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‘Temptation Island’ Premiere Recap: Can These 4 Couples Make It Last?

Temptation Island Premiere Recap
Kayla Essex, Rachael Boerner, Tara Oslick, Erica Steinhauer, Katheryn Golden, Sheldyn Stack, Hannah Rightmire and Morgan Lolar on ‘Temptation Island.’ Mario Perez/USA Network

Will they stay faithful? On the Tuesday, January 15, Temptation Island series premiere, four couples looking for answers in their relationships were split up on a beach, surrounded by 24 singles whose goal was to find love — and, consequently, end the couples’ relationships by the time their visit to Maui ends.

The Couples

Here’s a quick rundown on the couples: Javen and Shari, who have been dating since they were 16, live together and seemed totally solid, but at 25, they didn’t know if they were ready to tie the knot — especially since Shari caught him cheating years ago.

John and Kady have been together for three years after meeting on Bumble, but they’ve had their problems. Kady thought John should be more alpha male, so he was hoping the experience of the show would help her realize that he is the man she wants.

Related: Get to Know the 'Temptation Island' Couples

Meanwhile, Karl and Nicole met at the gym and have been dating for almost three years — and they admitted that there are trust issues there, especially since Nicole was seeing someone else when she and Karl started dating.

Lastly, Kaci and Evan have been dating on and off for ten years (since they were 19) but still haven’t committed, and the pressure is on because Kaci’s parents think they’re “living in sin.” Kaci wants a proposal, but Evan doesn’t see what the point of getting married.

Temptation Island Premiere Recap
Evan Smith, Nicole Tutewohl, Kaci Campbell, Karl Collins, Shari Ligons, John Thurmond, Javen Butler and Kady Krambeer on ‘Temptation Island.’ Mario Perez/USA Network

All of these couples are struggling with their own problems, but will Temptation Island solve these issues or make them worse? By the time they made it to the house, they were all feeling a mix of nervous and excited, and they kicked off their experience with a toast.

“You’ve made the choice to come here to the island because you’ve all admitted that you’re at a crossroads, right?” host Mark J. Wahlberg said. “Each of you have said that you have questions about your relationships. And you’re hoping that you’ll find the answers to those questions here.”

Related: Meet the 'Temptation Island' Singles

Then, the women and men were split up into separate houses and introduced to the singles they’d be living with and dating while on the island. This meant that everyone got to see their competition out in the open, which led to a lot of jealousy brewing right off the bat. According to Mark, the 12 men and 12 women were chosen specifically for the couples, which means this temptation is going to be really hard to overcome.

The First Day

After spending the night apart, the next morning, the couples were briefly reunited before being whisked away by the singles for some afternoon cocktails. When they were brought back together for their first challenge later, everyone was given a matching necklace with their partner to help remind them of each other — as well as an extra necklace that they could use to block one of the singles from dating their partner.

Kady was the first to use her block; she chose Kathryn, who John thought was the hottest single there. In return, John blocked Roman, a country boy he swore Kady would be into.

“She’s got the fangs out and she’s here to play dirty,” Kady said. “I definitely made the right decision.”

Goodbye For Now

That night, the couples had dinner with Mark, and everyone had the chance to share their feelings on the experience so far.

Related: Couples Who Survived the Reality TV Curse

“It’s wild to put myself in this situation,” Evan said. “I’ve purposefully kept myself out of situations like this. I’ve grown. I’m not gonna say it’s not a test, but I have all the confidence in the world that I’m gonna pass it.”

At the end of dinner, Mark made one more announcement: This would be the last time the couples would see each other until they were leaving the island, which was hard for everyone to cope with. He gave them ten minutes to say their final goodbyes like this was the last chance they’d ever have to talk to each other, and it got emotional fast.

More than 20 days stand in the way of these couples reuniting, but it seems like there’s a chance some of them could be leaving alone.

Temptation Island airs on USA Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET.

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