NEED TO KNOW
Huda Mustafa rose to fame on season 7 of Love Island USA, where she had short-lived romances with Jeremiah Brown and Chris Seeley
Less than a month after Love Island USA season 7 wrapped, she stepped out on a red carpet with Too Hot to Handle alum Louis Russell
During the Love Island USA season 7 reunion, Mustafa said she couldn’t discuss her “relationships outside the villa” due to “legal reasons”
Love Island USA’s Huda Mustafa might have found love outside of the villa.
The TV personality gained major attention as a season 7 contestant on the reality dating show, where she delivered several meme-worthy moments and navigated chaotic relationships. She was first coupled up with Jeremiah Brown, but after a dramatic blowout over pancakes, she shifted her focus to Chris Seeley. The pair made it to the finale and ultimately finished in third place among the final four couples — despite their tense breakup in the episode.
Less than two weeks after the show wrapped, Mustafa went red carpet official with another familiar reality TV face, Too Hot to Handle alum Louis Russell. Mustafa was back in the spotlight again on Aug. 25, when the Love Island USA season 7 reunion — filmed on Aug. 12 — aired. But when co-host Ariana Madix asked about the status of her dating life, Mustafa explained that she couldn’t discuss her “relationships outside the villa” due to “legal reasons” pertaining to Netflix.
Co-host Andy Cohen then followed up, asking if the person she was “on a red carpet” with was someone she was “seeing,” leading Mustafa to reiterate, “I’m not allowed to speak on it.”
“Tell Netflix this was the number one streaming show of the summer,” Cohen joked.
So, who is Huda Mustafa dating? Here’s everything to know about the Love Island USA contestant’s rumored boyfriend, Louis Russell.
He is from the U.K.
Louis Russell/Instagram
Louis Russell poses for a photo in May 2025.
Russell introduced himself on Too Hot to Handle as a “semi-pro footballer from the U.K.”
According to his Instagram bio, he is also the founder of Minacia Society, a streetwear brand whose core collection includes bucket hats, trucker hats, beanies and sunglasses, per their site.
Outside of his professional life, Russell frequently shares workout content on his Instagram and has shared music releases on his TikTok. He shared several videos promoting his song, titled “She Pretty,” including one clip with an unseen woman holding his face, which fans in the comments speculated was Mustafa.
Russell was on several reality dating shows
Courtesy of Netflix
Louis Russell in episode 304 of ‘Perfect Match.’
Russell made his reality television debut in 2023 when he was a contestant on season 5 of Netflix’s Too Hot to Handle. He returned to the show for season 6, and later competed on Netflix’s Battle Camp.
More recently, he appeared on Netflix’s Perfect Match, where he was coupled up with Sandy Gallagher. They split once filming wrapped, with Gallagher telling PEOPLE that they “came back to the real world and went our separate ways romantically.”
“We were talking for a little bit, but then it just died out due to the fact of how my life works, and it just didn’t seem right to carry on,” Russell added.
He is also on the currently airing season 14 of Celebs Go Dating, where he had a brief romance with Love Island’s Olivia Hawkins. Much like Perfect Match, the show was filmed months before its August 2025 premiere.
He and Mustafa walked a red carpet together in August 2025
Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty
Huda Mustafa and Louis Russell at the ‘Weapons’ World Premiere at the United Theater on Broadway on July 31, 2025, in Los Angeles.
Mustafa and Russell became romantically linked in early August 2025, when they stepped out together at the Weapons premiere and posed on the red carpet holding hands.
During an August 2025 appearance on The Viall Files podcast, Gallagher said that although she didn’t know the details of Russell and Mustafa’s relationship, she was thrown off by him going red carpet official on the same day season 3 of Perfect Match premiered on Netflix.
She called it “disrespectful,” explaining that not only did he take away the “hype and spotlight” of their show, but he also “spoiled” how the season ended, several weeks before the finale was released.
“It was very disrespectful to the cast, to myself, to production and most importantly to the audience,” Gallagher said, explaining that the audience is “less invested” given they knew how one of the main storylines ended.
They’ve been spotted together several times
Huda Mustafa/Instagram ; Louis Russell/Instagram
Huda Mustafa ; Louis Russell.
Though their red carpet debut was their first official outing together, Russell and Mustafa have been spotted together several times. Their first sighting came just days after Mustafa returned to Los Angeles from Fiji following the Love Island USA finale, when they were seen at the Grove together. They appeared to be holding hands during the outing, according to photos that circulated online.
Since then, fans have spotted them in PDA-packed moments, including dancing together at a club in Germany on the day the reunion aired, per more fan-captured footage.
Mustafa wants to share the details of her relationship on her “own terms”
Jocelyn Prescod/PEACOCK
Huda Mustafa at the ‘Love Island USA’ season 7 reunion.
Following the Love Island USA season 7 reunion, where Mustafa was questioned on her new mystery romance, the TV personality responded via a TikTok story saying it makes her “uncomfortable” to feel “pressure to open up.”
“I prefer to share details about my relationships on my own terms, not for a TV show it has nothing to do with,” she wrote on top of a video, in which an unseen man — presumably Russell — affectionately grabs her face.
Read the original article on People