Love Island USA’s Leah Kateb Claims Producer Lied About Miguel Harichi

Leah Kateb claimed there was one Love Island USA producer who allegedly tried to manipulate her and Miguel Harichi’s relationship

In Us Weekly‘s exclusive clip from the Tuesday, July 29, episode of Tommy DiDario‘s “I’ve Never Said This Before” podcast, Leah — who is now starring on Peacock’s Beyond the Villa — clarified her previous stance about not returning to reality TV after season 6 of Love Island USA.

“I didn’t think that I wanted to return back to reality TV for a really long time. I don’t think it was ever a final note at all [though]. That’s a really big thing that people mistook what I said when I said I wouldn’t be on Love Island Games,” she noted.”They called me right after I got out the villa. [But] I didn’t want to work with certain producers on Love Island USA again just because of my personal experience and what they have said to me.”

Leah denied that her issues had to do with how she was portrayed on the show.”I don’t even care about [the villain edit]. It’s my experience that I had outside of that was not positive. It was certain producers that I wouldn’t work with again. That’s all I meant,” she continued. “I love Peacock and I love NBC. I honestly love a lot of the producers that were on Love Island USA as well. It was just a few people that were not very respectful and I feel like they took a lot of advantage.”

Leah explained that producers on Love Island USA “pull you aside” and “check in” as you are looking for a connection. “During those check-ins, they would be like, ‘Oh, Miguel told me that he doesn’t see a future with you outside of this,’” she alleged.

“When I told Miguel he was like, ‘I literally never said that,’” she explained. “They were trying to shove me in a different direction — away from Miguel — because they thought that would be the craziest reality TV moment. But I’m a human being with feelings. They were also saying the same things to Miguel. It was the same producer. While he was in Casa, he was told, ‘You don’t know what Leah’s doing over there.’”

Related: ‘Love Island USA’ Status Check: Which Couples Are Still Together?

They got a text — and found love in the Love Island USA villa. The beloved British dating show made its way across the pond in 2019, following a crop of American bombshells searching for The One in a luxury tropical villa. In season 1, eventual winners Elizabeth Weber and Zac Mirabelli had a connection […]

While Leah was happy with what came of her time on Love Island USA (Leah and Miguel recently celebrated one year together), she was still frustrated after leaving the villa. “There was a lot of situations like that where they were trying to manipulate a situation and I just wasn’t a big fan of that,” she said. “You guys clearly had a narrative and that’s fine because at it’s TV. But it’s reality TV. You’re not writing a show.”

Leah is grateful that their connection withstood being on reality TV.

“Miguel and I were into each other enough that we didn’t even care about the things that they were saying. Obviously we weren’t as close as we are now but I feel like we just got each other,” she gushed “That that such a big thing that we were able to just trust each other.”

Us Weekly has reached out to Peacock for comment.