'Love Island USA': Isabel Shares Message Korey Gave Her Before She Left the Villa (Exclusive)

08/02/2021 10:02 pm EDT

Fans were shocked by how the post-Casa Amor recoupling turned out on Love Island USA. But, no one was more shocked than Isabel Johnson, who went into the night thinking that she would get chosen by Korey Gandy. In the end, Korey chose to recouple with Leslie Golden, which meant that Isabel was dumped from the Island. Following her time on Love Island, Isabel spoke with PopCulture.com about how her journey played out. During the course of the interview, she even addressed whether there's a possibility for her and Korey to reconnect outside of Love Island.

Isabel said that she felt "blindsided" during the recoupling when Korey chose Leslie. She said that she felt even more taken aback by the situation, given that she and Korey had a heart-to-heart shortly before the event. The reality star explained that Korey said that he saw a "different side" to her after one of their chats, which led her to believe that he would choose her. However, since he still did not give her a straight answer about who he was going to choose, she went into the recoupling blind.

"Going into that recoupling, I really had no idea. And when I asked him just for the honest truth and clarity, he really didn't know," Isabel recalled. "Obviously, I hoped that it would be me because I did want to continue that connection. But, just after his speech he did, that's kind of what caught me off guard because he was talking about vulnerability. And that was a big thing that him and I talked about during our chats. So it kind of almost felt like it was directed to me." Isabel continued to say that it didn't just throw her off that Korey chose Leslie, but it threw off the other Casa Amor girls, as well.

She said that Korey's decision did make her "really emotional because I did show him a very emotional and vulnerable side of me that I don't show a lot of people. To put that side of me out there and then to not have it work out, definitely hit me really hard." Fans weren't able to see exactly how Isabel and Korey connected on that emotional level. But, Isabel explained that they were able to chat and connect about their families and their past relationships. The Love Island star said that opening up doesn't come easy for her, but due to the circumstances (i.e. Casa Amor), "you kind of have to put all your emotions out there in a very short amount of time."

Even though the situation didn't play out how she wanted it to, Isabel holds no "hard feelings" towards anyone. As for what Isabel and Korey's relationship will look like post-Love Island, it seems as though the pair will simply be friends as the 22-year-old "doesn't give second chances." Although, Korey did tell her to "hit him up" on the outside.

"Obviously, I'll be friends with everyone but in a romantic sense, I definitely wouldn't go for that because like I said, I don't give second chances," Isabel said. "And I don't want to be anyone's backup option. And I feel like in that situation, that's kind of what it was. You obviously chose someone over me when you knew that we did have a good emotional connection that could have led into something really great. So, yeah, on like a romantic sense, I probably would not do that because I don't want to be someone's second option." Disclosure: PopCulture is owned by ViacomCBS Streaming, a division of ViacomCBS.

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