“Love Island USA” Season 8 contestant Corbin admits his elimination felt “humiliating.” But unlike other recently dumped couples like Jen and Gal, Corbin left feeling hopeful for the future while holding hands with his Casa Amor connection, Parmida.
“I see this connection going super far,” Corbin tells Variety. “Her mindset, oh my gosh! She’s an entrepreneur. I love ambitious women — the fact that she has an entrepreneurial mindset, she wants a lot of things for herself, she wants to be top dog in the business world and I’m like, ‘This is beautiful!’”
It was down to the wire in last Sunday’s episode between Corbin and Parmida and Zach and Kayda after both couples were voted as the least compatible, as decided by a fan vote. Kenzie and Dylan were also included in this group, but were saved because they won the karaoke challenge.
Corbin’s friendship with Sincere was put to the test during movie night, which showed a montage of clips from the islander’s private conversations. Sincere’s clips showed him leading on two different islanders, Melanie and Sol, which especially woke all the guys up to what was really going on.
“He was telling us one thing, Melanie one thing, telling everybody else one thing but they’re all different stories. You can’t have that as a friendship. I forgive but I don’t forget,” Corbin says. “I told him in the chats after, ‘Listen. That was your one chance. I know what you did, you’re in an experience, you’re having fun, you think you can get away with it, that’s cool!’”
Following his elimination, Corbin spoke with Variety about his eventful time in the villa, the status of his friendship with Sincere after his true character was exposed during the scandalous movie night segment, and his reaction to the internet (and the villa!) dubbing him “CorbinGPT.”
It’s been a few days since you’ve left the villa. How have you adjusted to getting back in the real world and seeing people’s thoughts on social media?
A day in the villa is like a week, for real. So the fact that I’ve been there for the time that I was, coming out of the villa felt more like a long day. You’re trapped in the villa, you’re seeing these islanders every day, you’re doing the same thing almost. And then you’re coming out to the hotel where you’re being held. It just feels like one dream, to be honest, because you don’t do half the stuff you do in there in real life. You don’t go out to the bar and start kissing on six random girls back-to-back-to-back-to-back, you know! So it was a crazy experience coming out.
We saw you and Parmida leave together, holding hands as a couple. In the days together, have you been spending time together? Where do you see this connection and relationship going?
I see this connection going super far. The fact that we’re in the villa and we’re experiencing these challenges together, experiencing conversations with each other every day — and I know some chats haven’t been fully shown through episodes — but the fact [is that] Parmida and I know what our chats are. We know how deep we can get into them. That, for sure, is making me more confident in stepping into the real world with her and experiencing this whole journey of life that we’re gonna explore.
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What drew you to Parmida out of everybody in Casa Amor?
To be honest, we have the same morals. She’s very straightforward, I’m straightforward. We don’t like liars. We like to be as straight up as possible. And we know we’re gonna step on some people’s toes, but it’s like, we’re being honest. Sometimes the truth hurts, you know? But then again, we also know that you need someone like that in your corner. So the fact that her and I just do that and we understand that, it means we’re so real to each other. We don’t beat around the bush. So whenever we’re in a conflict, or there’s some misalignment in the conversation, we would both be direct and tell each other, “Listen, this is what’s going on.” So it just makes the process easier instead of someone who might shut down and just not want to speak or want to beat around the bush because they don’t want to hurt your feelings.
Her mindset, oh my gosh! She’s an entrepreneur. I love ambitious women — the fact that she has an entrepreneurial mindset, she wants a lot of things for herself, she wants to be top dog in the business world and I’m like, “This is beautiful!” Coming from an entrepreneur myself, I’m like, “Oh! You understand me, you understand what we go through!” Then aside from that, she’s very gorgeous from head to toe. So I think we both complement each other in that way.
Walk me through what was going through your head during your elimination. Were you surprised that the islanders chose not to save you guys versus Zach and Kayda?
Bro, that was probably the worst way to leave the villa! It was humiliating. We came last in karaoke. I don’t dance, I don’t sing, so for me to go sing and dance and for Parmida to go sing and dance, and then get eliminated — I was like, “Holy fuck!” I just feel humiliated, you feel me? When I was standing next to Zach and Kayda, that was a time when I knew my fate. I knew it because I was battling not with a connection or compatibility, I was battling with time. Everybody’s seen Zach and Kayda from the start — Zach’s an OG, Kayda is damn near an OG, and the islanders have seen them build with each other until karaoke night. With me, I’ve been through a connection with Kenzie, Melanie and then Parmida, you know? Parmida and I have a great connection, and they’ve all known and seen it, but it was so fresh and new to the islanders.
