July 8, 2025 — Cierra Ortega, a 25-year-old content creator from Los Angeles, has abruptly left Love Island USA Season 7, leaving fans and fellow islanders stunned. The announcement came during Episode 30, aired on Peacock on July 6, 2025, when narrator Iain Stirling stated, “Cierra has left the villa due to a personal situation,” leaving her partner, Nicolas “Nic” Vansteenberghe, single just a week before the finale. While the show cited “personal reasons,” Ortega’s exit followed intense backlash over resurfaced social media posts where she used a racial slur against the Asian community, prompting widespread debate about accountability and online hate.
The controversy began when fans uncovered a 2023 Instagram Story in which Ortega used the slur “ch**ky” to describe her eyes while discussing Botox treatments, and a 2015 post where she used the same term, even defending it as a “real word in the dictionary” when challenged. The posts, shared widely on Reddit, TikTok, and X, led to a swift public outcry, with over 17,000 signing a Change.org petition demanding her removal. Ortega lost over 200,000 Instagram followers in 48 hours, dropping from nearly 1 million to 683,000, and brands like SKIMS and Good American paused or removed collaborations. A production source told The U.S. Sun that executives held “crisis meetings,” describing the slur as “unacceptable” and expressing disappointment, especially after a similar incident earlier in the season with contestant Yulissa Escobar, who was removed for using the N-word on a podcast.
Ortega’s parents issued a statement on her Instagram Stories, calling the week “one of the most painful” of their lives. They acknowledged the public’s anger, stating, “We’re not here to justify or ignore what’s surfaced. We understand why people are upset, and we know accountability matters.” However, they decried the “threats” and “cruel messages” targeting Ortega, her family, and supporters, urging “compassion” and “basic human decency.” They noted that Ortega, still sequestered post-exit, has not seen the backlash and will address it “with honesty, growth, and grace” upon her return.
The exit drew mixed reactions. Some fans celebrated, with a TikTok video of a watch party cheering the announcement, captioned, “CIERRA FINALLY GOT KICKED OUT🥳😜.” Others, like X users @Realdealdude2 and @drenaaa_, argued that with only a week left, Ortega should have been allowed to stay, citing her strong connection with Nic and questioning the influence of social media on the show’s decisions. Former islander Belle-A Walker, an Asian American, praised producers for taking a stand against racism but urged fans to avoid hateful comments, emphasizing the need to address anti-Asian hate without resorting to cruelty.
Ortega’s departure marks the second racism-related exit this season, following Escobar’s removal, highlighting ongoing issues with the show’s vetting process. Fans criticized producers, with one X post stating, “Love Island producers need to fire their vetting staff and hire the fans who seem to more easily find this stuff.” The scandal has sparked broader discussions about anti-Asian racism in media and the balance between accountability and online mob mentality, with some viewers accusing the show of favoritism toward Ortega due to her favorable edits. As Love Island USA heads toward its July 13 finale, the controversy underscores the challenges of navigating public perception in reality TV.