Spoiler Alert: Welcome to Hate Island
Where we misuse the term sisterhood and dogpile on each other.
Hey, Chronically Online friends, let’s have a chat if you’re new to Spoiler Alert. Welcome! Sorry you had to join us on such a chaotic day. I have a lot to get off my chest after the catastrophe that was episode 26.
Now, this segment on Chronically Online usually includes a whole week's recap, but today we need to have a serious discussion about what’s happening right now. Let’s get the main points out of the way: first, we finally have our first couple (Nic & Cierra) who are officially together. Let’s clap or lightly snap our fingers because it doesn’t feel quite as triumphant—unfortunately, we’re 26 episodes in and only have one official couple. So, what’s really going on?
Oh, I’ll tell you what’s going on, what we’re seeing are the genuine emotions of all the islanders coming to the forefront. I think that if I hear the words 'sisterhood' and 'boundaries' again, my head will start spinning, because after tonight, lines have been drawn. If you’re just vicariously watching the show through my newsletter (thank you🥹), but last night the islanders had a “Stand on Business" challenge where everyone wrote either anonymous or direct notes to each other expressing how they really feel about each other, and boy did things go downhill quickly.
So, let’s start with the semi-light-hearted stuff, because I’m glad Adreina called out Austin for asking the real question: why are you still here? Has Austin found a connection that I think matches him? Yes, but honestly, he has been coasting this entire time, and though I hate to say it, I can’t even put all of my ‘get out of my villa’ energy onto him right now because I have bigger fish to fry.
Next on the docket is Pepe, who asked Cierra, Olandria and Chelley why they felt the need to send Hannah home. Quite frankly, I didn’t know he actually liked her that much. Still, I have to say that I understood his frustration because when the entire recoupling happened, I thought Iris was going to be the one to go home. Cierra did not fully answer the question, and honestly, I don’t think they had the answers. Hannah just got the short end of the stick.
Now, for the first ulcer, the islanders gave me last night. When it was Amaya’s turn to step to the podium, like most of the cards, it was something fun and lighthearted, but then we started to see people’s true selves. Austin made a note pointing out how Amaya cries a lot, and in her true, vulnerable fashion, she started tearing up immediately.
First, she tried to play it off with light jokes. Still, it turned into an uncomfortable situation watching Austin start to nitpick what he didn’t like about being coupled up with Amaya.
As if that wasn’t enough Ace decided to jump in and give his two cents about #babegate which rubbed me entirely wrong from the beginning because to this day myself and America are pretty confused as to why Ace has such disdain for Amaya when it was his choice to couple up with her in the first place.
Then we proceeded to see her current coupled partner, Zak, retract all his sentiments and add to the dogpile, making Amaya extremely emotional, and I couldn’t lie, my blood was boiling. It felt very irritating to watch three men take constant jabs at Amaya, and everyone watched until Bryan stepped up and defended her saying that Amaya’s way of showing love and affection is very normal in Hispanic households and enforcing that all of them guys should have met her halfway when she was doing the same for them.
Now, what many other fans and I noticed was that none of the ladies spoke up in Amaya’s defense until she left the podium and Cierra and Huda came to comfort her. I will say I’m not sure if editing played a part, but we’ve seen on numerous occasions that Amaya was helpful and vocal in reassuring the girls that they were heard. Therefore, it was a deduction on their part, as that situation should not have lasted for so long.
When it was Ace’s turn, he definitely deflected a bit when asked about being the ringleader of the villa. Still, it was entertaining to see him and Amaya tag-team Austin for using microaggressions toward Amaya when she pointed out that he had never expressed his feelings about her to her face, only behind her back.
It’s insane how we haven’t even scratched the surface of the episode. Now let’s get into the #sisterhoodgate between Huda, Chelley, Cierra and Olandria. Okay, after watching this episode, we’re seeing a layer of things. First, we tried to enforce the sisterhood label too early, leaving no room to get to know each other and truly see if we liked each other.
Several things can be true at once: the girls do not like Huda and are probably tired of the emotional rollercoaster she’s caused in the early days of being in the villa. Now, I don’t think Chelley was 100% clear on where she stood with Huda when it came to Chris, and used this Ace situation as an out when she should have been honest from the beginning.
When it comes to Olandria revealing that Huda and Chris kissed in front of everyone, I was shocked and felt like it put her in a bad light because she didn’t have to do that, but we see her true loyalty was to Chelley, so I don’t think she felt bad for that decision.
Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
Finally, to wrap things up, let’s get into the Taylor and Olandria dynamic. Seeing Olandria put her foot down and release her raw emotions felt like a major ‘finally’ moment, and I could hear her frustration the entire time because she was keeping things reserved and calm.
All this comes down to the fact that Taylor was never honest from the start. He should have told Olandria right away that he wasn't interested in her and had no physical attraction, because now that we’re weeks into the experiment, it seems like he wasted her time.
Their argument was uncomfortable to watch because Olandria kept Taylor in the back of her mind throughout her time in the villa and truly didn't explore any other connections, due to an unconscious loyalty she showed toward Taylor, yet he didn’t reciprocate that loyalty.
Overall, this whole episode, though messy, wasn’t an enjoyable mess but rather full of hatred and malicious intent. I’m honestly not sure who is going to win this, and I definitely don’t think anyone is going to have a flourishing relationship after leaving the villa.
Elite Employee: Nobody
I think everyone pretty much showed their true colors, and nobody deserved to be promoted after last night’s shenanigans other than Amaya, so we’ll try this again next episode, huh?
Demoted: The Fans
Now it’s time to get on the viewers and stans of this show because we can’t leave the elephant in the room unnoticed. The aftermath that both the dark skinned Black women are facing online is quite jarring. Both Olandria and Chelley’s accounts have disabled their comments due to the massive hate comments they are receiving after tonight’s episode. The double standard that is being placed on them is an unfortunate reflection of what Black women face on a day-to-day basis. Although we’re not always happy with the islanders’ actions, we must be mindful of the language we use.