Kendall got totally emotional after a difficult conversation with Nicole on Love Island, but fans noticed that something wasn’t quite right.
The pair snuggled up on their finale date during the final episode where Kendall finally professed his true feelings for his match. “You make me comfortable. You make me feel loved. You make me feel chosen. Like, I’m legit straight falling in love with you,” he said. “Nicole, I love you. I realized I fell in love with you when you came back from Casa and I literally never had these feelings every in my whole life. And when I see you I just continue to fall for you.”
Nicole couldn’t bring herself to reciprocate the grand gesture. She said: “Sorry. I wasn’t expecting that. I feel like I definitely have a lot of love for you. And I think the fact that I even have those feelings is crazy. Saying stuff like that scares me, I think because I’ve been burned so bad in the past, but just know it’s not that I don’t feel that way. I just don’t want — I want to have my big one, too.”
Despite the moment making Kendall seem emotional, fans didn’t feel that his tears were authentic. In fact, they weren’t convinced they were present at all. The noted that he had “crocodile tears” which are when tears are not genuine. “Kendall is trying soooo hard to create tears in his eyes and there’s not a single one lmao,” said one fan. Another added: “I feel like Kendall is very performative. Like he was trying to force out tears. Is he trying to get an acting job?!”
Fans speculated that Nicole’s feelings were actually all for show, too, especially after she swerved him. One fan on X, formerly known as Twitter, wrote: “I still don’t think Nicole likes Kendall fr. if she hadn’t seen Miguel kissing Leah, she DEF would’ve recoupled with him. she literally said Miguel gave her f—y flutters that she never felt w kendall. kendall was the safe choice. Not surprised she didn’t say ily back.”
Another fan said: “Nicole couldn’t say I love you back to Kendall because she doesn’t… & that’s ok.. I kinda feel like Kendall doesn’t mean it either.. he pretty much has been calculated & playing the game this whole time as soon as he realized he had a shot at winning..”
By the end of the finale, though, things changed. Kendall was concerned he blew it, so he had a heart-to-heart with Nicole, saying he didn’t want to put pressure on her. Something got through to Nicole because, later, in a final speech, she said: “You’ve given me so much respect, understanding, honest, and you’ve been open about how you feel since the jump. Now, it’s my turn to do the same. You are truly my favorite person.” she said, adding: “I’m in love with you, Kendall.