‘Love Island USA’: Mike Addresses the Sarah Hyland Drama and Issues an Apology (Exclusive)

Love Island USA shook things up this season by taking a page from Game of Thrones. The season’s “Red Wedding” saw the elimination of six Islanders. Mike Stark was amongst them. But, prior to his exit, he did have a tension-filled moment with host Sarah Hyland that got social media buzzing. After his Love Island USA departure, Mike spoke with PopCulture.com and offered some insight into the drama with the former Modern Family star. 

During the “Red Wedding” episode, fans saw Kay Kay Gray decided to leave with Keenan Anunay after he was dumped from the Island. Given the drama that the pair went through following Casa Amor, Hyland asked Kay Kay whether she was sure that she wanted to leave with Keenan. This prompted Mike to ask Hyland why she was saying that and mentioned that he felt it was “disrespectful.’ Mike said that he didn’t necessarily have a problem with the host questioning Kay Kay, but he took issue with the amount of times that the question was asked. 

“Where I draw the line is after Kay Kay had given her explanation, many times, the question was asked many times, it just didn’t seem like there was going to be any end to it,” he said. “So that’s when I feel like I’ll step in and say something. Kay Kay is my friend. I feel like it’s kind of putting her in a weird position to have to make her repeat herself so many times. It’s an uncomfortable position to have to see your friend in.”

Despite the fact that he stands by his decision to speak up, Mike did note that he issued an apology to Hyland as he mentioned how he “didn’t mean to disrespect her.” He even said that the host was listening in as he made the apology to the camera before he officially left Love Island USA. Mike said, “I don’t believe it was a public apology. I don’t believe they’re going to air it in the episode. But honestly, I doubt that Sarah Hyland ever gave me a second thought. Essentially to her, I’m just another Islander. And to me, she was just a host. So that was our dynamic. Once amends, were made, apologies were said, we kind of left it at that.”

Would Mike do anything differently looking back on things? Well, he did say that he wishes he could have worded things differently, adding, “I’d say she stated many times already how she feels. Can we just leave it at that?” 

That wasn’t all that Mike had to say about his Love Island USA experience. Check out PopCulture.com’s full interview with Mike on YouTube to see what he had to say about his relationships with Hannah O., Emily, and Destiny.