Just because the Love Island USA cast is bound to have sex doesn’t mean they don’t find ways — like secret code words — to get around discussing it on screen.
The dating show originally premiered in the U.K. in 2002 before it expanded worldwide with various spinoffs, including Love Island USA on Peacock. The series follows a different group of singles every season who have to pair off in order to stay in the show’s luxury villa.
The contestants — referred to as Islanders — live in isolation in a villa and are under constant video surveillance. They must be coupled up to remain on the show and stand a chance at receiving the$100,000 prize.
While finding a connection that you want to explore more intimately isn’t out of the question, season 7 of Love Island USA seemed to set some sort of record with the amount of times Islanders were caught hooking up.
From Hannah Fields and Pepe Garcia to Huda Mustafa and Jeremiah Brown, the reality stars have found ways around having to address their sexual encounters for all of America to hear.
“We had a code name for intimacy,” Hannah exclusively told Us Weekly in June. “We would say, ‘How was your journey? What was this journey like?’ Huda [started it when she] said something like, ‘Oh, I had a journey. My journey went all the way.’”
Keep scrolling for a guide of how often the season 7 cast of Love Island USA actually stuck to that code word:
Huda and Jeremiah
After covertly taking the next step in their relationship, Huda wasn’t good at playing coy the next morning.
“I wish I could tell you what I want to tell you,” Huda teased during a conversation with the girls, who immediately guessed that she had sex. “I won’t give details on when or how but all I will say is it did happen.”
Jeremiah, for his part, declined to “kiss and tell” while on “The Viall Files” podcast in June 2025 — despite viewers already knowing exactly what happened.
Hannah and Pepe
The couple’s intimate moment went viral even though they never acknowledged it on the show. After being dumped from the island, Hannah explained how her own “journey” with Pepe played out.
“We had not slept in, like, 24 hours. It had been three hours after we went to bed,” she told Us of the clip. “You kind of forget that you’re on camera. I literally always forgot that I was being recorded and it would dawn on me because I’d just see a camera and I’d be like, ‘Oh s*** I’m being recorded.’ I really didn’t think I remembered until the next day. I was like, ‘Just don’t talk about it. Nobody’s gonna know. Nobody’s gonna know what happened.’ I sit in the bathroom, like, ‘Do you think they caught that? … No.’ So when I watched the episode, I’m like, ‘Oh, I couldn’t have been less discreet.’”
Nic and Cierra
If anyone went through a “journey,” it was Nic and Cierra. From 25 seconds to 30 seconds to 40 seconds, Nic wasn’t proud of how his work in the bedroom was captured on screen.
“I wasn’t expecting it that quickly. From weeks of held up tension, it started flowing,” he admitted to Ace. “It was one of the best 25 seconds of my life. It was so fast. I had to apologize because it was so fast. It was so good but so short.”
Nic later upped the final amount, telling Cierra, “Besides the fact that it was just 30 seconds long, the way that it happened was just natural and beautiful. Usually, I take a lot more time with somebody I like.”
After recoupling later in the season, Nic and Cierra continued to intimately explore their bond as they prepared to close off their connection.
“Did you hear me taking my journey?” Cierra asked Iris who was paired up with TJ Palma. “Well the journey was much longer this time than the first time.”
Cierra elaborated on her encounter with Nic, adding, “And we stopped for food on the way. Hotdogs and hamburgers were ordered. We both had a full course meal. Once we finished eating we ended at a waterfall. It was beautiful.”
Nic gave Ace and Taylor an update about the “best 40 seconds ever” but he admitted it “was still subpar” based on past experiences.
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