NEED TO KNOW
Love Island USA season 7 alum Cierra Ortega is telling all about her exit from the villaIn a four-part series on TikTok, she answered fan questions and finally shared how she feels about her ex, Nic Vansteenberghe, coupling up with her former close friend, Olandria CarthenCierra also confirmed that neither Nic nor Olandria has gotten in contact with her since leaving the villa
Cierra Ortega is getting candid about how she feels about her ex’s new relationship.
The Love Island USA season 7 alum, who made a sudden exit from the villa mid-way through the season after posts resurfaced of her using a racial slur, reflected on her experience in the Fiji villa in a series of videos posted on TikTok and Instagram.
She responded to fans’ questions directly in the four videos, and finally made her feelings known on a particularly hot topic: Nic Vansteenberghe and Olandria Carthen.
Cierra said that the viral support for Nicolandria “hurt” to see when she left the villa.
“Coming out to see the whole internet, football franchises, his family, was rooting for them to be together the entire time that him and I were together — yeah, that hurt,” Cierra, 25, said in a TikTok video.
Cierra Ortega and Nicolas “Nic” Vansteenberghe on Love Island USA Season 7.
Ben Symons/Peacock via Getty
Seeing the online support was one thing, but watching Nicolandria form a connection and begin to get romantic was another. “As I watched as a viewer, from someone on the outside, and I saw their connection forming, I was like, ‘Damn, okay. It f—— hurts,'” she said.
She said that she is “happy for them” but that “of course” it hurts her to see. “Yeah, I’m f—— hurt. But I’m also an adult,” she said.
Not hearing from either Nic or Olandria after they left the villa also stung.
“As days went on and I didn’t hear from either of them, the more hurt I became,” Cierra said.
“I feel like, when I first came out, and I could appreciate the friendships and relationships and the memories that we had all shared, and find beauty in their situation, it was because I thought they could come out and, I don’t know, I guess embrace me?”
Ben Symons/Peacock
“But as the days went on, and it just kind of felt like I never existed, and like the friendship Olandria and I shared had never existed, and the relationship that Nic and I shared had never existed, that s— hurts,” she continued.
“Being shut down with no closure — it’s closure that I’ve had to provide for myself — it’s a lot.”
Olandria told PEOPLE that she “didn’t allow” herself to explore her romantic chemistry with Nic at first out of respect for Cierra.
After leaving the villa and placing second on July 13, Olandria, 27, said there was a “spark” between her and Nic, 24, when they kissed in Soul Ties during Casa Amor.
“I was like, ‘You know what? I feel so guilty.’ I’m just going to write it off and say that there wasn’t, out of respect for Cierra.”
She felt like she “owed Cierra so much,” as Nic and Cierra had been coupled up for weeks at that point. “I always preach about girlhood and sisterhood and all that stuff. So I just wanted to stay true to my word.”
“I was willing to give Nic up and just ride it out, however that looked like for me — whether that was me going home or just coupling up with someone else, out of respect for Cierra.”
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Love Island USA season 7 can be streamed in full on Peacock.