Love Island’s Leslie Golden Says She Left the Show Over Something “a Little Illegal”

Love Island's Leslie Golden addressed fan theories about why she suddenly exited the CBS dating show, teasing she did something "a little illegal" and "would love to say" what happened.

By Lindsay Weinberg Aug 03, 2021 12:11 AMTags
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What happened to Leslie? This time, the Love Island gossip isn't over the latest recoupling—but rather, a mysterious offscreen dumping.

CBS viewers last heard from purple-haired contestant Leslie Golden on the July 30 episode of Love Island USA, when she called out the guys for talking bad about her and fellow Casa Amor newcomer Genevieve Shawcross, who hit back after being labeled as "raunchy."

After the islanders' blowup, which the O.G. girls called the first major "drama" on set in Hawaii, narrator Matthew Hoffman introduced the next public vote for the reality dating show. He asked America to turn to the mobile app to vote for their favorite girl and boy in the villa. However, as he introduced the girls one by one, fans noticed Leslie was left off and was ineligible for voting. 

Leslie appeared briefly at the start of Aug. 1 episode, sleeping in bed. Matthew narrated, "What a beautiful sunrise. Leslie has left the villa. Well, anyway, how about some more kooky facts? Uh, sure, flamingos are born grey and turn pink after a year or two. Cool!"

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Fans immediately took to Twitter to speculate what went down. "y'all think leslie caught something ? the way her voice been sounding and now we can't vote for her," asked one fan. "What's tha damn tea??" demanded another.

Leslie, 24, turned to her own Instagram Story on Aug. 1 to clear things up for her nearly half a million followers. "If u don't have hate for anyone and love them all why'd you leave," one fan wondered. She typed back, "Personal reasons!"

Sara Mally/CBS

Social media users weren't convinced, with one writing, "Personal reasons! Come on. Let it out!" Leslie replied, "No but really, it's not that deep [laughing emoji]. Has absolutely nothing to do with anyone in the villa I pinky swear." 

One fan said, "What constitutes as 'personal reasons.' Seems like you just ditched after drama lol." The islander, who was coupled up with Korey Gandy before leaving, wrote back, "No no no, completely unrelated to the drama I swear! I know how it seems but I have no beef with anyone there [shrugging emoji]." 

She addressed another rumor when she wrote on Instagram, "Y'all I did not get 'kicked out for doing porn' [three skull emojis] y'all are reaching and it's not even that serious [laughing emoji]."

Nonetheless, fans kept asking, with one writing, "Will you ever reveal why you left?" For this one, Leslie appeared onscreen in a video, saying on Aug. 2, "It's already starting to come out. I would love to say it. I think it's hilarious. I think it's a really dumb reason. Again, very on brand for me. However, what I did was a little illegal."

Regardless of the true reason, one follower questioned why her exit was "unmentioned and all evidence of you erased from cbs?" Leslie said she didn't know, writing, "I honestly have no idea why they did that. Maybe to not pull focus from the people who are actually in the villa."

Sara Mally/CBS

E! News has reached out to CBS for comment on her departure and has not heard back. 

A few Insta slides later, Leslie shared a video of herself smoking a vape pen and said, "Are y'all catching my draft or nah," though it wasn't in response to a particular question.

Additionally, Leslie implied on Sunday that her exit wasn't related to an illness. As fans theorized about the cause of her raspy voice, one asked, "was it a cold?" The Texas native replied, "I lost it from yelling and hyping everyone during the raunchy races [game]." Another one again asked how she lost her voice, and she said she was just "really excited lol, tons of yelling and I honestly never stop talking soooo." 

She also confessed she doesn't hold ill will toward the other islanders. When one fan said they were expecting more juicy responses, she acknowledged that it might have looked like "I'm drama" but "that's just not my vibe." As she explained, "It may look fake, but I honestly had the time of my life and have no ill will towards a single person in the villa. No reason to run around making anyone's life any harder, it's all love here baby." 

The social media influencer added that she has "never fought" with fellow islander Shannon St. Claire and has "MAJOR respect and love for her." 

Love Island USA airs almost nightly on CBS at 9 p.m., with additional moments on Paramount+.