Exclusive Interview
‘Love Island Games’: Kendall Washington Reveals How He Truly Feels About Lucinda Strafford
Kendall Washington only formed a connection with Garbi Denteh during Love Island Games Season 2, but did he ever consider coupling up with someone else before his elimination?
Some Season 2 viewers wondered if Kendall had feelings for fellow competitor, Lucinda Strafford, with whom he had a friendship before and during his time in the villa. Shortly after his exit on Day 14, Swooon asked Kendall about his history with Lucinda and if there were ever any romantic feelings between them.
“I look at Lucinda as a little sister to me,” Kendall clarified. “But we’ve gotten so close, and I told her from the start, I got your back in here… That’s why I feel like she was really emotional when I left. But, yeah, there’s been nothing romantic between Lucinda and me in the past, and especially not in the villa.”
The Love Island USA Season 6 alum met Lucinda at Coachella, and afterward, they went on brand-sponsored trips to St. Tropez and Miami together. “Lucinda, she’s an amazing girl, like, one of my good friends, 100 percent,” he explained. “So I knew Lucinda going into this, and the fact that I knew she had my back and I had her back, and that’s why I really trusted her.”
Kim Nunneley / Peacock
He continued, “Everyone else in the villa, the majority of them, I don’t know how they act on the outside. I don’t know if it’s just an act, so that’s why I put a lot more weight into what Lucinda would tell me compared to the others.”
That came into play especially after Episode 9’s Baby Bird challenge, which involved contestants spitting a mashed-up concoction into glass bowls as quickly as possible. Afterward, Lucinda said that she noticed Garbi repeatedly targeting her bowl, though the latter claimed it wasn’t intentional.
When Lucinda brought up her concerns to Kendall, it resulted in Kendall and Garbi’s first argument, interrupting what was pretty much a drama-free relationship thus far. “That was a tough conversation,” Kendall began, adding that in hindsight he should have let it go. “Honestly, I take most of the blunt from that because Lucinda was telling me these things about Garbi and that’s why I was like, ‘OK, I know Lucinda outside of this, I should probably trust her and ask about it again with this new information.'”
Kendall explained that the argument made Garbi question his loyalty, and he should have trusted the girl he was coupled up with no matter what, regardless of how long he’s known Lucinda. Regardless, as viewers saw in the show, the couple wound up moving on from it.
“I admitted, ‘Hey, I could have handled that completely differently.’ She admitted she had things so she could have handled differently, too,” he said. “It was a blessing that we got to have kind of like our first ‘fight’ in quotes because it kind of taught us, ‘How do we handle conflict?’ And we learned a lot more about each other, but at end of the day, it did bring us closer.”
Kendall already has plans to have a conversation with Garbi, who’s still in the running for the $250,000 prize, about their future.
Love Island Games, Season 2 Finale, October 5, 9/8c, Peacock
