We All Have a Pretty Good Idea Why Cierra Left 'Love Island,' but Do the Islanders Know?

Just days before the Love Island USA Season 7 finale was set to air, narrator Iain Stirling dropped a surprise announcement in Episode 30 — Cierra Ortega had left the villa due to a “personal situation.” A family death or illness, maybe? While that may have been the assumption for some viewers at first, most of us have a pretty good idea of what actually prompted her sudden exit.

But here’s the real question: Do the remaining Islanders know the reason she left? Let’s get into what happened and whether the rest of the villa has been brought up to speed regarding Cierra’s departure.

Fans weren't sure how much the Islanders or even Cierra herself knew about why she was removed from Love Island. Thankfully, one of the Islanders, Casa Amor Bombshell Zak Srakew, mentioned that the producers kept the cast members informed of Cierra's exit. He shared that, while he couldn't share all of the details, he said the producers "gathered" the cast together to tell them that Cierra caused her departure.

"They said, 'unfortunately, Cierra has broken some of the policies of our guidelines, and she will no longer be in the villa, and that's the only information we can give you guys,'" Zak recalled producers telling the cast on TikTok Live. "We didn't really know what was going on, but that's the only thing they said to us."

The Big Brother alum added that the cast was encouraged to "speak to someone" if necessary. Zak also shared that Cierra's beau, Nic Vansteenberghe, was "upset" by her exit but didn't know the full extent of why she left.

"He couldn't be super upset, or he couldn't express how he feels about a situation until he found out what she's done or what she's said," he shared. "Because at the end of the day, as much as you want to feel sorry for somebody, if you know they got removed from a show for saying something offensive, you can't really feel sorry for them until you know what it is."

While the show attributed it to a “personal situation,” it’s widely assumed that producers removed her after a resurfaced post showed her using a racial slur while talking about Botox.

The screenshot, shared by @stephwithdadeets, shows a photo of Cierra with text overlay, “I can also be a little [c slur] when I laugh/smile, so I love getting a mini brow lift to open up my eyes and get that snatched look.”

That alone raised plenty of red flags, but it didn’t help that Cierra is close friends with Brooke Schofield, someone else who’s recently come under fire for resurfaced racist posts. The two go way back, having attended both high school and college together, which only added fuel to the fire.

Once Cierra’s post began circulating, fans quickly called for her removal, not just because it felt like the right thing to do, but because producers had previously removed Yulissa Escobar under similar circumstances after it was revealed she had used a racial slur on a podcast before joining the show.

What makes it even more likely that the other Islanders aren’t aware of the real reason Cierra left is a post her parents shared to her Instagram Stories on July 6.

“We’ve seen the posts, the headlines, the hurt, and the hate. And while Cierra hasn’t seen any of it yet, we have. And so have the people who love her,” they wrote, adding, “She hasn’t had the chance to process any of this or speak for herself.” If her parents’ post is anything to go by, Cierra probably has no idea how bad the backlash is, or that it’s even happening.

Since news broke about Cierra’s use of a racial slur and her friendship with Brooke, people have been flooding her accounts with hate comments, “cruel messages,” and even threats, according to her parents.

In their statement, they said, “The attacks on her family, her friends, even her supporters, it’s heartbreaking,” adding that it’s also “uncalled for.” Still, they made it clear that once Cierra returns home and is able to face the controversy she’s now tied to, they believe “she’ll face it with honesty, growth, and grace.”