“Love Island USA” season 7 clearly won the summer. The reality dating show held it down as the number one streaming reality series for six consecutive weeks. But even if you didn’t contribute to the more than 18 billion streaming minutes the show racked up on Peacock, you’ve more than likely heard of Olandria Carthen, the 27-year-old Alabama native who made it all the way to the show’s finale, finishing as the runner-up with her partner Nic Vansteenberghe.
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Throughout the season, Carthen was a fan favorite, and since the show ended in July, her star (and her gorgeous glowing skin) are shining brighter than ever, with a massive social media following, that includes 2.2 million from Instagram, 1.5 million on TikTok and 252,000 on X. And when she pops out at high-profiel events, she’s all anyone can talk about.
Check her out here, slaying the Nicki Minaj challenge at the US Open on September 3:
The people playing tennis aren’t the only ones serving 😍😍,”wrote someone in the comments.
Just a few days later, a Sept. 7 TikTok she posted of her look for the 2025 VMAs pulled in over 500,000 likes and comments from people who are loving everything about the dark-skinned beauty who calls herself “Bama Barbie.”
“You’re outerworldly beautiful. Olandria, you even don’t know what you’re doing for brown girls…” wrote someone else.
After all of that, Carthen still hasn’t slowed down. This week, she’s been making us gag with stunning looks at New York Fashion Week events all over the city.
She and Nic practically shut down the street as they waved to fans at the Off-White show.
A September 12 photo dump from the Theophilio show pulled in over 800,000 views on X.
“MOTHERLANDRIA LOOKING GOOD,” wrote someone in the comments.
But Carthen hasn’t just been a spectator. She got a chance to walk the runway at the Sergio Hudson show.
While we can already see a bright future in fashion for Olandria, she says she wants to continue to network and use her platform to support up-and-coming fashion designers whenever she can.
“The fashion industry is just welcoming me with open arms, and it’s a beautiful thing to be a part of,” she told Vanity Fair in a recent interview.
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