With just a few episodes before the Love Island USA Season 7 finale, Taylor Williams and Clarke Carraway were dumped from the villa after America voted for their favorite couple.

Taylor and Clarke were the first couple of the season to depart at the same time, and it capped off a tumultuous yet successful post-Casa Amor experience for the duo.

After Taylor chose Clarke during the Casa phase of the competition, effectively ending his relationship with Olandria Carthen, the duo faced criticism from many fans online due to how the situation with Olandria was handled. When viewers were able to vote in polls, they ranked the duo low both separately and collectively, and this all came to a head this week when votes could be placed for America’s favorite couple, and Taylor and Clarke were in last.

Looking back on his initial decision to be with Clarke, Taylor said that he was thinking of not only what America would think of him in that moment, but his fellow Islanders.

On America voting for them last in polls and eventually dumping them

He told Blavity’s Shadow and Act in our exit interview with the couple, “Yeah, it was a little thought that I had in my head [about what viewers may think]. I was even thinking about my Islanders that was there with me, I was like, “S**t, what they finna think about the damn situation. So it was just that, and then also, I was like, ‘Well, America finna hate me for this. I’m finna shock America with this, with me choosing Clarke.’ So of course, it was in my mind, but it was like, at the end of day, I got to do what’s best for me and not what’s best for America or to make my other castmates happy.”

As for how America voted them low in several of the polls, both Taylor and Clarke say they weren’t shocked at this.

Taylor explained, “For me, at least, I wasn’t surprised. I shocked America when I chose Clarke, so I was like, ‘You know what? You finna pay for the consequences. They finna vote you last and everything.’ [I was] voted in top three before I was coupled up with Clarke, and then as soon as I couple up with Clarke, then I’m bottom three for everything, it was just like, “OK y’all, I kind of expected this to happen.’ So I wasn’t shocked. S**t, even my castmates, they wasn’t shocked that America voted me bottom three for everything. So they already understood the situation that I was in and the situation I put her in.”

Clarke added, “I wasn’t surprised after he was voted last for everything. I was like, “Yeah, I’m next. Let’s get into it. Why not?” But I also think the way we’re living it is different than how people are seeing it, and as they’re voting, everything’s kind of delayed for us. So they didn’t have as much time to see how we are in a couple, to even see me and who I am as an individual, so I wasn’t surprised.”

Taylor explains why he wouldn’t have done anything differently

A major point of contention for fans is was how everything went down between Taylor and Olandria. Some people say that he should have been more honest with Olandria about his feelings and leaning toward Clarke, especially since she didn’t puruse a relationship with bombshell Jalen Brown. However, Taylor says he doesn’t regret not telling her sooner because those were his actual feelings.

“I would say no [regrets], because I was really feeling Olandria,” he told us. “And even with the whole her and Jalen situation, I gave her her time to explore Jalen. I wasn’t trying to be around 24/7. I let them explore that. It was just nothing there, or what they had wasn’t as strong as what me and her had, which says something because we did have a strong connection. And when I met Clarke, it was just different. It was like an instant spark, and we had like an instant strong connection. So it was a feeling that I didn’t have. So it was like if I didn’t meet Clarke or met someone else…like with Coco…if it was me and Coco instead, I still would’ve chosen Olandria. But me and Clarke just had that connection.”

Clarke on her dynamic with Olandria

As for how she felt about the dynamic she shared with Olandria, Clarke said, “I feel like we weren’t dealt the best cards as far as having a super-close friendship, but I think we made the best of the situation that we were in. We had a sit-down, and I remember her saying like, ‘Damn, I wanted you to be mean so I could hate you.’ And we just came to an agreement. We both really do like each other as people, and although we are in an awkward situation, that doesn’t mean we have to hate each other. I love her, I think she’s great, and I would hope she would say the same about me [laughs]. But yeah, I think we liked each other, and we made the best of the cards that we were dealt.”

The Love Island USA Season 7 penultimate episode airs Friday night, followed by Love Island USA: Aftersun on Saturday and the season finale on Sunday.