'Love Island's Iris Kendall Has a Dual Ethnicity, and Her Mom Just Confirmed It

For Love Island Season 7, controversy has been the name of the game. Several participants have been kicked off the island for bad behavior, including racial slurs posted online, that occurred before filming began.

But for the rest of the cast members, it's business as usual: love, drama, heartache, and hope.

This includes Iris Kendall, one of Season 7's fan favorites. The personable and ingratiating cast member has her own slew of fans who hope to boost her to the top with their love and support.

However, questions about her ethnicity have upped the ante a little for many who support her. After discovering her ethnicity, more people than ever are determined to see her win Love Island Season 7.

At first glance, it's hard to guess what Iris's ethnicity might be. Questions began circulating online, with many fans speculating about where her family might be from.

Luckily, Iris's mom saved the day.

Her mom, Aileen Kendall, who uses the TikTok account @beautybizz73, has confirmed what her daughter's ethnicity is. In a screenshot provided by @parakata_, Aileen left a comment on a video somewhere which read, "Iris is Latina," adding, "She's half Chilean and Ukrainian."

Aileen clarified in the comments of a video on her own page, "My mother was Chilean and my father is Ukrainian. Both came to America young. Iris’s father is British and Ukrainian."

Which means that people are stoked to discover that their favorite is Latina and really want her to start promoting her ethnicity to show that she's a Latina who could be the big winner on Love Island.

Of course, now that we know what Iris's ethnicity is, it begs the question: why does it matter?

And the answer is: because representation and diversity matter. While it's not unheard of for a Chilean and/or Ukrainian person to get famous, it's undeniable that most "love story" type reality shows don't often feature Latina couples.

By the way, you can count Pedro Pascal among those popular Chilean actors, in case you didn't know (via IMDb).

But when it comes to leading couples and love stories, Latina couples often get passed over, despite being the majority ethnicity in an impressive seven countries across the world and encompassing over 660 million people, according to World Population Review.

So when people see representation in a show like Love Island, it matters. Now that fans know what Iris's ethnicity is, many people are encouraging her to be louder about it, for two reasons: one, so she can get more votes when people feel like she represents them; and two, because having the final two couples on the Island be Latina would be remarkable.

Of course, not every single person is required to be a representative of their race or ethnicity. They're allowed to simply exist. So, if Iris is eschewing embracing her roots, that's her prerogative. But with a dearth of leading Latina stars in reality television and Ukraine under such pressure during an ongoing invasion by Russia, many are hoping she decides to include the information.