Exclusive Interview
‘Love Island Games’: Kendall Washington Reacts to His Shocking Elimination & Villa Drama
If you’re surprised by the intensity of Love Island Games Season 2, Kendall Washington is right there with you. He checked out Season 1 beforehand to get a sense of the challenges he’d face in the villa, but once he was in the thick of it, he realized it’s “a whole new beast” this time around.
In the past week, the Love Island USA Season 6 alum was put in back-to-back duels. (“Two duels in three days is crazy when some people haven’t even dueled once,” he told Swooon via Zoom call. “I said, ‘This should be forbidden.'”) Kendall won the first battle, but he wasn’t so lucky the next time around. Afterward, we caught up with Kendall to break down what exactly led to his elimination.
Kendall became vulnerable after the “Sweet Spot” challenge (which you can get a sense of here), alongside the rest of his losing teammates. Naturally, we had to ask Kendall if he thinks there’s any stock in what fans have started calling Balloongate. Some suspect that his team’s yellow balloon was harder to pop than the pink one, since Kendall and Garbi Denteh had a clear lead during their round.
“My job was to pump the balloon as fast as I could,” Kendall said. “That’s all I could say. I mean, it’s tough. I wish I knew more about balloon science going into it. I just wish I had a quicker foot.” (He’ll have “nightmares” about yellow balloons from now on, he joked.)
Balloon drama aside, it was the winning team that ultimately put Kendall on the chopping block. They had to select two boys and two girls from the losing group to face off against each other. Kendall wasn’t shocked when they picked him.
“I saw that coming a thousand miles away,” he said. “I said, ‘They see Josh [Goldstein] and I as the biggest threats.’ I would have been really surprised if it was like me and Casey [O’Gorman] in there… I know they see Josh as the biggest threat because of how he’s proved himself in duels and how bad he wants it.”
In the end, Kendall and Josh were thrown into the ring, which had weighted balls placed along the midway line. Whoever had the most balls in their half of the ring lost the round. Josh won the first, and the second came down to the final second, with the two pushing a single ball back and forth.
Ben Symons / Peacock
“I was like, how is this buzzer not ringing?” Kendall recalled. “I’ve kept it on Josh’s side for so long, and then the second it got over, ‘buzz.’ But again, I’m losing to anybody, it’s gonna be to the best competitor in there, which is Josh hands down.”
Kendall said that. in the end, Josh wanted the win more. “Josh is doing this for deeper reasons than me,” he explained. “He’s doing it for his sister [who died when Josh filmed Love Island USA Season 3]. So that’s why, if I’m losing to anyone, like, I could actually take solace in that it’s Josh, out of everyone. If I’m losing to Tyrique [Hyde], different story.”
He thinks his connection with Garbi, who he coupled up with on Day 1, also put a target on their backs when the winning team had to choose contestants for the duel. “Johnny was like, ‘Yeah, they’re going to skate their way through here just because America probably likes him as a couple,” he said. “Garbi was doing extremely well in challenges that early on. Then I was proving myself in challenges and duels. People saw us as a threat.”
At that point, alliances were also being made, which is partially what put Kendall in his position. Johnny, Tyrique, and Toby Aromolaran we’re in one corner, while Josh and Kendall were in another. “One hundred percent there was a divide, and the only one that was in the middle was Zay,” Kendall explained, referring to Isaiah Campbell. “I didn’t know he was playing both sides.”
Isaiah was part of the winning team with Johnny, Tyrique, and Toby, who decided to pair up Josh and Kendall for the duel. Kendall had a feeling Isaiah might’ve been a “double agent,” which he brought up to Josh. Kendall said that Josh and Isaiah knew each other years before Games, so he trusted Josh’s judgment that Isaiah was on their side. “[Isaiah] shook our hands after the Baby Bird challenge, and he said, we’re gonna have each other’s backs in here.'”
Kendall’s suspicions were confirmed during his and Josh’s conversation with Isaiah before the duel. “He said, ‘Yeah, I choose Tyrique and Toby’s side and Johnny’s,” Kendall said. “I know Zay’s a good guy, and he got caught up in the middle and then he got caught up in not being able to choose sides. And when he did choose sides, he didn’t tell Josh or I that he was on that fully on Tyrique’s side. But that’s the only one where I was like, ‘Damn.'”
Still, Kendall recognized that external factors aren’t the only thing that put him where he is now. When the cash prize was raised from $100,000 to $250,000, he said that a lot of contestants thought, “No matter what, I’m winning this.”
Kendall, on the other hand, said he was always there to find a connection over money, so he didn’t have that mindset, even though he tried his best to spend more time with Garbi in the villa. “I will say, there’s people in there right now that want it more than me, 100%, and to have it in Love Island Games, you got to want it, and you’ve got to be able to do anything to get there,” he said.
Love Island Games, Season 2, Every Night Except Wednesdays, 9/8c, Peacock
