There’s already trouble in paradise for Love Island USA newbie Sean Reifel.
Bethlehem Mayor J. William Reynolds called out the season 8 star, 29, for quitting his city’s police force less than one year after being sworn in to go film the dating show in Fiji. Reifel is one of “12 sexy singles” set to take the villa by storm when the debut episode airs on Tuesday, June 2.
“Our police department spent a lot of time training 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,” Reynolds, 44, said on May 29, per local outlet WHTM. “I never thought I’d see the day in America where reality show participation wins out over being a police officer.”
Sean may be looking for a perfect match on the show, but it appears he’s also causing a stir back home as after the mayor spoke out, he again caught flak from Police Chief Michelle Kott over the resignation.
“I love Sean, he’s a good guy, he was a great officer, but I’m disappointed,” Kott said, as reported by The Morning Call on May 30. “We work so incredibly hard to try to recruit the best people we can to be part of the Bethlehem Police Department,” he added, noting they aim to fill the role with officers who are committed due to “manpower issues.”
Kott said it’s likely that Sean would not have been granted time off even if he hadn’t quit the gig, considering it could have been a short or longer stint. “At this time, I don’t think there’d 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’s hurting right now and overtime is being utilized to fill those gaps,” Kott added. “Officers are getting burnt out. It’s just a bad look to me.”
Sean is gearing up to make a splash on the show, teasing about his occupation in the trailer.
“I’m not a model, I’m not an actor, I’m a police officer actually,” he said. “You could be having the worst day of your life, and I’ll just help you sift through that.”
As for the qualities in a romantic partner that warm his heart, he admitted, “The more thoughtful you are, I think that s***’s so pretty. I love it.”
Love Island USA season 8 streams new episodes five nights a week at 9 p.m. ET. Episodes air on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday on Peacock.
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