Kendall Washington is on his third Love Island USA show in a little over a year. From being one of the main characters of the breakout Season 6 of the show, to the Love Island: Beyond the Villa spinoff, he just recently wrapped his stint on Love Island Games Season 2. He told Blavity’s Shadow and Act in a recent exit interview that he went into the show wanting to show America a different side of him.
He said, “It was a purposeful thing where I wanted to say, ‘Hey, it’s time to lock in.’ This is my third time around being in front of America, and I really wanted to just show that, ‘Hey guys, I could be in my own lane. I could be a fighter. I could compete. I could show this side of me, where I’m really just absolutely dialed in and taking the jokes aside. Obviously, I’m going to still be myself, and that’s why you still saw me cracking jokes and having a good time, being fun. But with this, the environment really brought this side out of me, where it made me have the laser focus…because it was all about survival and the people you get to meet. But, [at the] end of the day, I’ve always been me. I haven’t changed that up. It’s just the environment that kind of just shows this side of me where I could take things a lot seriously.”
Kendall on his relationship with Garbi
Something he didn’t see coming was how quickly he locked in with Garbi Denteh, runner-up of Love Island Netherlands & Belgium.
“I thought I was going to go in there, chat with a bunch of girls, maybe bop around a little bit. So I didn’t think I was going to find someone Day 1, because from my Season 6 experience, that wasn’t the case. But it ended up just being a great fit. Our romantic connection was, kind of right off the bat [and] started quickly. And then we found ourselves having great chemistry even in the games. So it was just kind of a win-win situation with us, and I’m so glad that she came in there. I don’t even know what I would’ve done and who I would’ve coupled up with if it wasn’t for Garbi. I wouldn’t have lasted nearly as long as I did and had the time that I did. But I see her as such a well-rounded woman, and we got to open up to each other.”
Because of the nature of Love Island Games, Kendall wishes that he could have even talked more with her about things outside of the games, and hopes they can explore their connection after the show.
He explained, “I wish we got to even open up a little bit more, because with the games aspect, there’s so many conversations that need to be centered around, ‘OK, who do we trust? Who are we going to bring in this alliance? How is your relationship with the girls?’ She’s asking me, ‘Who do I trust on the guys? Who do you think is going to stab us in the back? So that’s why I wanted to do things like with Garbi, where we just had little dates where it was just talk about us. It wasn’t talk about the games. And that’s really what got us through, where it was like the balance, because it’s easy to be overconsumed by the games aspect, because every single day there’s a challenge, there’s a duel where all the chatter around the villa is, ‘OK, if this person loses, how does the villa look like? If this person gets eliminated, who would you trust now?’ So that’s why I felt like, as the days went on, it felt more like Survivor than Love Island.”
Being targeted by Tyrique, Johnny and Toby
Kendall and Garbi were targeted day after day in the villa by a power alliance during the season which was run primarily by Tyrique Hyde, Johnny Midddlebrooks and Toby Aromolaran.
As for why they were targeted, Kendall said, “I think it was because, A, they saw the connection between Garbi and I. They were like, okay, America’s going to really vote for a couple that’s been together since day one. I heard Johnny say something along the lines of that. He’s like, ‘We don’t want them to skate through.’ B, They saw how I proved myself in challenges as we went on. They’re like, OK, Kendall’s also a competitor. He’s a big dude. He’s holding himself up. He took down Marvin in a challenge. He would really lock in, and he also saw that, Hey, I’m close with Josh. Josh is a huge threat. They see Josh and Andrea as this power couple that needs to be taken down. Garbi and I knew that we had targets on our back. Garbi proved herself time and time again that she was so good at challenges. She’s crushing duels. So it was like, ‘Hey, how do we take them out?’ And apparently, we just got to a point. We were outnumbered. I remember we had Chris and Kay Kay on our side. They left. That was a huge shift because if Johnny leaves at that time, instead of Chris, I am not having this conversation with you, probably. But it was the fact that Tyrique Toby, and Johnny, and then what really was the last, the straw that brought the camel’s back was that Zay was working with them longer than we knew. We thought Zay was on our side, but it ended up not being the case.”
One thing he wished he had handled better during the season is how he handled an argument with Garbi about accusations she targeted Lucinda during the Baby Bird challenge. He says if he went back, it would be different.
“I know it would’ve been different, because I had a lot of faith in Lucinda, because, coming into this experience, you can meet people in the villa and you’re like, OK, I only know you in this environment,” he said. “Are you putting on a front to win the games, or to establish a better connection? I know who Lucinda was as a person on the outside, and so that’s why I had a lot of, I put a lot more weight into what she would tell me. So I really made me question things when she was telling me all these different things about Garbi. And it’s putting doubt in my head. I’m like, ‘Oh shoot. I actually know Lucinda on the outside.. [I] have to put some weight into it. But then looking back at it, I should have just put all my trust in the couple I was with, because we would’ve avoided a lot of problems if I just blocked out that noise, and just fully trusted it.”
He continued, “..The reason why Garbi and I had that fight was because I brought it up again after Lucinda brought me aside. I literally had the conversation again when we won to squash it, and then we didn’t go anywhere with that. So it ended up just leading to a fight, and it caused a lot of problems. But the challenge itself really did its job, because that table’s moving a hundred miles per hour. We have legit pretty much puke in our mouth[s]. And just knowing that Garbi, it wasn’t malicious as much as like, Lucinda didn’t say we’re saying it was, and I should have just taken that word for it, instead of questioning Garbi twice. And that’s for sure a regret of mine. I don’t really have regrets, but I could have handled that better.”
Watch the full video with more of Washington’s responses above. The interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Love Island Games Season 2 is streaming on Peacock.