Trinity Tatum left the villa with love—and friendships. And in a true act of loyalty, the Love Island USA winner—who took the top spot with her now-boyfriend Bryce Dettloff—has stepped up in defense of her friend and fellow contestant Zach Georgiou.
Throughout season eight, Zach—who was besties with Bryce and came in fourth place with partner Kayda Bosse—has been subjected to much criticism from fans. Now, Trinity is shutting down the hate.
“Coming out the villa one I want to say I’m very blessed and appreciative of the love & support everyone has given me,” she posted on her Instagram Story on July 14. “With that being said I wanna say the hate & ignorant comments some of you guys are doing regarding zach is absolutely not okay and needs to stop.”
She continued, “It’s very disheartening and we are people just like everyone else. We genuinely have love for each other inside and out of the villa and he’s one of the most amazing people I’ve met so please have some empathy.”
And the other finalists echoed Trinity’s message, with Bosse, Melanie Moreno and Aniya Harvey reposting her Story to their accounts.
Indeed, the heat has gotten so intense that his brother and Love Island USA season seven alum Charlie Georgiou said that Zach’s TikTok account was briefly banned. “TikTok has banned Zach’s account because everyone is reporting it, wtf is wrong with people?” July 14 Threads post. “The truth about the false narratives portrayed about his time there will be spoken on soon.”
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time that Charlie has had to defend his younger brother, as he previously clapped back at fans who criticized Zach for deciding not to make Kayda his girlfriend. After Zach opted to make their relationship “exclusive” rather than put a label on it, Charlie said it was the right move for the couple.
“It’s a mature decision to be exclusively dating rather than label yourself boyfriend and girlfriend before you leave into the outside world,” Charlie posted on Threads on July 7. “Being in the villa is a manufactured and completely surreal [environment] to the outside world.”
Meanwhile, Kayda Bosse’s Instagram account has mysteriously disappeared after she reposted a photo from Zach, prompting speculation that she deactivated it amid negativity. Kayda’s account is still gone as of July 15, with no confirmation as to why. Fans speculate she was banned due to reporting—similar to what happened to Zach’s TikTok.
Trinity’s statement made it clear that both Zach and Kayda are aware of the negativity. “We genuinely have love for each other inside and out of the villa and he’s one of the most amazing people I’ve met,” she said, urging empathy.
