Love Island USA‘s Nic Vansteenberghe and Olandria Carthen know not everyone believes their romantic connection — and they don’t really care.
After coming in second place during the Sunday, July 13, finale, Nic, 24, and Olandria, 27, were in a great mood while speaking to Us Weekly in a joint interview about the “unreal” support their love story received from Peacock viewers.
“I feel like I’m dreaming with the amount of support from around the world. It feels great,” Olandria said before Nic added, “It is good to be in a room together with no one else around. It’s nice.”
After exiting the Fiji villa following six weeks of filming, the couple flew with the rest of the cast to Los Angeles. Their first order of business? Catching up on all the Nicolandria fan edits that highlighted their highs and lows on the show.
“We are so obsessed with every single edit. We literally were just in the bed right now looking through all the edits on TikTok. Honestly, some of them kind of bring me to tears,” Olandria admitted. “It’s like, ‘Dang, I was really oblivious to this.’ Seeing it in this format — where we started from the very beginning of the show all the way to the end — it’s such a beautiful story to witness. Which is why I feel like a lot of people resonate with our story —I just hate that we didn’t see it sooner.”
It took Nic and Olandria weeks to pick up what fans were pointing out as soon as they shared their first kiss. While Nic did admit to feeling an attraction for Olandria, he initially explored his individual connections with Belle-A Walker and Cierra Ortega. Olandria, meanwhile, was considering a future with Taylor Williams.
Nic and Olandria got a chance to question whether there was something between them when they coupled up after a near-elimination. The initial coupling didn’t last long and Nic was back together with Cierra — until her exit from the villa following a resurfaced racist post.
“I know for me, I [didn’t fully explore our connection because I] just thought I was doing a disservice to Cierra. Because I was in Casa Amor with the girls at first and I knew how she was feeling over there about Nic,” Olandria told Us about her initial decision to pump the brakes. “I felt guilty in a sense, which is why immediately after the kiss I’m like, ‘I have to tell Cierra and I have to tell Taylor.’ I didn’t allow myself to feel a spark because I felt like I owed those two people so much.”
Nic noted that it “just took some more time” for them to find their way back to each other. While reflecting on how Cierra’s exit paved the way, he noted that he “had no idea what was going on” before his ex left.
“It seemed like I was jumping from Cierra to Olandria, which is just not true. We were taking baby steps because we were both kind of having those strong connections,” he told Us. “It took longer than maybe what was perceived. We definitely took things at our own pace.”
Nic added: “[When it comes to reaching out to Cierra] I’m still processing everything with what’s happening. I need more time to think on it and go from there because it’s been it’s only been what a day?”
As for what Nic and Olandria have planned going forward, they aren’t in a rush to decide.
“It’s something that we haven’t labeled yet. We’re going at the comfortable pace that we want to go at. When we look at the grand scheme of things, we’re just taking our time and investing in the real world and enjoying each other’s company,” Nic explained. “We’re just chilling in bed together now and we are going to Disneyland later.”
For now, Nic and Olandria are enjoying their time out of the villa — and the support from their fans.
“Nic is definitely feeding our supporters [with content]. They love him. He’s consistent,” Olandria quipped. “I need to learn from him.”
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