Exclusive Interview
‘Love Island Games’: Lucinda & Isaiah Dish on Their Future Together After Season 2 Win
Love Island Games has crowned its latest victors: Lucinda Strafford and Isaiah “Zay” Campbell. The two flew under the radar for the most part in Season 2, but they made their way into the Mega Duel with former champ Justine Ndiba and Tyrique Hyde. In the end, Lucinda and Zay walked away not only with a budding romantic connection, but also $125,000 a piece.
Swooon caught up with the winning couple three days after the finale aired. Have they made any plans for the future since winning big? Where do they stand with their fellow Season 2 Islanders — including Garbi Denteh and Isaiah’s ex, Sydney Paight?
Are Isaiah and Lucinda still together?
Lucinda and Isaiah were enjoying their time in Los Angeles when we spoke via Zoom on Wednesday, October 8. In fact, having just flown there from Fiji and visited Disneyland with some of their castmates, they hadn’t yet discussed what’s next for their romance at length. Eventually, Lucinda will head back to her home base in the U.K., while Zay returns to Miami.
“I think the best way to go about things is to not really super stress about stuff,” Zay explained, with Lucinda at his side. “So, obviously, we’ve known each other for two and a half weeks. So it’s obviously baby steps, and I’m obviously trying to explore a connection with her more, for sure. So she’s busy, I’m busy, but I do like her, and I enjoy her time a lot. And I think she’s beautiful, so, yeah, we’ll see where things go.”
Ben Symons / Peacock
Though they had a bit of a late start in coupling up — they entered on Day 1 and got together on Day 8 — the couple bonded quickly over the fact that they found calm with each other amidst the chaos. “It just wasn’t drama. It wasn’t always questioning, it was just kind of just go with the flow conversations,” Zay said. “So, I’m a person that likes simplicity, and if I can talk to you in silence, that’s the biggest word to me.”
Lucinda added, “It’s difficult in there to get to know multiple people and, obviously, at the beginning, [Zay] had that whole thing with Nicola [Gauci Borda-Warr], like with a friendship couple, and I was obviously getting to know Mert [Okatan], so it was like a little bit more delayed, but yeah, it all worked out in the end.” (Lucinda later explained that there are no lingering feelings when it comes to Mert, though she thinks he’s a great guy and “wish[es] him all the best.”)
How did Lucinda feel about Isaiah’s ex joining Love Island Games?
Straightforward as their connection was, Lucinda and Zay’s villa journeys weren’t entirely a drama-free. For one, Sydney arrived as a bombshell one week in, just one day before Lucinda and Zay coupled up. The latter had a feeling his ex, who he had a year-long relationship with after Love Island USA Season 4, would arrive eventually.
“It was surprising because we didn’t chat for like two years,” he said. “But overall, that one conversation that we had when she first got there was just like, ‘Clear the air. How are you doing? How’s the fam?’ And very mutual, as we’ve grown up. I was 21 years old, she was 22 at that time when we first got together. So, yeah, honestly, just like a catch up and a very mutual agreement on things.”
Lucinda, on her part, said that there wasn’t tension between herself and Sydney in the villa. They were friends, but not best friends, she noted. “Obviously, with Zay and everything, I like totally got it and also at the same time, like if my ex was in there and he was with a girl, I would actually be the same, if not actually worse,” she said.
Ben Symons / Peacock
She thought the way Sydney handled the situation was “amazing.” When we brought “World’s Best Ex-Girlfriend” shirt Sydney wore in the villa, Lucinda said she was obsessed with it. “I was actually like telling her that’s so iconic, wear it, I’m obsessed with it. And I think I said one thing to… who was it, Garbi or something? And it was just annoying that was the only thing that got clipped, but it is what it is.”
Speaking of Garbi, Lucinda posted a TikTok video with her fellow contestant — who was “one of [her] best friends in there” — in which they refuted the “rival edit” they got on the show. After Episode 9’s Baby Bird challenge (more on that here), Lucinda claimed that Garbi targeted her and Zay, though Garbi claimed it wasn’t intentional.
“I think that night I was just extremely tired and exhausted, and we literally had hardly any sleep, so I feel like I was maybe going a bit delirious as well because that’s not like me to care that much about spitting in cups,” she said. “That place does stuff to you, honestly, but you know what, the next day, or maybe even that night, we were literally like holding hands… saying to each other it’s crazy how this has brought us closer together.”
Isaiah and Lucinda break down their win
Regardless, Lucinda and Zay had the best possible outcome in the villa, winning in the final episode’s Mega Duel. (Click here for a full breakdown.) Lucinda, who plans on telling her grandkids about it one day, said that she’s never been put through so much physical strain in her life, and Zay expressed a similar sentiment.
“I felt like I was back in Brandon Valley in my high school playing football again, doing suicides. That was the last time I ever felt like my body was that exhausted,” he said, adding that he couldn’t really feel his legs by the time Tyrique wrestled with him in the ring. “So it was about just who wanted it more, I guess, in that situation. I threw up after the challenge, so the whole dry heaving thing was not for show.”
Afterward, when it came down for the eliminated Islanders to decide who they thought deserved the money out of the two winners, Zay got the overwhelming majority of votes. Kendall Washington, who Lucinda had a close friendship with in the villa, and Garbi were among them. Were Lucinda and Zay surprised about who stood behind who?
Lucinda said that she would have chosen Zay, too, simply based on how much work he put in in the duel. “He was amazing in that challenge,” she explained. “People are thinking it’s like some kind of like, personal stab at me, which I don’t think it is. I think if I watched it and I was really close with me, I’d also stand behind Zay because he was insane.”
As for Zay, he was more surprised by the results. “I was honestly kind of caught off guard that people stood behind me that much, just because I’ve always been that one guy to be the outsider, so it definitely felt good,” he said. “Obviously, I felt for Lu, too, but I don’t know. Who knows why people did that? I don’t think it’s anything based off a better friendship or connection, to be honest.”
In the end, Zay and Lucinda both walked away happy. Not only did they find a new connection, but Zay also decided to split the money. The latter, however, wasn’t that much of a concern for Lucinda. “I was there for love anyways, so once I had Zay and I was happy with him and stuff, I was pretty happy and content with the whole journey anyway, and everything else was kind of a bonus,” she said.
She doesn’t have many regrets, aside from being “dragged” into the alliance drama, which wasn’t her main focus during the show. “I probably should have stood up for myself a little bit more with this whole alliance thing,” she said, explaining that “certain people” went against girls that she got along with. “But at the end of the day, I’m happy that I actually never did that through the whole thing. I never went for any girl when I was in there, so yeah, I’m happy how it turned out.”
Love Island Games, Season 2, Streaming Now, Peacock
