NEED TO KNOW
- Iris Kendall and Pepe Garcia-Gonzalez open up to PEOPLE about their plans for the future
- After fans saw Iris and her ex TJ Palma meet up when she returned home from the show, she shuts down speculation that they are getting back together
- She and Pepe also share that they are not dating other people so they can focus on their relationship outside of the villa
Iris Kendall is clearing the air about her current — and past — relationships.
Still a new couple, Iris, 25, and Pepe Garcia-Gonzalez came in fourth in the Love Island USA season 7 finale. Now, they tell PEOPLE that they are “excited” for the future as they learn to navigate their relationship in the real world.
“Obviously, with how everything blew up, we’re just trying to make it as normal as possible and take things like we normally would have two months ago,” Pepe, 27, explains.
Their pairing came as a surprise to some viewers, who previously saw Pepe coupled up with Hannah Fields and Iris with TJ Palma.
While Hannah’s exit occurred mid-season, it wasn’t until TJ was voted off by his fellow islanders just 10 days before the final episode that Iris was left single and decided to explore a connection with Pepe.
“TJ and I had an amazing connection in the villa, and it was real, and it was very heartbreaking for me,” Iris recalls. “I was definitely sad about it, and I cried for days, and I felt very heartbroken and upset with my friends for not standing behind me. And it felt like my only experience that I had in here so far that it was ripped away from me.”
Hours after returning home from Fiji, TMZ captured a video of an emotional reunion between Iris and TJ.
While fans speculated that the former couple were rekindling their romance, Iris reveals what actually went down.
“I wanted him to know that, mics off, no cameras around, this was real, but also what I have with Pepe is real as well,” she shares of the meet-up. “I just needed to get that closure with him and have that conversation, because I do care about him, and I think that he was definitely owed a conversation. And I haven’t watched any of the episodes, so I don’t know what he has seen, but I just needed to say — I’m all about honesty, and I think being upfront with people is the best way to go.”
“I think it’s good to get things off your chest, and that’s something I always live by, and I wanted to do that with him,” she adds.
Iris admits “it didn’t seem like time went by” between TJ’s exit and moving on with Pepe, but she says that was not the case.
Still, she understands why fans continue to root for her and Pepe to get back together with their previous partners on the show.
“I think it was expected,” she notes. “We knew that it was going to happen, and I knew what to expect, and it’s not awkward at all. We all love each other.”
“Yeah, everything’s cordial,” Pepe says of their relationships with their costars. “Everything we did in the villa was out of as much respect as we could have in those moments of high emotion. And even moving outside the villa, it’s the same thing. It’s just respect and love.”
Looking forward, Pepe and Iris say they aren’t dating other people, although they don’t feel the need to put a label on their status.
“We both date in very similar ways,” Pepe explains. “We just want to focus on one person right out the wave, or if the wave just continues to go, then just be together, but just be happy. That’s all we care about for each other. And like she just said, we’re both very honest with everything. So just enjoy time together. It’s hard to enjoy time with one person and give that one person your all when you’re talking to somebody else.”
“We just want to be together and hang out together and just see what happens,” he continues. “Try to take it as normal as possible.”
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Love Island USA season 7 can be streamed in full on Peacock.
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