If you were to ask us what we will miss the most now that season 5 of Love Island: USA has come to a close, our answer is simple: the one and only Carsten ‘Bergie’ Bergersen.
Finishing in third place alongside his new girlfriend, Taylor Smith, Bergie has had a whirlwind of a journey in the villa. If you watched season 5 of Love Island: USA from the very beginning, you may remember him having a rocky start to his journey.
On the very first day, the Dairy Queen manager was coupled up with Anna Kurdys (but not by choice). Their fellow islanders did not pick both Bergie and Anna, and they got paired up by default. Naturally, their fellow islanders voted the duo as the least compatible couple, and the 23-year-old was dumped from the villa just hours after his arrival — poor Bergie!
Thankfully, Bergie returned the next day as a “throuple” with two hot new bombshells: Hannah Wright and Carmen Kocourek. Thank goodness he made it back into the villa, or else he would have never met Taylor during the infamous Casa Amor week — everything happens for a reason!
In an exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly, Bergie opened up about what was going through his head during the not-so-glamorous start to his Love Island: USA journey.
“I thought I was gonna get coupled up then really explore that connection maybe in that couple to start. My confidence just got crushed that first day expecting to meet someone and have a good connection to explore. Instead, I had one conversation [with Anna] who wanted to get to know Leo, and no other girl had interest in me. It went completely differently than I thought it was gonna go… With Anna, we knew she wasn’t my person. I needed someone a bit more calm and collected. Anna is more extroverted and she likes a guy that’s extroverted. I couldn’t be that person for Anna.”
Trying to build connections with numerous other islanders in the villa (even kissing more girls than any of the other men), Bergie found himself unlucky in love over and over again until Taylor arrived in Fiji. While it took him a long time to find the one, Bergie learned a lot about himself during his time on Love Island: USA nonetheless.
Leaving Fiji with a great deal of self-growth and a stunning new girlfriend? It sounds like Bergie was the real winner of season 5.
Bergie was pretty sure about his answers when asked what his biggest takeaways were after his whirlwind of a journey on Love Island: USA.
“Self-confidence, and I learned a ton about myself in terms of what I want in a relationship. Going in there, I knew I wanted a relationship, but I didn’t know what exactly I wanted that to look like.”
The 23-year-old then proceeded to share some general advice based on what he learned during his time in the villa — we think it is a great nugget of wisdom for any young adult out there!
“I’d say be confident in who you are. In the beginning, I forgot who I was while I was in there and got nervous and shy around everybody. I felt like I wasn’t supposed to be there. In the end, I was supposed to be there and there’s a reason for me being there.“
He was there to find his first-ever girlfriend and seemingly perfect match, the one and only Taylor Smith.
Bergie took to Instagram (where he has amassed nearly 60K followers) just yesterday (Aug. 30) to share just how much he and Taylor’s connection means to him, even after their Love Island: USA journey has ended.
“I am so grateful that you were my Love Island experience. I don’t think I could have met someone who I needed more in that moment than you. I can’t express how excited I am to see where our future goes! ❤️”
While we were skeptical about whether the duo would last beyond the villa, it looks like it is smooth sailing for Taylor and Bergie from here. According to Bergie’s exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly, the duo plans to meet sooner rather than later.
“We’re still FaceTiming two or three times a day. We’re connecting and she has everything that I want and I have everything that she wants… Taylor is coming up to visit my family, hopefully next week, then I’m going to visit her in Dallas.”
To stay up-to-date on these cute couples trips that are on the way, we will definitely be keeping up with both Bergie and Taylor on social media until further notice.
To watch Bergie and Taylor’s relationship unfold from the very beginning, you can binge-watch all of season 5 of Love Island: USA exclusively on Peacock.