The couple talks to ET about if they were surprised they didn't win and discuss their future.
Love Island's Kyra Lizama and Will Moncada may have been the only couple in the finale that were together the entire season, but in the end, they came up just short of being crowned the winners. Even so, the runners-up for season 3 were adamant their experience in the Hawaiian villa produced exactly the results they wanted going in, even if they didn't come away with the $100,000 prize -- love and a relationship.
"Complete honesty, I was not expecting one way or the other of how the ending was going to be or any predictions. I didn't feel any type of way about not getting first. That wasn't important to me," Kyra told ET on Monday afternoon over Zoom. "I know what I came into Love Island for and I came out with exactly that. So regardless of first, second, third, fourth, I already won."
"I feel I already win because I came out with Kyra," added Will, a native of Medellin, Colombia. "But not just that, I feel that I already win because we lived this beautiful experience."
While Kyra and Will were early favorites at the beginning of the season, cracks began to form as questions over Will's investment in the relationship were raised following Casa Amor (his head immediately turned for ex-islander Florence "Flo" Mueller), Kyra's unwavering loyalty to him and some of his actions in the villa. (An islander mentioned on an episode of Love Island that they lived near each other, but Will denied ever crossing paths with Kyra prior to the show.) During the family day episode at the end of the season, Kyra's father openly questioned Will over how truly invested he was with his daughter.
None of the challenges they faced in the villa seemed to faze them, however, as they made it to the finale as the season's longest-surviving couple and made things official as boyfriend and girlfriend after family day. And in ET's exit interview with the pair, they detailed their plans for the future (lots of traveling, including a visit to Colombia for Kyra), possibly living together down the line and addressed those who have doubts about their relationship.
ET: How does it feel to be out of the villa after your whirlwind experience?
Kyra Lizama: It's been so exciting to get out of the villa, but it was just such an amazing experience. It felt like a long time in there, but the best time of my life. The best experience. It was definitely a risk going in there. It's a little bit scary doing something new for the first time. I've never done anything in my life like that before, but it was such an adventure. I'm just so happy with how everything went. My experience looking back, very nostalgic; nothing but good memories. And being outside of the villa now, it's very exciting. So many things to look forward to, coming out with Will, so I'm nothing but happy.
Will Moncada: We were really excited about what was going to happen after and I think maybe we think we're going to live together, but we're really nostalgic of all those moments we shared in the villa. It's going to be in our memories. Also I'm really grateful of the experience and every moment we lived there. It was an incredible life experience, so many things that we'll learn together and we learn personally and so many friends we make. It had been a great and beautiful experience, more because I came out with this beautiful girl.
What are your plans for the future?
Lizama: We have a few plans to travel around together. We both love to travel and just go on adventures. We both live in the same area, so it was really easy for us to envision sharing each other's lives together. We both have our own places and just a normal, healthy relationship. Just making time for each other, doing the things we enjoy together, being healthy and going out to restaurants and going on hikes and going to the beach, going surfing, and road trips and everything like that. All the fun adventures and times that we're going to spend together, that's what I'm so excited for.
Moncada: In the short term, we have planning to be in Hawaii. Now we are here, we have to enjoy the time here. And then I go in September to Colombia because my sister... I'm going to be an uncle. Then, I'm going to be probably 15 days, 20 days in Colombia and she's going to come to visit me too. That's only a short period, but in the long period of course we have to know more about each other on the outside and live together. There are so many things to explore and to know about each other too. How I told her in the finale, it's going to be the beginning of so many things.
You were coupled up since the very beginning and withstood several bumps in the road. How has this experience shaped your relationship?
Lizama: At least for me, I went through every decision-making process and through every experience and everything I felt based on my gut feelings. I listened to my intuition, trusted in my heart and followed that and that always led me back to Will. With everything that we went through, all the bumps in the road, all the good, all the bad, pretty much everything that we've been through together, I trusted in myself and what I know that I want and what I need. I came in there, before even seeing Will come out for the first time, I knew what I came in there looking for and I just went and continued to follow that through the entire journey.
