Love Island USA 5 contestant Vickala “Kay Kay” Gray has clarified her side regarding that tense interaction between her and host Sarah Hyland on the show.
It occurred during one of the show’s later elimination rounds, as the man that Kay Kay was interested in throughout the season, Keenan Anunay, was voted off the show.
Since that happened, Kay Kay decided she wanted to leave with him rather than stay on the island and continue looking for love.
With many viewers feeling that they were doing Kay Kay a favor, it brought a dramatic exchange involving Hyland, Kay Kay, and another cast member, Mike Stark.
Hyland asked Kay Kay several times if she was sure she wanted to leave with Keenan, and Mike called out the Love Island USA host, suggesting she was being “disrespectful” by asking like that.
Kay Kay stood by her decision to leave the villa with Keenan. She recently opened up about the exchange with Hyland after sharing that the interaction made her “uncomfortable.”
Kay Kay addresses her situation with host Sarah Hyland
During a live video session, Kay Kay spoke to Love Island USA fans about her experience on the show and reacted to various comments or questions.
One in particular caught her attention, which asked about her issues with the show host due to that intense interaction.
“Let me clear one thing up. I don’t have anything against Sarah Hyland. I love Sarah Hyland. I respect her. I literally love her,” Kay Kay said during the video session.
“I don’t have nothing against her. So people keep saying that? You’re wrong. I know you seen a little 15-second video of me saying I was uncomfortable, but what you didn’t see was I was uncomfortable with production,” she said.
Kay Kay explained that “Sarah Hyland is a host” receiving instructions from the show’s production about what to ask and say to the Love Island contestants.
“Nothing that she’s saying is from her heart. Yes, she can put her personality on it…but if she’s asking me a question five times, it’s because she’s being instructed to ask me about it five times,” Kay Kay said.
“The fact she was instructed to ask me if I was sure five times made me uncomfortable,” she added, “because production wasn’t accepting the fact that I was f**king leaving.”
Kay Kay mentioned she was ‘uncomfortable’ during previous chat
The 15-second video clip Kay Kay was referring to involved her and Keenan answering questions in a sit-down interview. The clip surfaced on social media, including the TikTok account sharing it below.
Kay Kay was asked about the interaction involving her and the show host and if she minded Hyland asking her multiple times if she truly wanted to leave with Keenan.
“Honestly, I felt very uncomfortable. I felt like my decision was not supported and that they were gonna keep asking me until I changed my mind,” Kay Kay replied.
“I was just a little too uncomfortable to say anything, so I just kept saying like, ‘Yes, I’m sure. Yes.’ I just kept it real short and cute because I was uncomfortable,” she said.
Kay Kay also said she didn’t mind that her castmate Mike spoke up about it since she was “uncomfortable” then.
Fans still believe Kay Kay made a bad decision
While Kay Kay seems to be standing by her decision to be with Keenan, many fans still feel she shouldn’t have left with him. They took to the comments of the TikTok video above to express their thoughts on the matter.
“You’re uncomfortable with someone checking to see if you’re making the right choice but not uncomfortable with how he treated you??” a commenter wrote, including several clown face emojis.
Another commenter mentioned that Kay Kay should’ve been uncomfortable with Keenan on the island since he was looking for other girls.
“This is so embarrassing for them 3 like for whattttt we all saw his character babe,” another commenter wrote.
Another said that Kay Kay “makes me wanna bang my head on the wall” with how she was discussing the situation.
While fans are displeased with Kay Kay’s decision, she seems to feel she made the best one for her. As of this writing, it seems they are still together. However, time will tell if they will continue with a relationship that appeared problematic on our screens.
Love Island USA Season 5 is available on Peacock.