Toniiiight *Ian Sterling voice* get ready for Love Island's funnest new challenge--'Whac-a-Match'! *Cue the slow motion running of Islanders in their scantily clad swimwear* Yes, we all know the classic game of Whac-a-Mole--think that but make it problematic! This game would take place post-Casa Amor and Movie Night. Tensions are still high, and some heads have turned. Some couples are having trouble in paradise and unfortunately for the Islanders this is going to stir up some mess but fortunately for us viewers, we'll be in for a treat! This game will add in some more entertainment by stirring the pot but also giving Islanders an opportunity to go for who they TRULY want. In Whac-a-Match, the "favorite" guy and girl Islander will have their own separate turns. For the sake of this explanation, girls rule and so she's up first! Viewers would have had their vote for favorite islanders through text the night prior and that's how we know which girl has her first pick, unless it's random and chosen by producers. The "favorite" girl Islander has been prompted to select the top 3-5 boys (depending on how long we want this game to run) in the villa that she's attracted to and/or can see herself with outside of the villa. Since not every Islander will be able to participate some will be on the sidelines, cheerleaders, and/or reading off of the cue cards for the participants. The "host" has a deck of cue cards with a set of questions; 3-5 questions (in no particular order) will be for each of the 5 boys/girls chosen by our "favorite" Islanders. Let the games begin! The Islander has a lightning round of questions/statements to answer (again 3-5 for each contestant). On the cue cards will be questions, personal/fun facts, and things related to life in the villa. Example: "This Islander has been abstinent for 5 years" or "Which Islander has pulled the most girls for a chat at 'Soul Ties'? Of course, for TV entertainment's sake the questions can get messier, if need be, i.e. "This Islander secretly kissed someone outside of their couple"---now the Islander has to 'Whac' the Islander she thinks the question/statement is referring to. With a blow-up mallet and all of the boys with their heads through a cutout hole, the islander has to run and try to "whac' her choice whilst they pop their heads in and out (maybe there can be another way to make this more difficult), just like the classic game of Whac-a-Mole. Once again, the game is timed just to add a bit of a challenge and possibly the floor might be muddy/slippery to add another extra layer of difficulty! The lightning round of questions has ended, and the female Islander has answered the most correct questions for one Islander in particular and now they are coupled up. WOOHOO! Now is the voted "favorite" male Islander's turn. Same game, different line up. He also has answered the most questions for a specific female Islander and so they as well are a couple. We now have two (potentially new) couples, WOOHOO! These couples will now be awarded with a date (to get to test out their new or not so new connections) but plot twist and little do they know that at the firepit ceremony they will be voting out 2-4 islanders or couples in general; this will definitely end the night on a sour note, huh? Sorry Islanders! There you have it 'Whac-a-Match!' Love Island's newest challenge--it's giving drama, tears, and even new connections! What more could you want?

Hi, I'm Destanee. I am 25 years old and I'm on a mission! A bit of background about me; I am the daughter of two Haitian immigrants. My mother had me as a teenager, we grew up together and so we butt heads. She did the best that she could but of course with a single parent and in a low-income household I had to persevere and not let myself become a product of my environment. I realized that I could easily become a statistic if I did so, that took a lot of self-motivation and foresight to know that not everyone who came from the environments that I have will have that self-motivation or even vision to see more for themselves, but I believe that my purpose in life is to show them (the youth) that there is so much more to life and that they can do anything that they set their minds to. This past year I have been a Children's Health VISTA at the Department of Public Health, creating short training videos that bring education, awareness, and resources for families in need. I also volunteered as a reading coach for 6 months, in hopes of helping with the low literacy rate amongst elementary school students. Through this volunteer work that I did I got more reassurance to now become a student success coach---tutoring and mentoring students that are at risk with their academics, behavior, and attendance. Along with being a student success coach I have enrolled in school for the fall for a bachelor's in general studies with a concentration in Africana Studies. I chose this major specifically because I am very keen on making a difference in my community. I believe that with educating myself on the history of the people before me I can work on making a better future. The plight of my people is something that I think of quite often. My main goal after receiving my bachelor's will be to then get master's in African studies or social work. This is how I am working towards achieving my goals which include having non-profit organizations specifically for the youth and homeless population. I believe through the groundwork that I'm building now and with the volunteer work I've done and through schooling I can be part of the change that this world needs to have a more equitable society and level the playing field especially for my people.

