In the wake of Love Island USA Season 6’s finale, a shocking NSFW video featuring contestant Kendall Washington surfaced online.
Despite his fourth-place finish with partner Nicole Jacky, Washington found himself trending on social media for all the wrong reasons.
The leaked video, shared without his consent, sparked an outpouring of support from fans and a strong response from his sister, Taylor.
Taking to Instagram, Taylor defended her brother and highlighted the urgent need for prioritizing contestants’ mental health in the reality TV space.
Kendall’s sister says her brother was “unfairly exposed.”
Taylor, Kendall’s sister, took to Instagram to address the unauthorized leak of a private video featuring her brother, a contestant on Love Island USA.
“I do not have the capacity to respond to everyone individually, but I appreciate everyone reaching out concerned about Kendall’s mental health,” she wrote.
“I am too.”
She revealed that Kendall’s phone was still in the possession of the show’s production team, highlighting the vulnerability of contestants.
“I really hope y’all have serious mental health resources in place for him so he doesn’t come back from the high of this experience to seeing he’s been unfairly exposed on top of general reality TV backlash,” she continued.
“If y’all have a history of suicide from people being on your show I’d really hope you all got a handle on this expeditiously.”
Caine Bacon, Kendall’s former co-star, also weighed in on the situation via TikTok, expressing his solidarity despite not having seen the leaked video himself.
“While that might be funny for some of you, it’s actually quite a serious matter,” he told his followers. “Whoever did expose the generally should get justice served because it’s actually quite a serious crime and I hope karma comes back around.”
Kendall spoke out about the leaked video, saying, “I just want to address the content that came out from my past.
“That was something I shared to someone in confidence and trust”.
“It’s unfortunate that it’s no longer private but it is what it is.
“I want to thank you all for the calls /texts to support me during this time.
“I am grateful for my Love Island experience and I love you all for tuning in to watch my journey. Excited for what’s next.”
There have been several mental health-related deaths on ‘Love Island.’
Tragedy has struck the Love Island community multiple times in recent years.
In 2018, former contestant Sophie Gradon took her own life after facing intense online bullying and negative media scrutiny.
Her boyfriend followed suit just 20 days later. In 2019, Mike Thalassitis, another Love Island UK alum, died by suicide after experiencing similar online abuse.
The show’s host, Caroline Flack, also succumbed to suicide in 2020.
In response to these devastating losses, ITV has taken steps to prioritize contestants’ mental health and well-being. In 2023, the network revealed measures to support participants, including, pausing social media activity during filming, training on healthy relationship behavior and access to resources on identifying negative relationship patterns.
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