The villa just got a brand new “bombshell” as Ariana Madix makes her Love Island USA debut.
The Vanderpump Rules star, 38, heads to the villa to quiz this season’s couples in a game of “Mr. and Mrs.” in a sneak peek clip of the show’s Tuesday, July 25, episode. Sporting a teal halter mini dress and gold heels, Ariana’s arrival prompts an excited reaction from the islanders.
“She’s just an icon,” contestant Hannah Wright gushes in a confessional. “You look up ‘bad bitch’ in the dictionary, you’re gonna see a picture of Ariana.”
Before the game begins, Ariana teases that the winning couple will “win a prize that’s never, ever been given out [in] Love Island history.” The pairs are then grilled with tough relationship questions, such as “What is your boy’s body count?”
Fans will have to tune to see what prize lies in store for the lucky winners.
Ariana previously teased her Love Island appearance via Instagram. “I can’t believe i’m popping in the @loveislandUSA villa this week! like … i am GATHERED around the fire pit! 🥹,” she wrote alongside a snap of herself posing by the series’ iconic fire pit on Monday, July 24. “You can watch the fun on @peacock 🦚.”
In the pic, Ariana is glowing in a white cutout dress with bejeweled accents. Much like the islanders, the Bravo star opted for natural glam and beachy waves, completing her look with a pair of metallic strappy heels.
She wore the same look in a promo for the episode shared via the show’s official Instagram. “I got a text! You could say there’s a hot new bombshell entering the villa, me,” Ariana quips in the clip. “Don’t miss me drop into the villa on an all-new episode of Love Island USA tomorrow only on Peacock.”
Ariana was also seen rocking her teal dress on the show’s Tuesday Instagram Story. “I’m so excited. I’m nervous, too,” she tells the show’s social ambassador, Maura Higgins, noting that Love Island is her “favorite show.”
Earlier this month, Ariana announced she would appear in the reality series’ new season via TikTok. One day prior, it was revealed the Bravo star would be joining the cast of Dancing With the Stars season 32.
“This season on Dancing With the Stars, we are going absolutely mad — mad for Madix,” judge Derek Hough shared on the July 7 episode of Good Morning America, during which he joined Ariana in her and Pump Rules costar Katie Maloney’s Something About Her sandwich shop to announce the news.
Ariana’s slew of reality TV appearances come after major drama between her and ex-boyfriend Tom Sandoval on Pump Rules season 10. The end of the milestone season centered around the fallout of the former couple’s breakup — a.k.a. “Scandoval” — as news broke in March that Tom, 40, cheated on Ariana with their costar Raquel Leviss.
With filming for season 11 officially underway, producer Alex Baskin questioned whether the unfriendly exes will be able to avoid each other during production. “We always deal with pushback if different parties don’t want to shoot with each other because of strained relations,” Baskin said in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “Obviously, this is more extreme. But Ariana and Tom Sandoval, I would hasten to point out, they still live together.”
He continued: “The idea that they wouldn’t shoot together is a little bit hard to digest. They’re in the same home.”
Fans believed Ariana — who has since moved on with boyfriend Daniel Wai — moved out of her and Tom’s home in May following a social media partnership with the finance company SoFi. According to Baskin, however, she has yet to officially leave their shared residence.
Baskin went on to state it’s time to “move on” from Scandoval. “This show’s never been static, and we’d disappoint the audience if we started just sleuthing,” he explained. “Everyone is trying to move on with their lives. If that creeps back in, then it creeps back in.”
