Love Island USA season 8 star Bryce Alakai Detloff has revealed that he was bullied at school because he “looked better” than his classmates.
During Sunday’s episode, Detloff was asked by fellow contestant Trinity Tatum if he had “an ugly face growing up,” to which he replied, “No, I just looked like a girl.”
“It’s funny because I liked all the girls,” Dettloff told Tatum, before recalling a time in middle school when “the hottest girl in school” came up to him in front of everyone and said, “You’re the cutest guy ever.”
But this came at a price, with Detloff admitting that “all the boys hated me and started bullying me for it.”
“All the guys were bullying me,” the 29-year-old reiterated. “Because they thought I looked better.”
Even though the new season of the reality show has only been airing for less than a week, several of the contestants are already making waves.
Vasana Montgomery was removed from the series’ lineup days before the show’s premiere after a video resurfaced depicting her using a racial slur.
According to TMZ, the 26-year-old was allegedly filmed singing the N-word in the lyrics.
When faced with criticism of her casting, production sources told Decider that the video was not immediately available during the vetting process and that they learned of the clip only after she was cast.
The day after the new season premiered, Montgomery apologized for his past actions.
Another cast member from Season 8, Sean Reifel, was criticized by Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Mayor J. William Reynolds for resigning from the Bethlehem Police Department to appear on the show.
“Our police department spent a lot of time training and thousands of taxpayer dollars to send him to the police academy,” Reynolds told local news outlets.
The mayor continued, “It is unfortunate that he has left because there is another vacancy in our department that will not be filled until next year.”
Police Chief Michelle Cotto also criticized Reifel’s decision, saying, “I don’t think any department would authorize ‘x’ amount of weeks off for a television show at a time when everyone is hurting and overtime is being used to fill the void.”
As of Sunday night’s episode, Reifel, 29, became the first Islander to be eliminated from the Villa after Tatum, 22, selected Detloff as his opponent.
“Love Island USA” airs on Peacock every day except Wednesdays at 9pm ET.
