{"id":209821,"date":"2026-06-03T19:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T19:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/209821\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T19:58:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T19:58:09","slug":"pennsylvania-mayor-calls-out-love-island-contestant-for-quitting-his-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/209821\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania mayor calls out \u2018Love Island\u2019 contestant for quitting his job"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most Love Island contestants leave their jobs for a shot at love, but not all of their former employers are rooting for them.<\/p>\n

Shortly after Sean Reifel was announced as part of the Season 8 cast, the mayor of Bethlehem, Pa., spoke out about the 29-year-old\u2019s decision to ditch his job for the show.<\/p>\n

Before joining the cast, Reifel worked as a police officer with the Bethlehem Police Department.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not a model, not an actor. I\u2019m a police officer, actually,\u201d Reifel said on Peacock\u2019s \u201cMeet the Islanders<\/a>\u201d preview. \u201cYou could be having the worst day of your life, and I\u2019ll just help you sift through that.\u201d<\/p>\n

What he did not mention is that he already handed in his badge.<\/p>\n

Mayor speaks out\"Mayor<\/p>\n

Mayor William Reynolds confirmed that Sean Reifel resigned from the department before joining the show. By: fred moon\/unsplash<\/p>\n

Mayor William Reynolds confirmed that Reifel resigned from the department before joining the show. The department\u2019s police captain also verified he is no longer employed there.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur police department spent a lot of time training [him], and we paid thousands of taxpayer dollars to send him to the police academy. We are disappointed he left as we now have another vacancy in our department that is impossible to fill until next year,\u201d Reynolds said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never thought I\u2019d see the day in America where reality show participation wins out over being a police officer,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Time on the force\"Sean<\/p>\n

Sean Reifel was on the job for about a year before he decided to prioritize his love life. By: Peacock\/YouTube<\/p>\n

Reifel was on the job for about a year before he decided to prioritize his love life.<\/p>\n

According to a post on the Bethlehem Police Department\u2019s Facebook page, he was sworn in as an officer in August 2025, with the department wishing him \u201csuccess as he embarks on this journey of service to our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police Chief Michelle Kott, Reifel\u2019s former boss, also shared her disappointment about his decision. \u201cI love Sean. He\u2019s a good guy. He was a great officer. But I\u2019m disappointed,\u201d Kott told The Morning Call. \u201cWe work so incredibly hard to try to recruit the best people we can to be part of the Bethlehem Police Department.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kott went on to explain why taking a leave of absence and coming back after the show is not a realistic option.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this time, I don\u2019t think there\u2019d be a department that would be willing to allow someone to leave for X amount of weeks to go on a television show when everyone\u2019s hurting right now and overtime is being utilized to fill those gaps,\u201d she said. \u201cOfficers are getting burnt out. It\u2019s just a bad look to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sean Reifel\u2019s custody battle\"Sean<\/p>\n

Sean Reifel was involved in a custody dispute over his 2-year-old son. By: tingey injury law firm\/unsplash<\/p>\n

The job controversy is not the only baggage Reifel is bringing with him into the villa. He was also involved in a custody dispute over his 2-year-old son, Ravello.<\/p>\n

In January 2025, Reifel filed a custody complaint in Pennsylvania against his former partner, Nicole Santiago, according to court records obtained by the New York Post.<\/p>\n

Although many of the filings are sealed, a judge ordered a temporary co-parenting arrangement granting both parents shared custody. Court records also show that Reifel was living out of state when the order was put in place.<\/p>\n

The terms of Sean Reifel\u2019s custody agreement\"Under<\/p>\n

Under the arrangement, Sean Reifel is able to see his son on a rotating schedule. By: Peacock\/YouTube<\/p>\n

Under the arrangement, Reifel is able to see his son on a rotating schedule. Both parents now make joint decisions about their son\u2019s medical care, education, religion and activities.<\/p>\n

The order requires both parties to refrain from making negative comments about each other in any context that could reach the child, including social media posts.<\/p>\n

Court filings cited by The Post also noted that Reifel was expected to relocate back to Pennsylvania in mid-2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Most Love Island contestants leave their jobs for a shot at love, but not all of their former…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209822,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[153,1256,28,30,29,10846,2296,90371,72339],"class_list":["post-209821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-police-department","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-police-department","tag-police-officer","tag-sean-reifel","tag-william-reynolds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}