‘Love Island USA’: Kassy and Leo Address Casa Amor Drama, Fan Criticism (Exclusive)

Few other couples on Season 5 of Love Island USA had as much of a roller coaster ride as Kassandra “Kassy” Castillo and Leonardo “Leo” Dionicio did. Yet, amid all of the drama, they made their way back to one another and came in second place in the Love Island USA finale. Still, fans definitely haven’t been afraid to share their own opinions about Kassy taking Leo back after the whole Casa Amor debacle. How are they handling the criticism? Kassy and Leo shared their takes on the situation during a conversation with PopCulture.com after the finale. 

As fans saw, Leo took steps to win Kassy back while they were still in the Villa. Of course, viewers know how that all worked out for them. But, at the time, Leo wasn’t so sure that they would be able to get back to the good place that they are in today. He explained, “I was just doing literally everything I could just to show her how much I cared, because … even off camera, I would try to ask her for a conversation, be like, ‘Nope.’ So I was like, ‘Okay, there’s only one way I can get just a chance,” you know? But just a chance for her to see how I feel, not a chance to win it over. That’s obviously deep down what I wanted, but it wasn’t my clear view as to what was pushing me to do it. I just wanted [her] to know why I care and why I love her and why I wanted to do the things I was doing.”

Both Kassy and Leo acknowledged that their time in the Villa was filled with a good dose of drama. Despite the fact that Leo took steps to let Kassy know his feelings, fans had plenty to say about their relationship. More specifically, some took issue with the fact that Kassy gave Leo another chance after everything that went down. As Kassy explained, she does “understand” these takes, but she ultimately went with her “heart.”

“I didn’t want to base my re-coupling on other people’s ideas of what I should do, and what I shouldn’t do. I just want it to follow my heart, and I’m happy I did, because I mean, at the end of it all, we were able to surpass our challenges,” she said. “We got closer and stronger from it. And so, I’m really grateful for that … I felt like I wanted to follow where I wanted to go, where Kassy wanted to end her experience with. I wanted to end it with Leo.”

For more from our interview with Kassy and Leo, head to PopCulture.com’s YouTube page to watch the conversation in full. All episodes of Love Island USA Season 5 are currently available to watch on Peacock.