Once upon a time, a literally perfect, 100/10 man entered the villa and was criminally fumbled. I’m talking about Jalen Brown, the charming cowboy from Georgia who visits his grandma every week and got a passport just to go to Fiji. The Love Island USA season 7 star only had eyes for Olandria Carthen (taste), but at the time, she was still invested in Taylor Williams for some reason. My heart shattered into a million pieces when I watched those foolish islanders send Jalen home, but this king never exuded even an ounce of negative energy. He was just super grateful to be there and have the experience.

You won’t be shocked to learn that Jalen had never seen the show before when he agreed to it. “I just said, fuck it, why not do it?” he recalled to Betches. “Just try it out.” He was a touch apprehensive when he got fitted for Love Island outfits and discovered the ~interesting~ wardrobe for challenges. Jalen remembered trying on a “stripper type” fit and thinking, “Okay, what have I got myself into?” Thank goodness that didn’t scare him away!

While chatting with Betches, the Love Island star opened up about traveling after the show, where he stands with Olandria now, his thoughts on Nicolandria, and his current relationship status.

Love Island Star Jalen Brown Talks Traveling, Nicolandria, Huda, Relationship Status

Betches: You famously got a passport for this experience. What was it like being on reality TV the first time that you were out of the country?

Jalen: Shoot, when I got the call, you coming to Fiji… I was shocked, you know what I’m saying? I was kind of nervous to do it. At the beginning, I was kind of nervous, but it all set in and I was good.

When Love Island reached out to me at first, a producer reached out to me and I thought, man… I’m just working, I’m just doing my thing. And next thing you know, we did research and stuff, and it was real, so I just went along with it. But I thought it was a scam or something. I didn’t know.

Betches: How has traveling been since the show?

Jalen: Traveling has been wonderful, man. I’ve been trying to go around the world, I’ve been to Iceland, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, stuff like that, so it’s been awesome. I was on my first cruise last week, and I enjoyed it. And now I’m here in New York for the first time, and I’m enjoying all that traveling.

Betches: That’s so exciting! So you obviously got a ton of followers right after. How did it feel to find out that you’re a fan favorite?

Jalen: It felt good. I felt like… America, I loved them for choosing me as the fan favorite or whatever, I’m just thankful for it all. I didn’t know I was the fan favorite, I appreciate everybody, you know what I’m saying? I’m just myself at the end of the day, that’s it. Thank you, America.

Betches: The night you were dumped, how did it feel when people saved Huda over you? Were you surprised? Did you expect that night to go the way it did?

Jalen: No, I wasn’t surprised, you know what I’m saying? I was just like, it is what it is. Like I said on the show, it is what it is. I’m thankful for the opportunity, I’m thankful for the chance to be on TV and stuff like that because I never seen nothing or been on something like that, never in my life. So I was just like, okay, that’s how they feel. Thankful for it, got to move on.

Betches: Yeah, I don’t think America agreed with that one.

Jalen: Yeah, they didn’t get a chance to get their hands on that one so, yeah.

Betches: You don’t follow Huda on Instagram. Is there tension there or are you guys cool now?

Jalen: No, no tension there. It’s all love for Huda, you know what I’m saying? I mean, social media fake anyway. So in the beginning of the time, I had somebody managing my account or whatever and they was just doing what they wanted to do on my social account, but I just didn’t follow back and just follow her or hit the button. I mean, social media is fake, so I don’t care about following her or who follows who, you know what I’m saying? Keep her over there.

Betches: So what’s your reaction to Nicolandria? Did you see it coming at all while you were there?

Jalen: Not really, Nic and Cierra had something pretty strong, I thought it was going to go all the way. I was rooting for them. But it was shocking, I didn’t know Nic was attracted to Olandria at first. I mean, he said he was or whatever, but I didn’t know.

Betches: Have you been convinced by the TikTok edits?

Jalen: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All I can say is, yeah.

Betches: Are you friends with Olandria now? What’s your relationship like?

Image Credit: Getty

Jalen: Oh, me and Olandria? If I see her, I speak to her or whatever, what’s going on or whatever. But we haven’t talked or anything like that outside of the villa. So yeah, I wish her all the best, too.

Betches: Why’d you skip the reunion?

Jalen: I decided to stray away from the drama, the mess or whatever, and just keep traveling and networking.

Betches: Gotcha. That’s probably a great choice.

Jalen: Yeah. Wise choice, I think.

Betches: Do you have a favorite memory from filming?

Jalen: My favorite memory from filming was playing ball with Nic, Pepe, and Charlie because Charlie had busted Nic’s lip, and people thought it was herpes or whatever. That’s just from Charlie hitting Nic in his mouth when we was playing football. That was a great moment when we was just chilling and having a great time.

Betches: After the show, have you gotten any really cool DMs from celebrities?

Jalen: Yeah. Well, not a DM, but I say it’s kind of crazy, Kehlani… she was tweeting about me and she’ll come in under other people’s posts saying I love him and this and that. Yeah, and I think I got a couple DMs from Offset, stuff like that, trying to hang out, and I met some pretty good athletes too, so yeah.

Betches: Wow! Have you been dating at all after the show?

Jalen: I’m just chilling or whatever, I’m just chilling out. I’m texting here and there, just seeing what’s going on. Yeah, just chilling. I haven’t been exclusively dating; I’ve just been chilling.

Betches: Any regrets about your journey or anything that you would’ve done differently looking back?

Jalen: No, no, no regrets. It could have turned out worse, you know what I’m saying? I’m thankful for my short time, my short experience.