There are certain times in your life that alter you and that you will always remember. 2022 was that for me. I was in a living situation that I was at my wits end with, I had just purchased a car, although I wasn't the best driver, and I had a bit of savings. With no clear plan of what I was going to do or where I was going to go, I packed my things in my car and headed to a new city. I didn't know anyone, nor did I have a job. But again, I felt that I couldn't bear living where I was and decided that I was going to do something about it. I don't think that I have to go too in depth for you to probably guess that things did not pan out well for me. I was sleeping in my overpacked Civic, in a Walmart parking lot hoping that I was conspicuous enough to not be spotted by anyone. Between gas and food, money started to run low. Did I mention that I was in Florida? Humidity and heat while staying in your car, meant dehydration and overheating. I had enough for a hotel for few days and of course wanted to shower in a real shower instead of a gym. This hotel was roach infested and I could not sleep with the stress of knowing that I had nowhere to go and that I had driven to a new place with no plan, and it was backfiring fast. Fast forward, I used a credit card to stay at a cleaner hotel for a week and I got an interview for a job, things were starting to look up, so I thought. Wrong. After leaving the interview I got into a car accident, credit card was almost maxed out and I was at the lowest mental headspace and never felt more alone. I overcame this experience after going to Job Corp where although not the best experience I had a place to lay my head and steady meals. That led to my drive for wanting to help others who like me have no one to rely on but themselves and feel as though they have no direction in life. I know that my story is not unique and that is why I want to help others and make a difference in my community. I believe that if this was instilled in me from young, if I had more people pouring into me just how capable I was; I would have a different trajectory in life and would have realized my potential much earlier in life. That is also why work with children and that is how I give back to my community. This past year I've been an AmeriCorps member creating educational videos that provide resources and awareness for caseworkers to pass on to their clients. I also volunteered as a reading coach at an elementary school in Philadelphia, where the literacy rate is low. Currently, I am training to become a Student Success Coach. As cliche as it is, children are the future. In working with children and helping them grow by instilling confidence and hope within them, I believe that will be a trickle-down effect to future generations especially in my community. I plan to continue to give back and embody agape love by also having my own profit organizations that's not only geared to youth but also to homelessness, a population of people that we see and ignore every day.

I don't believe that my mental health is important. I KNOW that it is important. We hear so much about how important it is to take care of our physical health; whether it be what you put in your body and staying active, but we often neglect our mind. Which is just as important if not somewhat more. Without a healthy mind how could you be able to do anything else? Mental health, in my opinion is important because throughout life we can face many adversities, some more than others. I believe that we store that in our mind even if it is subconsciously, it in turn it can then affect us physically. In recent years, there have been many studies showings a possible connection to the mind and gut (think of it as a second brain) and how it ultimately affects us physically. Think of how when we're super anxious or nervous and we start to show physiological signs of it, excessive sweating, shaking, etc. With that being said, if our minds are so connected to our physical self, how come only one is talked about so openly? There is such a taboo with speaking of our emotions, traumas, and just overall headspace. I believe if the topic of mental health was made less taboo and spoken more about as a norm, we'd have a lot less angry, lonely, and overall sad people in this world. We'd have so much more awareness on people in general because we'd talk about different mental illnesses and how to interact and care for people who suffer from them instead of labeling them as 'crazy' or just ostracize them in society. Overall mental health is such an important aspect of my life. I maintain mental wellness by journaling; not everyone has someone to speak to and I find that writing out my emotions or just how my day went feels very cathartic. I also have been going to therapy for the past few years. As I've mention before we all have faced adversities of some sort and depending on your upbringing you might have had some form of trauma that you need to work through---I am one of those people. Though a work in progress, I found that journaling, going to therapy and just making time to do the things that I enjoy have helped me to become more of a person that I admire. Less angry, more understanding and empathetic. Imagine a world with more empathy. Mental health and wellness are beyond important and that is why I plan on continuing to invest in myself. I want to become a better person, through my own personal self-work and mental health and ultimately helps others do the same.

I am the daughter of two Haitian immigrants. growing up I moved from various places from South Florida to Haiti for a few years back to South Florida and then to New Jersey. My mother had me as a teenager, we grew up together and so we butt heads. She did the best that she could but of course with a single parent and in a low-income household I had to persevere and not let myself become a product of my environment. I realized that I could easily become a statistic if I did so that took a lot of self-motivation and foresight know that not everyone who came from the environments that I have will have that self-motivation or even vision to see more for themselves, but I believe that my purpose in life is to show them (the youth) that there is so much more to life and that they can do anything that they set their mind to. This past year I have been a Children's Health VISTA at the Department of Public Health, creating short training videos that bring awareness and resources for families in need. I also volunteered as a reading coach for 6 months, in hopes of helping with the illiteracy rates amongst elementary school students. In August, I will be a Student Success Coach---assisting children who are at risk of repeating grades and who need that extra boost when it come to their academics and just to motivate them. This is how I am working towards achieving my goals which include having non-profit organizations specifically for the youth and homeless population. Enrolling back in school is also helping me achieve this goal. I will be majoring in Africana Studies in order to better educate myself on the history of the people who have come before me so that I can work towards their visions of a more equitable society and also not repeat history.

