‘Love Island USA’ Week 5 Recap: Cierra’s Shocking Departure Leads to Nic and Olandria Coupling Up (Updating Daily)

The Love Island USA villa faced major changes in the wake of Cierra Ortega’s shocking departure.

During the Sunday, July 6, episode of the dating show — which airs daily with the exception of Wednesdays — Ace Greene, Amaya Espinal, Bryan Arenales, Chelley Bissainthe, Cierra, Clarke Carraway, Chris Seeley, Elan Bibas, Huda Mustafa, Iris Kendall, Pepe Garcia, Nic Vansteenberghe, Olandria Carthen and Taylor Williams were all in for a surprise.

Halfway into the episode, narrator Iain Stirling confirmed that Cierra “left the villa due to a personal situation” and noted that Nic was “officially single.” Luckily the villa had their resident matchmaker Ace to start rooting for Nic and Olandria to re-explore their connection.

That is exactly what happened as the remaining guys were either settled in their couples or vying for Amaya Papaya’s heart. She had a tough decision to make after Ariana Madix arrived for a recoupling with three suitors to choose from: Zak, Elan and Bryan.

Week 5 ultimately threw things for a loop since Cierra and Nic were one of the strongest couples. But the exit came amid a resurfaced racist post, with Cierra serving as the third Islander to face backlash since filming kicked off. (The Islanders are halfway through their sixth week in Fiji but for the sake of its timeline, Us Weekly will be tracking the events based on when they air on Peacock.)

As the group settles into their connections one week before the finale, Us is keeping you up to date with live highlights so keep scrolling:

Sunday, July 6

Week 5 started off with a shock when Cierra was no longer in the villa. That caused Nic to question where his future in the villa was going. Nic decided to shoot his shot with Olandria again as they bonded over their familiar connection.

Elsewhere in the episode, Taylor created a date for Clarke to show her how serious he was. There was also Amaya’s search for The One, which just got more interesting after that makeout with Bryan. She was also pulled for chats with Zak and Elan as the guys in the villa finally realized she is America’s Sweetheart.

Just as Nic and Olandria had another sweet chat — which included Nic somehow mentioning the Nicolandria ship name that has gone viral on social media — Ariana arrived for this week’s recoupling.

Sunday’s episode ended with Ace and Chelley together again while Clarke chose Taylor. After forming an unexpected bond following both of their matches getting dumped, Iris and Pepe chose to give each other an official chance. Chris, meanwhile, was Huda’s choice while Olandria made all of Us happy by picking Nic.

Amaya was the last to go and she chose Bryan, which meant Elan and Zak were headed home.