Love Island’s Nic Vansteenberghe Played His Luck & Won Big

Nic Vansteenberghe auditioned for Love Island USA primarily for the sake of the bit. When producers sent him a message on Instagram in January 2025, he thought there was no way it would actually work out. “They kept offering interviews, and I kept doing the interviews, but I was still taking it as a joke,” he says. “All of a sudden, I was getting my blood work done and doing psych tests and thinking, ‘OK, this could be serious.’ Honestly, I didn’t believe it until the whole thing finished and I saw I was on TV.”

For the two months he spent filming Season 7 in Fiji, Vansteenberghe suspended disbelief that he was being filmed 24/7. “They just take our phones, and we never know what’s going on,” he says. “I had a good summer. It was sunny; I got to eat free food and live for free.” He also happened to star on the biggest reality show of the year. Love Island USA broke streaming records in 2025 and became Peacock’s most-watched original TV season of all time. By the time Vansteenberghe got his phone back after the finale in mid-July, this initially unserious side quest had changed his whole life.

“Everything that came after the show has been beyond what I could ever have ever imagined,” the 24-year-old says, sitting in the Elite Daily offices on a Monday morning after flying in from Florida bright and early. He says he’s tired but doesn’t seem it, popping champagne and cracking jokes during his photo shoot. As he takes full advantage of the bagel spread in the green room, he tells me this kind of chaos is his everyday life now. “I’ll have one day of no sleep, and the next day, I’ll sleep 13 hours,” he says. Over the weekend before, he and Olandria Carthen — the couple known by their beloved fans as Nicolandria, who won second place on the show — attended a football game in Gainesville, near his hometown of Jacksonville, and Carthen met his dad, “Papa Belgian,” and two family dogs.

Now, he’s in New York for 48 hours before traveling for DJ gigs, and he’ll return to run the New York City Marathon in early November. (He’s barely found time to train. “Pray for me,” he says.) A few minutes into our interview, Vansteenberghe has to pause to accept an Instagram collab request from Sweetgreen — his new “Ranchy Baddie Bowl” with Carthen just launched. He sets phone alarms for this kind of thing to keep himself on track.

Although he may be new to having 1.9 million Instagram followers, a major salad chain collaboration, and celebrities quoting his iconic one-liners, Vansteenberghe seems built for this life. Pre-Love Island, he was working as a registered nurse in Jacksonville and modeling for brands like Guess and Prada. After a breakup with his longtime girlfriend a year and a half ago, he started traveling full time to get out of his head. “I was basically living out of a suitcase for a year,” he says. “I lived in Milan for three months and went to Bali for two or three months, then Australia — pretty much doing anything but being at home.”

How can someone talk about their feelings for 24 hours a day? Then I did it for two months.

When Love Island came calling, he was open to meeting someone, but he was ready to embrace whatever the experience had in store for him. “It was 50-50 — I could come out with a girlfriend; I could not come out with a girlfriend. At the time, I was content with either,” Vansteenberghe says. After all, going on the show still seemed surreal, and he struggled to watch past seasons to prepare. “I fast-forwarded through a lot of it because I couldn’t stand it,” he jokes. “How can someone talk about their feelings for 24 hours a day? Then I did it for two months.” And as viewers know very well, it did land him in a relationship, through a storyline worthy of the next great BookTok novel. (Or, as fans like to put it, the ultimate delusional ship that came to life.)

For those uneducated in Nicolandria lore, here’s a rundown: Vansteenberghe and Carthen were drawn to each other from the first day in the villa, when Carthen was asked to kiss whomever she found most attractive. Vansteenberghe reciprocated with a kiss in the blindfold challenge the next day, but they quickly formed a friendship when they coupled up with other cast members. In Week 3, they were placed on a date by producers, shared an extremely steamy makeout seen ’round the world, and then promptly friend-zoned each other the next day. A few weeks later, after Carthen and Taylor Williams broke up and Vansteenberghe’s connection Cierra Ortega left the show, Nicolandria became real once again, finally exploring their romantic relationship and ending the show as first-runners-up.

I had always been attracted to Olandria since we kissed each other that first day, and then it all fell so perfectly into place.

It was an unlikely love story that viewers were rooting for from Day 1 — even Vansteenberghe’s mom and sister were proudly shipping Nicolandria. Still, Vansteenberghe and Carthen had no idea of their enthusiastic fan base at the time. Even when producers showed them fan letters on their final date, they weren’t privy to the scale of Nicolandria edits proliferating TikTok. (There are 165,000 posts with the hashtag.) “I think I only saw maybe four letters that day. Hearing feelings from four people doesn’t sound too crazy,” Vansteenberghe says. “Then when you come out of the show, you realize how many people submitted letters — I think they told me it was some crazy number like 250,000.”

