Love Island USA’s Chelley & Ace Set the Record Straight on Pre-Show Dating Rumors
I suppose you need a step-by-step on how Chelley and Ace managed to squash those pre-show dating rumors, so here it is. After Michelle “Chelley” Bissainthe and Ace Green finally coupled up on the June 17 episode of Love Island USA season seven, Chelley’s camp rushed in with damage control. According to her social media team—who are running her Instagram account while she’s stranded in that sun-soaked Fiji villa—they felt compelled to “be transparent and clear the air” because gossip vultures were circling.
The official Instagram Stories post on June 19 laid it out in bold text: Chelley and Ace “briefly crossed paths in New York,” later slid into each other’s DMs, but “they were never in a relationship, never lived together, and there are no children or hidden past.” If you’ve been struggling to differentiate fact from fan fiction, consider this your cheat sheet: nothing shady went down before the cameras started rolling.
Meanwhile, viewers already clocked the sparks when Ace, initially coupled with Amaya Espinal, couldn’t resist opening Chelley’s villa door at the latest recoupling ceremony. He didn’t hold back in his speech, calling Chelley someone who’s “challenged me, helped me let down my walls, and made me a better person here in this villa.” He gushed over her presence, admitting she lights up the stairs—and honestly, if you didn’t feel that warm-and-fuzzy moment, you might be watching the wrong show.
Chelley’s reaction was equally candid: relief, excitement, and “a lot of emotions and processing,” she confessed. But don’t think they’re hiding the fact they met before. Producer trivia alert: during the season premiere, viewers learned they first bumped into each other outside a nightclub in New York City and only exchanged occasional social updates online. Shocking? Only if you believed every tabloid headline.
Even Austin Shepard, who was dumped in favor of this new coupling, chimed in on the June 9 episode, bluntly telling them to stop “playing weird games” and “just f–king go for it.” If that wasn’t clear enough, I don’t know what is.
E! News reached out to Ace’s representation for comment but heard crickets. While you’re waiting to see if this budding villa romance survives the inevitable drama, rest assured you’ve got all the facts now. Glad I could clear that up for you.
Sources: Celebrity Storm and E! News, Chelley’s Instagram Stories, NBCUniversal Peacock
Attribution: Creative Commons Licensed
