After six chaotic weeks, Love Island USA season 7 comes to an end on July 13, 2025, when one couple will be chosen by America to win a cash prize. It may have taken a while, but by the final week of summer's most popular reality dating show, strong connections had begun to form. One of the strongest heading into the finale was between Oklahoma cowboy Taylor Williams and South Carolina former cheerleader Clarke Carraway.
Though their relationship had a rocky start, courtesy of a love triangle between Taylor, Clarke, and day one Islander Olandria Carthen, Taylor and Clarke's instant connection outlasted Casa Amor, popularity struggles, and the dramatic fallout of a day one couple. Though they may have departed the show ahead of the finale, the pair ended up as one of the strongest love stories of Love Island this year. Below, read on for a breakdown of everything to know about Taylor and Clarke's relationship, including whether the pair are still dating outside of the villa.
What happened between Taylor and Clarke on 'Love Island USA' season 7?
Taylor Williams, a 24-year-old cowboy and model from Oklahoma City, arrived at the Love Island USA villa as a day one Islander. He quickly partnered up with Olandria Carthen, a 27-year-old elevator and escalator salesperson from Decatur, Alabama. The two Southerners seemed to get along well, but did not have any immediate physical spark. Still, they spent the first three weeks of season 7 building their relationship on a base of friendship, with Olandria even turning down Georgia truck driver Jalen Brown to stay with Taylor.
Then came Casa Amor. When the current contestants were split up by gender to couple up with 11 new bombshells, Taylor caught the eye of two women: 24-year-old Courtney "CoCo" Watson, and 24-year-old Clarke Carraway. The latter, a behavioral health specialist and former competitive cheerleader from Columbia, South Carolina, had her eye on Taylor from the start, but he initially decided to couple up with CoCo after the first-impression kiss challenge. However, 24 hours later, Taylor re-coupled with Clarke after they quickly hit it off.
Taylor (center) chooses between Olandria and Clarke after Casa Amor.
Things got complicated on day three of Casa, when Olandria—who had been left single after a recoupling and subsequently paired with Nic Vansteenberghe—returned to the main villa. Though Taylor says he wants to continue his connection with both the women, it's very clear that he's more giddy with Clarke, and he says he's felt more in that short time with Clarke than he felt with Olandria over three weeks. When all the Islanders return to the main villa, Taylor chooses to stay with Clarke, leaving Olandria (and the other female Islanders) shocked.
Despite the drama with Olandria, Taylor and Clarke continued to build their bond over the rest of the season, and slowly became one of the season's strongest couples. Most of America was Team Olandria, and ranked Taylor and Clarke at the bottom of popularity polls, with Taylor ranking in the bottom six on July 3rd (episode 27). Once the Islanders got the chance to choose, Taylor received the most votes and was saved. After Taylor completely broke things off with Olandria in the dramatic Stand on Business challenge, he and Clarke were drama-free and genuinely sweet for the rest of the season.
On July 8, in episode 32, Clarke and Taylor reached a major milestone. Taylor organized a cute group-cheer for the boys to perform, as a grand promposal asking Clarke to be "exclusive" and not pursue other connections. This is the most serious show of commitment on Love Island (at least this season, when the word "girlfriend" is nearly taboo), and Taylor and Clarke were only the second couple to be closed off thus far, after Nic and Cierra Ortega. (And that ended...how that ended). Unfortunately, Taylor and Clarke had already come in last in a public vote, so they were dumped from the villa later that same night. At least they left together.
Taylor and Clarke cuddle post-"closed off" proposal.
Are Clarke and Taylor still together after 'Love Island USA' season 7?
It's still very early days—it's unclear whether Taylor and Clarke have even flown back from Fiji yet—but as of July 11, the pair are still going strong. The couple have already done their first post-show interviews, and they confirmed that them being exclusive will continue outside of the villa. In fact, they've already discussed how they'll handle long distance, when Taylor returns to Oklahoma and Clarke to South Carolina.
In an interview with Us Weekly, the pair confirmed that they plan to travel and visit each other. Taylor explained while speaking to Decider that it was easier to leave the villa knowing that he'd already found someone special.
"It was easy knowing that if I’m leaving, I’m leaving with her. It’s not like I have to wait for her to get out or she has to wait for me to get out to continue talking. I know we’ll be together," he said. "We can continue talking together as soon as we leave here. She’s going to be a cowgirl out there shoveling horse shit."
Taylor also addressed the widespread fan rumors that he had strung Olandria along to stay on the show before Casa, arguing that he was into her initially. He told Vulture, "At first, I was feeling it. We had a genuine connection. But Clarke gave me a spark I didn’t have with Olandria. It was a whole different feeling.... I definitely could’ve played the long game and stayed to win the show with Olandria and just brought it all the way to the end. But I was here to find a true connection. That’s why I went with Clarke."