Inside 'Love Island USA's Very Long Audition Process

Season 6 of Love Island USA recently saved the entire franchise by exceeding the ratings of two Emmy-winning series. Now, they’ve started casting for season 7. Aside from potential brand deals like Kordell Beckham’s Cheez-It collaboration, chosen contestants get a chance to win the show’s $100,000 cash prize like Kordell did with his girlfriend, Serena Page.

While other LIUSA stars like Leah Kateb found the series draining due to its crazy drama and couplings, plenty of people are still dying to get on it. But in case you’re interested, be warned that auditioning could be intense, like the scrutiny that comes with starring in the show. Here are some odd steps in the casting process.

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Other Applicants In Line Can Watch You As You Audition For Love Island USA

Some Get Recruited Online, Others Line Up To Audition For Love Island USA

Auditioning for Love Island USA is “an odd experience” according to Elite Daily’s Kaitlyn Conroy, who applied at the show’s Pop-Up Villa in Jersey Shore. After going through her “entire closet trying to find the perfect dress to wear”, she had to wait in a long line to do an interview. “The line to get into the event was incredibly long,” she shared. “We met up with another friend of mine and began a two-hour wait.”

She continued: “As we got closer to the entrance, the event workers walked around and handed us cards with five questions written on them. They told us to look through them and choose one to answer for the audition.”

Here are the five interview questions written on the card:

1. How would your friends describe you, good and bad qualities?
2. What is the most outrageous thing you have ever done in the name of love?
3. What is one thing your ex wouldn’t miss about you?
4. Do you have a pick-up game, if so, what is it?
5. Tell us about a time you flirted to get what you want.

Once inside the villa pop-up, auditionees get to choose other lines to wait in:

• Photobooth
• Makeup and hair
• The final line: the auditions where you answer one prompt from the questionnaire for just about “30 seconds”

After another hour of waiting, Kaitlyn did her interview while other applicants in line watched. It was done in “a small booth that was closed off on three sides” where the Lifestyle Editorial Intern “sat on a stool.” Reflecting on that time after not making it to the show, she said: “Everyone in the line could see you, which was a little nerve-racking at first. I then remembered that I was doing this for fun, and there was nothing to be nervous about.”

But according to season 4 star, Phoebe Siegel, the “majority of the cast from [her] season was actually recruited through Instagram.” While Phoebe still applied via LIUSA‘s website, she later found out that none of them really did the same. Still, she had to go through a series of tasks that Kaitlyn also performed after her quick interview.

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Love Island USA Applicants Need To Pitch Themselves And Answer 89 Questions

Auditioning For Love Island USA Is Like Any Tedious Job Application

In the TikTok video above, Phoebe revealed that she filled out an application form with “89 questions,” which she “put my heart and soul into answering.” After her interview, Kaitlyn also had to answer a form with “80 questions about everything from my dating life and family life, to what I would expect to gain from the Love Island experience” and then “record two more videos, one explaining my most embarrassing date story and another just being an elevator pitch about myself.”

Since Phoebe didn’t do a physical interview, she waited to get a call that she passed the initial stage before doing the “first interviews, like kind of a casting video where they take the best parts of your interview and then show it to the producers.” In these clips, she had to “wear, like, a bikini, and you’re like, hi. Like, ‘I’m Phoebe.’ Like, really energetic, like, Love Island energy.”

Looking back at that process, the reality star confessed: “I was quite literally shi**ing my pants for that interview ’cause I’ve never done something like that ever and I ended up passing that interview.”

Unfortunately, Phoebe didn’t win that season. Here are the winners of Love Island USA from seasons 1 to 6:

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‘Love Island USA’ Hopefuls Have To Go Through Six Different Interviews

Love Island USA Applicants Meet With Different Production Teams

After Phoebe passed her casting interviews, she said she did six more interviews with different people from production. “You go through like maybe 6 interviews with so many different people who are involved in the whole production team, and the casting side, and the talent side,” she recounted. She had interviews for about “3 times before going on camera with them.”

In
part 2 of her TikTok
, the
LIUSA
alum explained that “the other interviews are with NBC network executives, and you meet with Andy [Cadman] and Ben [Thursby-Palmer], the producers of UK and USA Love Island, you’re meeting everyone” while you’re “dressed up in cute little outfits that you would actually wear on the show.”

After her last interview, two months before season 4 premiered on July 19, 2022, Phoebe “didn’t hear anything. It was radio silence from everyone.” She got the call, on the day the first episode aired. “I got a call. This is moments before the first episode is airing, and they go, ‘Hey, Phoebe, just want to let you know we’re flying you out. July 22nd to come to Santa Barbara for Love Island.'”

After “[shipping] so many clothes to Pacifica suites, where they kept all the casting members,” Phoebe arrived at Santa Barbara where she met with Andy and Ben, again, for “kind of like the last interview.” While her dream had just come true, she had to make sacrifices like giving up her phone and being “in isolation, doing absolutely nothing” before entering the villa.

Love Island USA

Release Date

July 9, 2019

Cast

Arielle Vandenberg , Sarah Hyland , Matthew Hoffman , Iain Stirling

Seasons

4

Network

CBS

Streaming Service(s)

Peacock

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