“Love Island USA” Season 8 bombshell Sol Mýa Dean’s time in Fiji was short but tumultuous — entering the villa on Day 7 and being dumped on Day 15.
The Southern California-native quickly formed a connection with Sincere Rhea upon entering the villa and coupled up with him on Day 10, per America’s vote.
Their connection was cut short just four episodes later, when Sincere chose to rekindle his relationship with Melanie Moreno during the “You’ve Got Mail” challenge.
The shake-up left Sol coupled up with fellow bombshell Caleb McDaniel by default, but the pair only spent one day together before being voted among the least popular couples. That night, Sol was selected by a group of male islanders to be sent home alongside Gabriel Vasconcelos, who entered the villa as a bombshell on Day 2.
Upon hearing the news of the vote, Sol told the islanders that no one seemed open to getting to know her when she arrived, and she thanked the cast for putting her out of her “misery.”
Rather than shedding tears on her way out the door, she paused a final time to tell the islanders to make sure future newcomers don’t feel “excluded” like she did in the villa.
Below, Sol shares more about what really went down — from the emotional pie challenge to Sincere’s speech at her dumping — and which islander she thinks should win it all.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
People have speculated online that during the pie challenge you were pied more than what was shown. Can you speak more to what happened in that moment that made you so emotional?
I think it was a lot of stuff. I don’t know, it was just rough going in there, it was a lot. There was a lot that was just happening, and all I’m gonna say is that it was more than two. But it was just emotional, like hearing them pick me for answers that they didn’t really get to know me for. I feel like that was my big thing. I just came in, they knew my name is Sol, and I’m a bombshell, and nothing else, so I just kind of felt a little dissed where I’m like, where are these warranted when no one’s gotten to know me?
If you could rewind a couple of weeks and do things differently in the villa, what’s the number one thing you would have changed?
Maybe applying more pressure with the guys. But I also want things to feel mutual, and if they’re happy and content where they’re at, then I’m not going to overly want to pursue something. So it was hard, kind of finding the silver lining of what I should do and what I shouldn’t do, but I felt like (with) the experience I did the best with the cards I was dealt.
When Sincere was the one to deliver the news that they were voting you out, what was going through your head in that moment considering your history?
I don’t know if he wanted to get back for me humbling him, but I was just like, OK, this is like the finale cherry on the top of you being able to just kind of dump me.
I don’t know, I didn’t feel like the situation was fair, honestly, and him saying that I wasn’t in a progressive couple when he knows that I obviously put most of my time and energy into getting to know him, because what he was telling me versus what he was saying to other people was different. But me, I’m someone that likes to take things at face value, and I mean, I won’t really have doubt until there’s a reason, so I mean, I was feeling like a bunch of different ways.
At least, I don’t know, someone else could have said it.
You also said on an Instagram Live recently that you and Bea share a lot of thoughts about the other islanders that are maybe unpopular opinions, could you share one of those takes with us?
I just feel like I bit my tongue a lot, honestly, to keep things cordial and to have peace for living with these people 24/7. It’s also being filmed, so you’re kind of trying to navigate things in the best way, and I don’t really know if they knew like the effect that they were doing to me in the villa. And I feel like that’s just more so something I want to touch on when they do come out, and how they made that not a wonderful experience for me … There’s no shade. I hope a lot of them are still in their couples, but do I want to explain how they were making me feel while my time in the villa was very short and present there? I do want to kind of address that with them. So, that’s mainly my focus for that.
What is one misconception either about you or about another islander that you’ve seen since leaving the villa that you want to address?
The hate on Trinity is a super misconception. On “Aftersun,” I feel like a lot of people kind of misconstrued my words, but in the beginning I said I wanted to get to know Trinity more because she was hilarious. She’s funny as hell. I felt like after watching some of the episodes, too, it just kind of made me validate the feelings I was feeling in the villa about what was being said and why there was just like, random tension. But again, I feel like the misconception would be Trinity and what I said on “Aftersun.”
I only said what I said on “Aftersun” because Bryce did pull Kayda multiple times and get rejected. It’s just kind of like, in my mind, if I’m keeping it plain simple at face value of what I’m seeing, if you were happy with your couple, you wouldn’t want to keep exploring, so that was just kind of more my premise on that. I didn’t say I think that she’s prettier than her. I could have obviously delivered it better, and I feel like that’s something I need to work on … There’s no hate on Trinity. I think she’s amazing, and honestly, out of everyone, I think she should win this, so I’ll stand on that.
Having watched how things are going for Bryce and Trinity in Casa Amor, do you see their relationship or their compatibility any differently?
I haven’t really watched Casa Amor, I only watched like the first episode, but like, the little clips I have been seeing, I just saw both of them kind of like crying, I believe for each other, and I’m glad I’m wrong.
When you’re in the villa, like, a day feels like a month, and I already know that they had a connection brewing, and I wasn’t saying that they didn’t have a connection brewing, it was more so, like, Bryce just kept pulling Kayda and got rejected, so it was like, I didn’t say that they didn’t have a connection. But I’m honestly glad, I’m glad to even see this pan out. I think it’s great. I’m glad to be wrong on that, I do feel like they have a connection.
What are your thoughts on the girls having to watch part of Casa Amor via the livestream?
I feel like it’ll make the girls just more open, if anything, and I feel like that was maybe the point. The girls are super locked in and just super forgiving with their guys, but if you got double the men, and you just saw how your current person was moving, like it’s, “Go do your big one, girl,” you know. Go find someone else in Casa and just give other people a fair shot. So I hope that they’re doing that, honestly.
Is there anyone who’s initial behavior or reactions in Casa surprised you the most?
I kind of knew the boys were gonna go crazy in Casa, just since they’re not being watched. So, I don’t know if I could boil it down to just one person. I couldn’t really answer that, but I feel like all of them kind of just felt like the chains were being broken loose. It was like a brand new show happening again, having a bunch of people get introduced, you get to know everyone without, like, a current partner watching, or like reprimanding you for it. I don’t know, I feel like they all were kind of, like, really excited from what I saw.
What’s been the most like interesting or strange part of watching your experience play back on TV? Do you feel like you’ve learned anything new about your time in there, being able to literally watch it from a viewer’s perspective?
Watching it from a viewer’s perspective is interesting. It’s a little cringe, but it’s also interesting because I’m like, completely myself all the time, and I feel like, again, you guys get one hour out of 24. Watching it back is kind of just like, there’s a lot of things that just were happening that I wasn’t aware of, so maybe asking like questions more, I feel like, again, I take a lot of things at face value, so maybe kind of trying to get the scoop, and what’s going on. Why is blank upset, or whatever it is. It’s interesting watching yourself back.