Looking back, he can see why their love story was compelling to watch. “I had always been attracted to Olandria since we kissed each other that first day, and then it all fell so perfectly into place,” he says. “There was so much arc or lore that we were just missing.”

When they emerged back into the real world to a barrage of interviews and more DMs than you could possibly count, Vansteenberghe finally realized just how popular he and Carthen really were. “That’s a completely life-changing moment, overnight fame,” he says. “It was such a stressful time, but I’m happy to fast-forward two months later. It’s much more chill. We’re in our groove. We have more or less of a routine, whether it’s normal or not.” The two are happily dating, and while he won’t label the relationship beyond that, he speaks admiringly of Carthen and what they’ve been building. “She’s really been a rock throughout all of this because only us two have experienced all of these things together. Having each other’s backs is pretty big. It’s a nice feeling.”

When she has her feelings hurt about what a group of people might be saying, that affects me.

For the most part, he loves engaging with fans and embracing the attention from the show. “I try to normalize it as best as I can,” he says. “I can’t think of it as crazy in my own head. I just go about it like I’m tying my shoes — taking pictures with fans and stuff.” He says “99%” of what he sees online is positive, and though he hasn’t watched the show back, he feels good about how he came across — “Mamacita” memes and all. “From the comments that I’ve read and what I’ve been told, I got a good edit,” he says. “As long as I came across as being funny and having good vibes, that’s all I really care about.”

That’s not to say everything has been perfect. “The hardest part for me is the negativity that she gets,” he says of Carthen. “I’m very empath. So, when she has her feelings hurt about what a group of people might be saying, that affects me. There’s that 1% [of negativity] that’s always going to hit home. So, we’re just trying to navigate that together.”

One thing Vansteenberghe won’t speak about is his friendships with the rest of his cast, which may not come as a surprise to fans who know there’s been some rumored drama. But he speaks highly of Serena Page and Kordell Beckham, the winners of Season 6. “Kordell matches my vibe for sure,” he says. “Just goofy like me.”

Since re-entering the real world, Nicolandria has stayed booked and busy, doing joint modeling gigs and brand collabs with the likes of Nyx Cosmetics and Doordash. Carthen recently walked at New York Fashion Week with Vansteenberghe in the front row to support her. “We spoke it into existence the first week we were outside the villa,” he says. “She was like, ‘I want to model.’ I’m like, ‘You will.’ Flash-forward, she’s doing these shoots and shows. It’s cool to see her excel in the modeling space.”

He’s got big plans of his own, including growing his budding DJ career (@freakonico69). “I’m DJing my first music festival on Halloween — that’s probably my main focus careerwise right now. I have a couple songs in the library ready to be released,” he says. The ultimate dream venues are Coachella and Tomorrowland Belgium, which is in the country his dad’s family is from. He’s also leaning into food content. Along with his food review Instagram (@nicvansfood), he’s getting his YouTube channel rolling to take it even further. “I want to meet Gordon Ramsay and Guy Fieri, do my own cooking show, and teach myself how to cook while teaching other people how to cook,” he says.

As far as reality TV, he’s open to another opportunity. “Dancing With the Stars seems really interesting. Even though I can’t sing, I really like The Voice. Or being a host on something — American Ninja Warrior, Wipeout, things like that. Cake Boss.” He’s trying to get his sister Ella on Season 8 of Love Island USA, but his parents aren’t so sure. “We’ll see if Papa Belgian and Baltimore Baddie will let me,” he says.

DreamWorks, where are you at? I’ve been manifesting this.

It’s a lot, but Vansteenberghe says it’s all fun — and hasn’t forgotten the fan accounts and supporters that got him here. “Shout-out Cowgirl Harry, shout-out Nicolandria Core, shout-out Come Here Cream,” he says. “Thank you, Nicolandrians, for your consistent, constant support. I haven’t felt a decrease in love since I got off the show. I know it’s hard to keep up with me, but every time I make a new Instagram page, they’re constantly supporting me. So, thank you.”

In case any fans have pull with Hollywood, there’s one more side quest he has his eye on next. “I want to be in Shrek 5 so bad. That’s my next endeavor. It can be a cameo; I’ll do anything. I literally texted my agent about it," Vansteenberghe says. He also reached out directly to the source. “I DMed Shrek, and he responded. I was nervous. All I said was hi, and he responded with a meme of himself and was like, ‘Hey, Nic.’ So hopefully, DreamWorks, where are you at? I’ve been manifesting this.”

Two days later, Vansteenberghe posted a story wearing head-to-toe Shrek merch at the airport. He’s a believer now that one silly Instagram DM can change everything — so why not try to play his luck again?