No shade to Sarah Hyland, but that Ariana Madix Love Island USA cameo this week has Islander fans rooting for the Vanderpump Rules star to take over hosting duties at the villa full-time.
On the Tuesday, July 25 episode of Love Island USA season 5 — which is available to stream on Peacock — Madix showed up as a special "VIP guest" to host this season's round of "Mr. and Mrs.," a Newlyweds-inspired trivia game to test the burgeoning couple's connections with each other.
As every reality TV fan knows by now, Madix was at the center of the infamous Scandoval story, which saw her longtime partner Tom Sandoval cheat on Madix with their Pump Rules co-star Raquel Leviss. The very public fallout of the infidelity powered the back half of season 10 of the Bravo series as well as its numerous reunion specials, and the drama will no doubt continue into next season.
Needless to say, Madix knows a little something about how important honesty and communication are in a relationship. The Islander couples had to guess their partner's answers to intimate questions about their most prized possessions, their "body counts" (a.k.a. how many sexual partners they've each had) and so on. (Fans were loving how Ariana boldly called out Marco for lying about his sexual history, only saying he slept with "20-30" women when the real response was in the 70-plus range.)
After several rounds of questions, we had a tie between two teams: Marco and Hannah, and Harrison and Destiny. And the duos were understandably anxious to win this one because, as Ariana had explained to the cast earlier in the episode, the prize was one "that has never ever been given out on Love Island history..."
"The winning couple gets to avoid the first public dumping...if you win this game, you can't go home in the next dumping. Pretty good, right?" Madix explained.
After Hannah had correctly guessed Marco's top turn-on, Harrison and Destiny had to answer correctly to stay in the running. However, Harrison's response ("Boobs") did not match Destiny's (when she wears big T-shirts to bed), so Marco and Hannah ended up being the victorious couple and would be safe from the next dumping.
Even more than that, they also had the power to choose one other couple from the villa to be safe, as well. They decide to save Leonardo and Anna to give the new pair more time to get to know each other.
Fans react to that Ariana Madix Love Island USA cameo:
Viewers were so excited to see the Vanderpump Rules personality in the Love Island universe that many took to social media to petition to have Ariana Madix hired full-time as the host of the reality dating show:
Ariana did a fabulous job, she could take over being host anytime and be wonderful at it !! I was crying as she was walking in just because I know what love island means to her. She deserves this she's such a beautiful soul pic.twitter.com/EqsFTmqHM6July 26, 2023
Ariana could actually be a better host than Sarah #LoveIslandUSA pic.twitter.com/iSHkROhKyFJuly 26, 2023
now hold on Ariana eating this little hosting gig up #LoveIslandUSA pic.twitter.com/aAhlYuf4KxJuly 26, 2023
ARIANA CALLING MARCO OUT FOR LYING ABOUT HIS BODY COUNT LMAOOOOO #LoveIslandUSAJuly 26, 2023
Ariana: Bye for now! Exactly. Emphasis on the “for now” cuz she coming back as host for season 6💀 #LoveIslandUSAJuly 26, 2023
Yassss here for Ariana strutting on to Love Island USA and shading Scumdoval heh pic.twitter.com/5Fz1p8Aa1HJuly 26, 2023
waitttttt is sarah hyland on strike they’re probably making ariana the interim host this makes so much more sense #loveislandusaJuly 26, 2023
Ugh Omg Ariana really ate that #LoveIslandUSA pic.twitter.com/5IEMktEJ5YJuly 26, 2023
Is this Ariana guest host thing like an audition? She’s doing well I fear #loveislandUSAJuly 26, 2023
Ariana is really shaking up the villa tonight 🤯 #LoveIslandUSAJuly 26, 2023
Count your days, Sarah. This was literally Ariana’s hosting audition. #LoveIslandUSA pic.twitter.com/DegEoovuWQJuly 26, 2023
Ariana fits in perfectly with the #LoveIslandUSA vibe, joking with them all so easily from the jump and everythingI wouldn’t hate it if she hosted just saying pic.twitter.com/3m1ReIuNoqJuly 26, 2023