I am the daughter of two Haitian immigrants. My mother had me as a teenager, we grew up together and so we butt heads. She did the best that she could but of course with a single parent and in a low-income household I had to persevere and not let myself become a product of my environment. I realized that I could easily become a statistic if I did so that took a lot of self-motivation and foresight know that not everyone who came from the environments that I have will have that self-motivation or even vision to see more for themselves, but I believe that my purpose in life is to show them (the youth) that there is so much more to life and that they can do anything that they set their mind to. This past year I have been a Children's Health VISTA at the Department of Public Health, creating short training videos that bring awareness and resources for families in need. I also volunteered as a reading coach for 6 months, in hopes of helping with the illiteracy rates amongst elementary school students. In August, I will be a Student Success Coach---assisting children who are at risk of repeating grades and who need that extra boost when it come to their academics and just to motivate them. This is how I am working towards achieving my goals which include having non-profit organizations specifically for the youth and homeless population. Enrolling back in school is also helping me achieve this goal. I will be majoring in Africana Studies in order to better educate myself on the history of the people who have come before me so that I can work towards their visions of a more equitable society and also not repeat history.

I believe that being a black woman in this world the odds are just stacked against us, so that is an obstacle in and of itself. I also know that Black people are not a monolith and so here is my individual story. I am the daughter of two Haitian immigrants. My mother had me as a teenager and so that brought a lot of turmoil. We grew up together and so we butt heads. Throughout my earlier school days there was always trouble at home and so in turn I tended to bring it to school. Whether it'd be just being disinterested in school or overall indifferent and never having a real direction because frankly I had no example. Still, I did well in school although with more effort I could have done much better. After graduating high school, I did what I thought I was supposed to. Go to college even though I knew that I had no real clue or desire to go at the time. I set on being a teacher solely because during my early school years with the turmoil going on at home, some of my teachers were the most caring and inspiring people in my life. Due to financial and personal issues I was unable to continue with school after 2 semesters. I then continued to work several dead-end jobs from fast food, retail, HHA and housekeeping. Truthfully, I was wandering aimlessly in life. Fast forward to today, I am a student success coach (guess I ended up being a teacher after all) thanks to volunteering as Philly reading coach, I realized that I needed to do this work and also re-enrolled in college. This time majoring in Africana Studies. In these times I believe there is a concerted effort to keep certain people illiterate and erase and rewrite history. I've decided to take matters into my own hand, educate myself with the history of those that have come before me and make it my mission to make sure I have a hand in the change in this world for people that look like me or have come from similar communities. I will have non-profit organizations specially for the youth and homeless population in communities that I have lived in first and hopefully expand farther. I want to bring hope to our children, teach them their worth and how there's a whole world out there for them and that they'll be able to succeed even if the cards are stacked against them. Being a black woman in this world the odds are just stacked against us. But if I let that be my narrative, I'd get nothing done---I can't afford to do that I have too much change to create.

Hi, I'm Destanee. I am 25 years old and I'm on a mission! I am re-enrolling in school and to some it might be a bit later in life. Conversely, I believe that it's perfect timing. Destanee at 18 years old in college isn't Destanee at 25 years old in college. I believe that I am much more well-rounded and have more direction in what I am mean to do in life. With that being said, this year I will be a Student Success Coach with City Year (an AmeriCorps program) and enrolling for a bachelor's in general studies with a concentration in Africana Studies. I know that my purpose in life is to create change and equity to the people of this world that are less fortunate and disenfranchised. I'd like to start that work right in the communities that I've lived in with people that look like me, because I know a lot of us need it. I want to specifically help the youth and homeless population. With a goal like that, you have to hold yourself accountable. I do so by always keeping in mind my end goals, and the many lives that I can touch and make better by succeeding. Specifically, I set several short-term goals that help me get toward my main goal. I check in with myself to make sure I am doing what I am supposed to in order to achieve this goal. I reach out to my mentor as well for their outlook and opinions. Most importantly, I am honest with myself. If there is something that I am unable to do, I am realistic and go back to the drawing board. This has taught me that although you may face a setback, it's not the end of the world. This has built perseverance in my life, and I believe with goals like mine, that'll take me a long way. In my personal life I hold myself accountable because I know that if I don't reach my goals or live up to my own expectations, I would have no one to blame but myself. With little to no family, I know that I must stay on the right path and see my goals through. This has led to me successfully being able to pivot in careers and actually realize what I'm meant to do in life, and I believe that has been success in and of itself.