‘Love Island: Beyond the Villa’s Clarke Carraway and Taylor Williams Reveal How His Terrifying Rodeo Accident Brought Them ‘Closer’ (Exclusive)

Love Island USA couple Clarke Carraway and Taylor Williams are ready to showcase their love in a whole new way on Love Island: Beyond the Villa Season 2.

While Clarke and Taylor first fell for each other during Season 7 of the Peacock dating show, it was the Oklahoma cowboy’s terrifying rodeo accident outside of the villa that the couple says brought them “closer” in a whole new way.

“It definitely did bring us closer,” Taylor, who was hospitalized after being thrown from his horse at the Arizona Invitational Black Rodeo in August, told PopCulture.com ahead of Wednesday’s premiere of Love Island: Beyond the Villa Season 2.

“This is nothing that I expected or wanted to happen coming out of the villa,” he continued, “And her being there when it happened and spending the night with me in the hospital and then … me having surgery and she’s coming down to help me after that, it just showed me really how much she loves me, how much she cares and really the type of person that she is.”

As the couple has been navigating a long-distance relationship between South Carolina and Oklahoma since leaving Fiji, Taylor said it meant even more for Clarke to put her life “on hold” to help him recover from the accident. “That really just showed the type of person she was and how she’s just willing to come help,” he said.

Clarke was “very scared” for Taylor after watching him get thrown from his horse, and told PopCulture that, as “a ride or die,” she jumped into action to help however she could.

“I’m saying I’m a ride or die, but I want my actions to follow suit, so naturally, the type of person I am is I want to be there for you when you’re in a time of need,” she said. “If you’re going through something and you have to recover, I want to be there to support you, and nothing else matters in that moment because you’re the priority.”

“So it was very scary, but I do agree that it brought us closer together,” she continued. “And I’m the type of person where I want my man to take care of me, but it’s good to know that if something happens, I can take care of my man.”

The couple is still going strong almost a year after they first entered the villa, and they agreed they’re “excited” for Beyond the Villa viewers to see their bond today.

“I’m excited for people just to see a little bit more of me and Taylor as individuals, but also see our relationship dynamic and our banter and our chemistry too,” Clarke shared.

“I feel like we’ve grown very close to each other coming out of the villa and experiencing like our life changing together,” Taylor agreed. “Having each other to fall back on and confide in and everything really did help, and all that just brought us closer at the end of the day.”

Love Island: Beyond the Villa Season 2 hits Peacock with a two-episode premiere on Wednesday, April 15.