like.”
Lino, meanwhile, quipped that all the offerings were “horrendous” — and didn’t match the specifications he thought Alexa would want.
“They overnighted it the next day,” Lino added. “It came together beautifully.”
Throughout the final days on the show, Lino was secretly been planning to pop the question and even practiced his speech to all of his villa’s temptresses. Alexa, meanwhile, was caught off guard when Lino proposed after leaving the last bonfire.
“I definitely thought it was on the radar,” Alexa said. “So, the final bonfire was done … we get in the car, our bags are there [and] the producers are with us. They’re like, ‘Let’s go back to the hotel.’ I think all of this is over. Parts of me thought I could potentially get engaged but once it was all over and we’re in the car on the way to the hotel, I’m like, ‘OK, I guess we just left together,’ and that’s like, ‘Woohoo, happy ending.’”
After Alexa and Lino’s 45-minute drive back to the hotel, one of the producers revealed that they “forgot to [tape our] final interview” and asked the driver to turn the car around. Once they arrived at the confessional taping, Lino got down on bended knee to ask for Alexa’s hand in marriage.
“I hadn’t prepared anything to say to her at the final bonfire,” Lino said, “All I had in my mind was, ‘OK, I need her on my left side when we turn the corner [so] I can get down on my right knee, so the camera can see me from the side [and] I need to get the ring without her seeing it.”
Lino had intentionally wanted to “misdirect and surprise” Alexa, so she didn’t even know that he called her dad beforehand to ask for his blessing.
“[I wanted] to make it as special as possible,” Lino gushed.
Lino and Alexa’s Communication Has ‘Never Been Better’ Since The Show
Before going on Temptation Island, Lino and Alexa struggled with how to work through any issues.
“Our communication now has never been better,” Alexa said. “The show really made us stronger!”
Lino, for his part, noted that they “haven’t had one serious fight” since returning from the island.
Tyler and Tayler Get Heated Over ‘Misleading’ Split
When the attention turned to now-exes Tyler and Tayler, they had different feelings about whether they were exclusive pre-Temptation Island, who paid more for dates and his post-show social media activity. (Tyler claimed in several recent Instagram Lives and Stories that Tayler had been lying about her on-camera accusations.)
“My frustration is from the out-of-context, misleading information from the show,” Tyler said of their split, which occurred nine months ago. “I’ve completely moved on from this. The only thing that’s, kind of, getting me angry right is just this stance that she’s trying to take. I feel like she still needs to put me down in order to put herself up, and I don’t get that tactic.”
Tayler, meanwhile, felt like she was “just stating the truth” and doesn’t want to be perceived as a liar.
“I don’t really have anything to say about that,” Tayler asserted.
Tyler Reveals Timeline of His New Relationship
Tyler is now dating a woman named Lauren, becoming an exclusive couple in September 2024. (The show wrapped in May 2024.)
“She is very understanding,” he gushed. “In those first few months, I laid out my whole life and I was like, ‘This is me and this is it. … This is not perfect’ and then she shared her story and then we started hanging out more and more and more.”
According to Tyler, Lauren has not watched Temptation Island save for a few short clips.
“Even how she supports me now through all the backlash of all this … it’s incredible,” he added.
As Tyler moved on, Tayler claimed that he had “paraded [Lauren] around the gym” less than two weeks after filming wrapped.
“After we got home, they were working out together and they started, from that point forward, working out together every single day,” Tayler claimed. “So, I would have to see that.”
Tyler, meanwhile, denied the accusations and said it would be “purely evil” to show off his new girlfriend right under his ex’s nose.
“I’ve been going to the gym for two years [and so has Tayler]. And Lauren, my girlfriend, has been going there for three, so we’ve all seen each other,” Tyler said. “She asked me to work out with her two weeks after the show. She was there, saw us working out. … I understand it’s hurtful, and I acknowledge that’s not comfortable to see — especially with everything that we went through.”
He added, “I moved on. We live within a few miles of each other. I’m sorry that there’s still pain and casualties, but I did not make a conscious decision to be evil toward you.”
Grant Has ‘Regrets’ About Cheating on Ashley Again
On the show, Grant fell for temptress Natalie Cruz — and was unfaithful toward girlfriend Ashley in the process.
“In hindsight, I should have broken up with her [instead] of making the same mistake that I made a year and a half prior,” Grant recalled, referring to his pre-show infidelity. “I didn’t learn my lesson [about] what I could have been doing better until after the show, until dating Natalie, until cheating on Natalie with Ashley and really f—ing it all up. It took a lot.”
He added, “I had to really look at myself in the mirror and face some things that I didn’t like. I took accountability … and now I have a regret. My regret is not walking away when I first crossed that line.”
According to Grant, he didn’t just have a physical connection with the temptress and was stuck in a “love triangle” between the two women.
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