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Jeremiah Brown is getting real about the role Ace Greene plays in the Love Island USA villa.
Days after the 25-year-old was dumped from the Fiji villa by his fellow islanders — Ace, Taylor Williams and Nic Vansteenberghe — he sat down with PEOPLE to debrief his experience and unpack his shocking exit.
He’s also weighing in on fan speculation about the influence that Ace, 22, has in the villa as a whole.
Ace is “definitely the ringleader” of the other boys in the villa, Jeremiah says.
When asked about fans’ theories that Ace acts like a producer of sorts amongst the islanders, pointing them in different directions and encouraging certain behavior, Jeremiah says he’d “have to agree.”
“Because that’s all I heard in the Villa too, is just, yeah, you just tell everyone how to play the game and what to do, and call it advice,” he adds.
Jeremiah says Ace has an “amazing personality” and is “so funny,” so he thought they were going to get along better.
“I had a lot of respect for him, and I was like, ‘Oh, this guy’s really funny. That’s going to be my guy.’ But then it was just like, ‘Do this, do this. Don’t do that. Don’t do that. You’re messing up.'”
He remembers thinking, “‘Whoa, why are you so obsessed with how I’m dating and doing the show?'”
“So you know, 100%, he’s definitely the ringleader of Nic and Taylor, respectfully,” Jeremiah confirms.
It wasn’t just Ace pointing the boys in certain directions, though — Pepe was also vocal about how the boys should move.
Jeremiah reveals that Ace and Pepe would tell the boys “every day, ‘Don’t be locked in.'”
“Ace and Pepe were very [much] advocates of, ‘Explore everybody, 24/7. I’m just waiting for a bombshell,’ which is totally fine,” he says. “He was definitely still like, ‘You know, just play the game, and don’t be locked in until week five or six,’ and I’m just like, ‘All right, buddy.'”
He makes sure to note that Pepe is “my guy” and “still a really close friend to me,” but regardless, “He was definitely still like, ‘You know, just play the game, and don’t be locked in until week five or six.'”
Being dumped by Nic, who he considered a best friend in the villa, was a “betrayal” in Jeremiah’s eyes.
After weeks spent locked in with Huda Mustafa, Jeremiah began exploring other options, first with Iris Kendall, and then with bombshell Adreina Santos.
His connection with Adreina was cut short, though, when the boys voted for him to be dumped.
“Honestly I was just like, ‘What the hell?'” he says of his reaction to be dumped. “It was honestly just betrayal.”
The delivery of the news was upsetting to him, too. “I was not upset that it was Taylor, but I feel like it could have been Nic or Ace [who told me], because Ace — we never saw eye to eye. We had a lot of great moments, but we never saw eye to eye, so at least tell me that. Or Nic, you’re my best friend, so at least tell me that,” he says.
“I’m still a little upset,” he admits. “But yeah, I’m like, I get it.”
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New episodes of Love Island USA drop every day except Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Peacock.