‘Love Island’ Fans Scold Season 7’s Casting Producer After Finding Her on TikTok
"I would've taken this to my grave lmao."
Published June 5 2025, 4:41 p.m. ET
Summer 2025 started with a bang as Love Island fans gathered on their respective screens to watch Season 7 of the hit dating show. The season opened with ten romantic hopefuls searching to join Kordena and more of the series' successful couples.
While some fans were expecting a continuation of Season 6's success, the Season 7 cast fell flat.
Before the show aired its second episode, viewers called for two cast members to be fired for allegedly having colorful social media pasts.
The early rollout of the cast into the season caused fans to point fingers and blame the casting director, because someone needed to take responsibility for the messiness we've seen. Luckily, with a bit of digging, Love Island's strongest soldiers found the casting producer's digital presence.
'Love Island' fans discovered a video of the show's casting producer, Angela Akina.
On June 4, 2025, Love Island aired its second episode on Peacock. As the show aired, TikTok viewers discovered a video of the season's City Media Ent casting producer, Angela Akina, who recorded herself watching the season premiere with a co-worker. The video also included a text that showed how proud she was to see her and her colleague's reaction to seeing herself on screen.
"POV: You're watching the people you cast make their debut," Angela wrote.
The rest of the video showed the two talking about something else as Sigala & Ella Eyre's "Came Here for Love" played in the background. The casting producer also added "Never gets old" with a teary-eyed emoji.
'Love Island' watchers questioned why Angela Akina attached her name to the Season 7 cast.
While Angela likely shared her heartfelt moment to express her happiness with her job, some Love Island fans suggested it may be time to take a career aptitude test. Underneath her TikTok, multiple critics felt she could've, and should've, kept her connection to the Love Island Season 7 casting choices to herself.
"I would've taken this to my grave lmao," one user said.
"I would not have wanted people to know I cast this season," another scoffed.
"It’s y'all's fault we gotta watch these men?" a third fan scolded.
The backlash about Angela's casting decisions came after two Season 7 singles, Austin Shephard and Yulissa Escobar, sparked controversy after fans uncovered some of their alleged racist social media activity. According to The Daily Beast, soon after Austin was cast for the season, an X user shared a screenshot of Austin’s alleged TikTok likes, which included several pro-President Donald Trump posts and anti-former vice-president Kamala Harris videos. The Northville, Mich. native has since deleted his TikTok account.
Yulissa was also called out for her alleged racial comments and slurs. Social media fans discovered a previous TikTok of the Miami, Fla. native stating she "lost about 600 followers just because I'm a Trump supporter." TMZ also posted several clips of Yulissa saying the N-word during her podcast.
Despite the critiques, Angela, a UCLA graduate who has worked on casting for Bravo, NBC, and TLC, will likely share more casting updates in the future. Her TikTok includes many BTS moments regarding Love Island's casting and show updates.
Stream Love Island exclusively on Peacock.