USA fans couldn’t help but cheer as female Islanders Kassy Castillo and Johnnie Garcia shared a kiss on the most recent episode, after voicing their attraction to each other.
The pair have , with Kassy previously in a relationship with Leonardo Dionicio – before he grew close to Johnnie in .
Avoiding a love triangle, the pair both dumped Leo when the cast was reunited and forged their own friendship, which led to something more on Sunday night’s instalment.
After some heavy flirting, Kassy pulled her co-star to one side, telling her: ‘I obviously find you attractive, I just didn’t know if you felt the attraction too. So I just wanted to see if you’re seeing that…’
To which Johnnie, who is openly bisexual, laughed: ‘B***h, I’ve been seeing it!’
‘I just wanted to know, we joke around and stuff, but I didn’t know it’s really joking or not,’ Kassy replied.
When the Casa bombshell clarified that she wasn’t joking, her castmate continued: ‘I kept looking at you, I kept wanting to talk to you, and so I was like, “I’m low-key down”. Not low-key, I am down.’
Johnnie explained: ‘I like people that bring out a fun side in me and I feel fun when I’m with you, I feel comfortable when I’m with you.
‘Those aren’t things that you find in people very often where you get to be somebody else when you’re with them.’
It was down to Kassy to add that she ‘wouldn’t mind exploring more’ at some point, before they shared their first kiss.
Speaking in a confessional, she added to the camera: ‘I really liked kissing her, it just felt right.
‘Right now I’m choosing myself, I’m figuring out what I want and it’s confusing as it is, but that’s love. Love is confusing, love is a rollercoaster, love is love.’
It’s fair to say that fans were living for the smitten duo – who would make Love Island USA history as the first same sex pairing if they were to officially couple up.
Flocking to Twitter, one penned: ‘The giggles after the kiss. This is my ship now! #loveislandusa.’
‘IM SCREAMING. LOVE ISLAND USA WON THIS SEASON ITS SO UNREAL,’ another yelled.
A viewer penned: ‘I actually love this for them, please let them couple up if they want and send the loser boys home! Aka Kyle, matias and zay #loveisland #loveislandUSA.’
‘Kassy and Johnnie are my winners, they need to couple up #LoveIslandUSA,’ a Twitter user agreed.
While many, many more called for an LGBTQ+ series of Love Island to finally hit our screens – something ITV bosses in the UK previously described as a ‘logistical difficulty’.
There have been LGBTQ+ contestants on the UK version in the past, with Katie Salmon and Sophie Graydon forming a same-sex couple in 2016.
However, ITV commissioner Amada Stavri told RadioTimes.com in 2021: ‘In terms of gay Islanders, I think the main challenge is regarding the format of Love Island.
‘There’s a sort of logistical difficulty, because although Islanders don’t have to be 100% straight, the format must sort of give [the] Islanders an equal choice when coupling up.
‘With our dating shows, such as The Cabins, there is much more sexual diversity. The formats don’t have as much restrictions as Love Island. So we’re very sort of mindful of that across our programming on ITV and dating series. But that’s the difficulty with Love Island.’
Love Island continues tonight at 9pm ET on Peacock.