And then the islanders had to line up next to who they vote [to keep], so then I started seeing everybody just pile onto Zack’s stuff. It hurt to see, but then again, I knew what the answer was. But the real life-changing moment was when I had KC and Titi stand next to me because KC and I really had a bond, a great brotherhood in that villa. Naturally, he’s helped me become more comfortable with the villa scene, with the islanders, being myself and stuff. So the fact that I had my boy in the corner with his girl, and the fact that all four of us experienced Casa Amor — that was heartfelt for sure. I fuck with him, that’s my brother for sure!
One moment that got fans talking, of course, was movie night. Specifically with everything that went down with Sincere and how he was leading both Sol and Melanie on. You also voted Sincere and Melanie as one of the least compatible couples.
That was a hard thing for me to do because I was like, “Damn, this is my boy and I’m voting him out, damn!” But I had to take a step back and ask, “Who am I?” I’m someone who holds people accountable. I’m someone who’s straight up and I took that chance as a way for me to just tell my boy, talk to my boy, talk to Sincere and Melanie about how I was feeling about how I see their connection. At first I didn’t want to! When Parmida hit me with the idea to vote Melanie and Sincere, I had to take a step back like, “What the hell is going on? That’s my boy!” But I was crowded by my friendship. I listened to Parmida speak about her pros and cons about her decision and I stand by her. She felt strong in that, I also felt the same way so I’m gonna stand behind my woman. I didn’t even have anything going through my head when I was speaking, I couldn’t even look at Sincere!
He was telling us one thing, Melanie one thing, telling everybody else one thing but they’re all different stories. You can’t have that as a friendship. I forgive but I don’t forget. I told him in the chats after: “Listen. That was your one chance. I know what you did, you’re in an experience, you’re having fun, you think you can get away with it, that’s cool!” But I told him as a bro, “I’m holding you accountable. I’m being one of your realest friends right here, telling you what you’re doing is wrong and it’s affecting the guys, me and your connection.” And he respected that decision. We’re still gonna be bros. Now in the future, will I be hesitant on believing things that he’ll say? He has to show me through his actions. And leading into the outside world, I’m still gonna have his back. If we ever get into something where people are talking about Sincere, I’m gonna have his back. But now I told him, “Because I’m having your back and I’m being 100% with you, you got to be 100% with me so we’re on the same page.” Now it’s his image onto me as well and I told him that. He understands.
You had a clear connection with Melanie earlier in the season. Do you foresee Sincere and Melanie being together after the show? Even Parmida called their relationship “toxic,” do you agree with her assessment?
When I first got there, I was hearing a lot about Melanie doing certain things and Sincere felt some type of way about that. Then coming toward the end leading up to movie night, it was more about, “Sincere doing this, Sincere doing that now,” so they both had their problems in different scenarios. I mean, it is toxic for sure, but I do feel the fact that they went through it in here, when they get to the outside world they’d understand each other. It’s only a select few people that go through this experience, so the fact that they went through it together is going to [create] a bond with them. The fact that they’ve been through so many ups and downs inside the villa was necessary because he didn’t have the distractions. But he tried to play into all the distractions — bombshells, Casa Amor. He sees how that affected his connection with Melanie. This was like a pretrial, almost, for him to go through his mistakes and know what he has to change in the future.
Have you seen that people online are calling you CorbinGPT?
Yeah, I’ve seen the CorbinGPT stuff and it’s crazy. I want to say something because I know online they’re talking a lot about, “Oh, we have the inside scoop of what the world’s saying about us!” From how being called AI started was when I came in as a bombshell. The guys were like, “Bro, we’re at the fire pit and all we see is you, walking all the way from the front of the villa just walking!” They described, “You’re walking slow, you look confident as hell, no facial expressions, you just look good, like a fucking lightskin! Like they grabbed you from Mount Olympus and just dropped you in here in the villa!” And then they’re like, “Yo, all your mannerisms, how you’re walking was so animated, it was so AI, you just got generated from a lab and just dropped here in ‘Love Island!’” And then I guess because I don’t move in my sleep, they’re like, “Oh dog, you’re rebooting!” And they started running with the joke and everybody started taking it in the villa. But it is funny seeing it out on the outside! It’s funny because I’m just being me at the end of the day.
Lastly, who’s your winner prediction for Sunday night?
Bryce and Trinity are really strong because of the fact that they were the first couple to actually make it official and be boyfriend or girlfriend. I was there during that experience and the way they did it was amazing, I really think they do have something for each other. I’ve been with Bryce in Casa Amor, I’ve had all the heartfelt chats that he wanted to have with the guys and his feelings about it, so I understand how much he really does like Trinity. I really do think they’re going to take it home, but then again, KC and Titi are pretty strong! Even from Casa Amor to the time that I left the villa, they have been rock solid. Now they’re put in my position where it’s a new couple versus a couple that’s been here for some time. I want to see those two, for sure, battling head-to-head.
This interview has been edited and condensed.