Moncada: Every relationship have bumps, but those things make us grow so much. If I made her feeling bad in any moment, I told her I'm sorry about what happened. It never was my intention to make her feel bad. I always know in the end it was her. Always. It was a process from the beginning, like physical attraction, to be in the end so much connected soul-wise. And I'm so grateful for the experience and to know her. Also we are so mature in the way we talk about issues, about problems, about situations. We always talk with the truth. We always talk being honest between each other, from the deepest things and the smallest things and the things we did in the past. Communication has been a really good key between us and we don't create drama when we don't need to create drama. That's how we actually manage things. That's how we went through everything that happened in the villa because there are so many feelings -- not just with us. There are so many feelings of so many people, so much energy, that if we start creating more drama where people were creating drama, it was going to be a problem all the time. We were always a support to each other and we helped each other to go through that experience.
You guys came up short in the end and didn't win, instead coming second. Were you surprised? What are your feelings about that?
Lizama: At least for me, complete honesty, I was not expecting one way or the other of how the ending was going to be or any predictions. None of that. I didn't feel any type of way about not getting first. That wasn't important to me. I know what I came into Love Island for and I came out with exactly that. So regardless of first, second, third, fourth, I already won. I know I came in there and got what I was looking for, so at the end of the day, that's all that mattered to me. And I was so happy because making it to the end with Will was a win all around.
Moncada: I feel how I say when Arielle [Vandenberg] asked me about how I feel. I feel I already win because I came out with Kyra. But not just that, I feel that I already win because we lived this beautiful experience. It wasn't easy for me, jumping into that experience, English being my second language, being surrounded by so many people with nice energy. I don't think I felt bad. I was like, "If we win, that will be amazing. But if not, we already win each other." We didn't have bad feelings or sad or nothing. Because Olivia and Korey were also amazing too. If they win or we were winning, both of us deserve it.
There have been some who believe or perceive that Will isn't as invested in the relationship as Kyra is. How do you address those who believe that?
Moncada: Definitely in the beginning of the relationship, I told her I want to go more slowly and explore more slowly. And at one point, we always were feeling things and I told her, "I always feeling with you." And one point, she was here and I was here [shows them at different levels with his hands]. But then later, we were in the same page and I feel that's normal in a relationship, not always both growing at the same point. Then in the end, the thing is that I also in the same page with her. I'm feeling the same. We were feeling together. For me, I was scared too of commitment and so many things because my past. Then later on, I analyzed myself and I was like, "What am I scared for if she's a great woman, if she is so nice? She makes me feel good and she made me so secure?" In that point, I realized myself that I was scared of taking that step, but after I took the step, I felt grateful and I felt good. Now, we are together and things are growing more and more and more. We are on the same page now.
On the final date, you made it official by becoming boyfriend and girlfriend.
Lizama: With the way we were in the villa and how we treated each other and communicate with each other, everything like that was all of which I want and need in a relationship. We're really treating each other like we're already in a relationship. He did ask me to be his girlfriend on our final date on the yacht. It was just such a beautiful, perfect moment. With where we were at in our relationship with all that we'd been through, all that we grew together that strengthened us and what we had at getting to that point, he communicated with me how he felt and with that we were already acting like we were in a relationship and treating each other as such, he did ask me and I said yes. I was so happy.
Moncada: We were in a point where we know how we feel with each other and we didn't need to put a tag on it in that moment. But in the end, I was like if we already in that relationship, we build these beautiful feelings for each other and we feel good, this will be a really good way of going outside of the villa and give us the opportunity to experience the outside world together. It give us a strength together to go to the outside and share all of these moments and live all of this experience in the outside and learn from each other in the outside. I'm really happy of my decision and her decision too because it was her decision. I was kind of scared too.
Lizama: He was a little nervous, but he could not stop smiling the whole time.
Are you going to watch the season?
Moncada: Right now, I'm kind of overwhelmed, but definitely we're going to watch. I'm going to watch the season and hopefully we can watch it together. We actually were watching short things.
Lizama: We watched a few clips.
Moncada: There were so many funny things, so many cute moments. We were getting so nostalgic of those moments, getting so excited. Yesterday, after everything, we were like, "Wow, what an experience." And you see it after how magical it was. Our memories, it make me want to watch it because it feels amazing to watch those moments and remember those great moments we lived together.
You can watch all of Love Island season 3 on Paramount+. For more, watch below.
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