Photo by Ben Symons/Peacock
Audio By Carbonatix
Update, 9:30 p.m. Thursday, June 25: Shortly into Thursday night’s episode of “Love Island USA,” producers confirmed Miami contestant Alannah Keyser was no longer on the show. As with last year’s dismissal of Miami’s Yulissa Escobar, producers kept the explanation brief, simply flashing the statement, “Alannah has left Casa Amor” across viewers’ screens.
No, you’re not having déjà vu. Another hometown woman has reportedly been booted from Peacock’s “Love Island USA” for using the n-word. This time around, it appears to be Season 8’s “bombshell,” Alannah Keyser, who is accused of lip-synching and texting the pejorative in resurfaced Snapchat videos and messages.
If this scenario sounds familiar, it’s because just last season, Miami’s Yulissa Escobar was kicked off the show after internet sleuths uncovered a podcast episode in which she repeatedly used the n-word. “Love Island USA” did not explicitly cite the scandal as the reason for her exit — in a now-infamous clip, production simply stated, “Yulissa has left the villa” — but her departure came after intense public outrage.
While Keyser’s exit hasn’t yet happened on screen, The Sun reported on Wednesday that she had been fired, citing intel from a production source. While Keyser remained in the villa on the episode that aired Tuesday, June 23, viewers noticed that she appeared to have been edited out of many scenes.
Keyser joined the villa on Sunday, June 21 (Episode 17), during “Casa Amor,” when new bombshells are left alone with male cast members in hopes of luring them away from existing partnerships. Adding fuel to the online chatter about perceived racism, Keyser seemed friendly and outgoing during the episode, but was criticized for appearing to only kiss white men while playfully rebuking the Black contestants.
As online chatter grew following the resurfaced clip of Keyser allegedly lip-synching the n-word while singing along to Roddy Ricch’s “The Box,” her dad came to her defense in an interview with TMZ on Monday, June 22. Papa Keyser claims his daughter is an “educated sweetheart,” and not racist.
New Times previously reported that while three male cast members from Season 8 had Miami ties, no local women had yet entered the villa, and surmised that Escobar’s behavior last season was to blame. It turns out we spoke too soon.
For the uninitiated, “Love Island USA” brings bikini- and bathing-suit-clad singles to a remote part of the Fiji Islands, where they are stripped of communication with the outside world and asked to either couple up with a rotating cast of strangers or face elimination. Their only tie to technology comes from producers messaging their flip phones, instructing them on what activity to do next.
Season 8 premiered on Tuesday, June 2, with former University of Miami track star Sincere Rhea and Miami-based model/DJ Gabriel Vasconcelos looking for love in the villa. Local luxury travel consultant and fitness enthusiast Corbin Mims joined the cast as a “bombshell” on Episode 4, which aired Friday, June 5.
Vasconcelos, who is also known as the “reverse Leonardo DiCaprio” because he hooked up with a 52-year-old woman, has since been voted off the show, ostensibly because the ladies felt he wasn’t looking to settle down.
Now, it appears Keyser has joined the ranks of Miamians who’ve left the villa, albeit for very different reasons.
“Love Island USA.” 9 p.m. weekdays, except Wednesdays, on Peacock.
