'Love Island USA' Season 6: Catherine reveals what she wishes had been aired

Former “Love Island USA” 2024 contestant Catherine Marshall has spilled some tea about which couple she thinks will win Season 6.

Spoiler: It isn’t a popular pick.

She also spoke to The Arizona Republic about her experience in the villa and some things that weren’t shown to viewers.

Catherine entered "Love Island USA" as a Casa Amor bombshell along with five other women. Kenny Rodriguez coupled up with her and brought her back to the villa. Soon after, he decided to reunite with JaNa – whom he was previously coupled with.

About a week after she arrived, Catherine was dumped from the villa along with Daia and Liv after they were left single.

“Love Island USA” 2024 is wrapping up filming in a villa in Fiji with new host Ariana Madix of “Vanderpump Rules.” Season 6 has been a hit: “Love Island USA” was the No. 1 most-watched streaming series in the U.S. between July 5 and 11 with 919.1 million minutes watched, according to Variety.

Catherine, who recently moved to Scottsdale, decided to apply for “Love Island USA” after watching some of the recent seasons on Netflix. It was a “once in a lifetime” experience for her and she shed some light on her relationships with the people from the Villa and a bombshell she wishes she got to know.

These 'Love Island USA' contestants are Catherine’s favorites

Catherine had some controversial picks for her favorite Islanders: Aaron and Kendall among the men and JaNa among the women.

Aaron and Kendall aren't exactly fan favorites at the moment, but Catherine said they were both always kind to her.

“Aaron was just actually such a sweetheart and he would just always say good morning, always hug you, always be so cheerful,” Catherine said. “The second day in the villa, the morning after we got back from Casa Amor, he made me coffee and he was just really sweet.”

She said Kendall was funny — he was like a bestie, very positive and always giving advice.

As for the OG girl Catherine was closest to, she named JaNa. Despite the fact that they were interested in the same guy, they had a lot of talks and close moments that weren't shown where they would just laugh together.

“She was honestly like a big sister in there and she was really awesome to be around and she was so hot,” Catherine said. “She was just like the best person ever and that was a really great experience with her so I wish that was shown a little bit more because she was so amazing and very kind.”

Catherine also had a couple of chats with Leah, whom she also said was funny. They shared a heartfelt moment when Catherine was leaving the villa, which also wasn't shown.

Kaylor and Nicole were also welcoming right off the bat, during the bombshells' first night in the Villa.

Is Catherine Team Rob and Leah or Team Leah and Miguel?

Catherine said she didn’t interact with Rob or Miguel a lot.

“They were just like boys doing their own thing and so I was just never around that,” Catherine said.

Rob initially was Catherine’s first choice but when they finally had a conversation, she felt like there was no connection.

She is rooting for the theory circulating on social media that Rob and Leah reuniting and still have feelings for each other.

“I hope they can somehow reconnect because I’ve just been seeing so many edits and I really loved them from the beginning," Catherine said.

"I had seen a couple of episodes prior to coming in so it felt like I was always kind of rooting for them. But I do see how she actually likes Miguel and I think she was able to form her own connection after the whole Rob situation. I feel like it’s finally her turn.”

She also noted that in a recent episode Leah made it clear that she would choose Miguel, and Catherine thinks they have something good going on so she’s rooting for them as well.

Will this unpopular pick win 'Love Island USA' Season 6?

Catherine wants Kendall and Nicole to win but she also feels Aaron and Kaylor have been going strong.

Aaron and Kaylor were in the bottom three of a recent fan vote, which was revealed during the Monday, July 15, episode.

“I’m tired of seeing Kaylor and Aaron on my screen #loveislandusa,” @HER_PERS0NA said on X and received 21 thousand likes.

A July 7 post on X by @cloclobeans showed how some fans feel about Kendall and Nicole, stating: “I’m gonna make it my personal mission to make sure Kendall doesn’t get that money. Him and Nicole ain’t fooling me at all #loveislandusa.”

The post received 18 thousand likes.

Here's what Catherine wishes has been shown on 'Love Island USA'

Catherine said that when she came back to the villa with Kenny, they were both honest with JaNa about everything that happened in Casa Amore and had multiple conversations with her that weren’t shown.

A clip of her and Kenny kissing was shown to the Islanders during Movie Night but not to the viewers.

“We told her everything and we had that conversation with her, so I think the only part was like Movie Night, just seeing it happen, like hearing about it is way different than seeing it so that was its own thing but she never was upset about it,” Catherine said. “And we had spoken, we were on the same page of, like, what we want is for Kenny to be happy and choose who he wants to, no matter who it was.”

During a challenge in which the Islanders were shown X posts about themselves, one claimed that Catherine had a last-minute chat with Kenny to get into the villa. However, she said they talked every day she was in Casa Amor and those conversations weren't shown.

It got to the point where even Kenny started to believe the post but then they talked and came to the realization that there was a misunderstanding from the viewers.

“Honestly, I would have been OK if he hadn’t brought me back from Casa Amor because I feel like what he did during the recoupling, he already said he had a stronger connection with JaNa,” Catherine said.

“At that point I just don’t know why he brought me. I feel like he only did it to maybe not look stupid if she had come back with somebody else and he had come back single or something.”

Catherine hopes to slide into this ex-Love Islander's DMs

Once Kenny said he wanted to focus on JaNa, Catherine was “praying to the Love Island gods” that they would send in a bombshell for her, but she was sent home instead.

“I did watch that Harrison was coming in right after I left, so that was such a bummer,” Catherine said. "I would have loved to have gotten to know him. I feel like that’s kind of my type a little bit, so it kind of sucked that I had left. But I’m not afraid to hit him up in his DMs once he’s out.”

In the meantime, she said she would be interested in joining another reality TV show or participating in “Love Island Games” spinoff season.

She is still open to finding love. “My DMs are definitely open,” she said, although she's not actively looking because she needs a break after the show.

Reach the reporter at [email protected]. Follow @dina_kaur on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 'Love Island USA' 2024: Catherine is rooting for this couple