Spoilers for all episodes of Love Island USA season 6 ahead. In the world of Love Island USA, nothing's better than leaving the villa in an established relationship. (Well, aside from taking home the $100,000 prize.) Season 6 standouts Kendall Washington and Nicole Jacky are one of the lucky pairs who made things official during the hit dating reality show, which saw their relationship challenged by frisky challenges, bombshell flirting, and even Casa Amor. Still, Kendall and Nicole remained one of the strongest couples in this season of the popular dating series, which now airs on Peacock. The pair even said "I love you" to each other by the July 21 finale, where they stood as season 6 finalists.
Now that cameras have stopped rolling on the Islanders and the reunion special aired, which saw the cast addressing a private video of Kendall's that surfaced, fans are wondering what has happened to the couple since they entered the real world. Read on for everything we know about Nicole and Kendall's relationship status post-Love Island USA.
What happened between Kendall and Nicole on 'Love Island USA' season 6?
Kendall Washington, a 27-year-old from Dallas, Texas, was one of the 12 original cast members who arrived on Love Island USA on day one. He originally coupled with Hannah Smith, but everything changed with 26-year-old Nicole Jacky entered the Fiji villa as a day six bombshell. Nicole and Kendall quickly hit it off as she pursued him, and they paired up at the subsequent recoupling.
Kendall and Nicole ended up becoming one of the most tight-knit pairs, remaining together for the rest of the season and even surviving the drama of Casa Amor. During the July 21 finale, Kendall confirmed that he knew he loved Nicole when he returned from Casa Amor and found that she had decided to wait for him.
Nicole and Kendall made things official in the fourth week of the season, becoming boyfriend and girlfriend after Kendall popped the question. Of course, they were among the four couples who became finalists, including Serena Page and Kordell Beckham, Leah Kateb and Miguel Harichi, and JaNa Craig and Kenny Rodriguez. Though they were among the four couples who became finalists (and even shared the big L-O-V-E by the season's end), the pair ended season 6 as the fourth-place couple. (Fan-favorite Serena and Kordell inevitably took home the big prize.)
Are Nicole and Kendall still together after 'Love Island USA' season 6?
Kendall and Nicole are still together but have had to deal with some devastating offscreen drama since the show's end. On the day of the Love Island USA finale, a "private" video of Kendall was shared without his consent on social media, as reported by Page Six. He responded to the leak in an Instagram Story written once he got his phone back following the finale.
“What a way to get my phone back y’all," he wrote in a post shared on July 22. "I just want to address the content that came out from my past. That was something I shared to someone in confidence and trust. It’s unfortunate that it’s no longer private but it is what it is.”
He continued, “I want to thank you all for the calls/texts to support me during this time. I am so grateful for my love island [sic] experience and I love you all for tuning in to watch my journey. Excited for what's next."
The pair did not publicly speak on their relationship until the Love Island USA season 6 reunion, where they revealed that Kendall didn't share the "full truth" when explaining the video to Nicole. “I just want to say something. Obviously, the video is not okay. Nobody deserves that. Everybody in this room can agree it’s fucked up,” Nicole said during the special. “However, I think if you say you love somebody in the moment, when you’re telling me about something, you need to be honest. Instead of saying it’s from years ago to someone you trusted—an ex-girlfriend—and then I find out two days later from JaNa that it was in the hotel room before you go on the show to someone on a dating app is crazy.”
“I 100 percent should’ve been honest with Nicole in that moment, but I honestly wasn’t ready," Kendall responded, explaining that he panicked upon learning about the video. "My life was turned upside down and all I wanted to do was to have you there.”
While Kendall apologized, Nicole still shared her frustration, arguing that someone who said he loved her shouldn't have "lied to her face." She added that she took “a lot of heat” for not speaking out about the video and that she wished that Kendall had stood up for her publicly over the past month. As the conversation went on, Nicole became emotional during the conversation, as several of the other Islanders chimed in to defend Kendall, trying to explain that Kendall was facing an extreme situation and going through a lot.
Nicole and Kendall ended the conversation by confirming that they had not ended their relationship, with Kendall saying, "All I want to do is mend the lie." When host Ariana Madix asked Nicole if she wanted to be with Kendall, she responded, "That's all I've ever wanted. I just think there's a lot of conversations to be had, and I don't take this lightly."
If Kendall and Nicole do get through this rocky period, there's a chance they could resume plans that they previously had before leaving the villa. In a July 22 post-finale interview with Us Weekly, the couple shared that they hoped to eventually live together in California. Though Texas Christian University alum Kendall currently lives in Dallas, he has connections to the Sunshine State, where Nicole resides in Sacramento.
“It’s good that she lives in California because I have a lot of family there—my sister and my mom are in California. So it’s a win-win situation when I go there, I get to see Nicole and I also get to see my family,” Kendall said at the time. “I know my family eventually wants me to move back to California so my mom, specifically, is excited that Nicole is from there.”
