Love Island USA’s Belle-A Slams Love Interest Nic After Brutal Goodbye (Exclusive)

NEED TO KNOW

• Belle-A Walker tells PEOPLE exclusively about her departure from Love Island USA after being sent home during the season’s first recoupling
• Walker, 22, had developed a romantic connection with Nic Vansteenberghe during the season 7 premiere episode, and their bond appeared to deepen from there
• Love Island USA episodes air every day but Wednesdays on Peacock

Belle-A Walker is opening up about her emotional departure from the Love Island USA villa.

In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, the season 7 contestant shared how she felt after being blindsided by Nic Vansteenberghe and sent home during the season’s first recoupling.

Walker, 22, and Vansteenberghe, 24, had been coupled up since the very first episode, and their bond appeared to deepen after they shared a steamy kiss during a challenge. But everything shifted with the arrival of bombshell Cierra Ortega.

Despite feeling secure in her connection, Walker says she was misled — ultimately left single and vulnerable at the firepit.

PEOPLE was unable to reach out to Nic Vansteenberghe for comment.

Walker opens up about how Vansteenberghe misled her during her time in the villa.

“Let me just tell you, that boy reassured me up and down and made it seem like I was not going home that night,” the former Islander tells PEOPLE exclusively over Zoom, still in Fiji. “I was definitely caught off guard. Of course, I knew it could have gone either direction, but moments, moments before the recoupling, my last conversation was with him and he was telling me, ‘Bella, you don’t have anything to worry about. I don’t want you worrying about going into this.’

“And so I stopped worrying,” she adds. “And then what did he do? He sent me packing my bags. Never trust the man, never trust the boy. That’s not a man.”

Belle-A Walker and Nicolas Vansteenberghe.

Ben Symons/Peacock via Getty

After Vansteenberghe chose Ortega, 25, Walker took the opportunity to address her fellow contestants before packing her bags and exiting the villa.

“My heart is the prettiest thing about me,” she told them.

Walker now reflects on the speech she made before her fellow Islanders before leaving the villa for good.

Looking back, Walker says that moment was entirely authentic.

“I didn’t think I was going to have to prepare a speech like that,” she says. “So I am an investment, and you’re not going to see the return on me the first day that you meet me. Nic was not willing to make that investment. He was more interested in seeing what was beneath my clothes and not beneath my surface. It really wasn’t my loss.”

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Belle-A Walker and Nicolas Vansteenberghe on “Love Island”.

Ben Symons/Peacock via Getty

Walker claims much of her connection with Vansteenberghe was cut from the show.

After her departure, Walker says she was surprised to see how much of her connection with Vansteenberghe had been edited out of the show. She also learned more about what happened between him and Ortega — details she wasn’t aware of at the time.

For example, she says she didn’t know Vansteenberghe and Ortega had shared an intimate moment in the villa’s photo booth just five minutes after he kissed Walker.

“I was kind of painted more as just the third girl in this love triangle, and they gave Nic and Cierra the fireworks and the sparks and the depth,” she says. “And you didn’t see that with Nic and I, there were so many intimate moments that we had and amazing conversations that we had that were cut out, and seeing him say a lot of the same things to her that he said to me.”

“He was constantly making us feel the exact same way,” she adds. “But watching the show, you would think Nic had his mind made up since the moment he met Cierra. So I don’t fault him for the decision he made, because he had to make one. What I fault him for is the way he went about it.”

Belle-A Walker and Nic Vansteenberghe during a challenge.

Ben Symons/Peacock via Getty

Walker opens up about the importance of staying true to herself.

Earlier in the season, Walker caught viewers’ attention by refusing to kiss any of the boys on the first day — a choice that quickly sparked conversation and admiration online. But she insists it wasn’t a calculated move.

Instead, she says she simply wanted to stay true to herself.

“If I inspired at least one other girl in this world that it’s okay to set boundaries, small or big, it’s okay to not compromise on your comfortability for anybody else. It’s okay to do those things no matter your environment. I had a blast. Oh my gosh, I had the time of my life guys, or not honestly. It’s like taking back the power. I love that.”

Love Island USA episodes air every day but Wednesdays on Peacock.