With a brand new season of Love Island: USA officially underway, fans of the franchise cannot help but reminisce on season 5 of the hit competition show, which took place last summer and produced some of the cutest couples in the history of the show so far.
Ending the season with four strong duos — Hannah Wright and Marco Donatelli, Carmen Kocourek and Kenzo Nudo, Carsten “Bergie” Bergersen and Taylor Smith, and Kassy Castillo and Leonardo “Leo” Dionicio — every couple besides the latter is still going strong, making their relationships work while outside of the villa.
In a conversation with PEOPLE, the three remaining couples shared what they have been up to since the show wrapped, as well as how their relationship has progressed since then. Keep scrolling to see for yourself…
Hannah Wright and Marco Donatelli
Finishing Love Island: USA as the strongest couple — taking home the $100k cash prize — it looks like Hannah Wright and Marco Donatelli are still the strongest couple to come from season 5, living together in Boca Raton, Florida for the past 10 months. They are also dog parents to a Goldendoodle named Guiseppe — how cute is that?
While Hannah plans to celebrate their one year anniversary this summer by “staying in with a pizza and watching [their] favorite docuseries,” Marco told PEOPLE that while they may like to keep things more low-key, the anniversary is a much bigger deal to him than Love Island: USA fans may think:
“I will also celebrate our anniversary by reviewing the vows we made to each other and reflecting on how we have been fulfilling them in our daily routine. I have quickly learned important lessons as a man, a good boyfriend, and a future father: to provide and to love. These two principles have taken our relationship to the next level and prepared me to work towards marriage.”
As far as where their relationship goes from here, the two lovebirds are “focusing on growing together and making adult decisions, from choosing the best grocery store for [their] budget to deciding which city [they] want to raise our kids in.” Lucky for Marco, Hannah has a city in mind:
“We like to take things day by day, but in the next four to five years we would love to buy a house in Pittsburgh and lay down roots to hopefully start a family together. Marco has a lot of family in Pittsburgh and I love the city.”
I don’t know about you, but I think I hear some wedding bells…
Carmen Kocourek and Kenzo Nudo
Lucky for fans of the franchise, Carmen Kocourek and Kenzo Nudo‘s relationship seems to have progressed since the finale of Love Island: USA season 5, taking some major steps as a couple ever since returning to Arizona, the state in which both party resided prior to entering the villa — how convenient is that? According to Kenzo, they even live together, just like Hannah and Marco:
“We just moved in together in May! After Love Island last summer, I moved back to Scottsdale after a year of traveling so we could be in the same city together. This last month we decided to move to Milwaukee, and it’s been really nice to have our own little home.”
While they spent time after Love Island: USA growing themselves, focusing on their mental health, and making their relationship a priority, Carmen and Kenzo are now “excited to continue building [their] home together and checking off more things on [their] bucket list.” With lots of things they want to achieve, both individually and as a couple, the future is bright!
Carsten “Bergie” Bergersen and Taylor Smith
Although Carsten “Bergie” Bergersen and Taylor Smith are not as advanced as two couples listed previously, still doing long-distance after almost a year, Bergie shared with PEOPLE how exactly the pair has been making their relationship work, despite living in two entirely different states:
“We are making it work by staying on the same page with our short-term and long-term goals. These goals consist of our relationship, family, career, and personal goals. We FaceTime at least two hours every day. We talk about our future together and what we appreciated and learned from our day. We are still continuing to learn more about one another and falling deeper in love every day.”
While Bergie plans to go back to school this fall and get his doctorate degree in physical therapy, Taylor plans to continue her career in the dermatology field, as well as potentially pursue her aspirations of working in human resources. After that, “[their] tentative timeline is to be engaged within the next three years, be married in the next five years, and have kids in six years” — how wholesome is that?
While these three Love Island: USA couples managed to find their perfect match in paradise, will anyone from season 6 also find themselves lucky in love? To find out for yourself, catch brand new episodes of the beloved competition series every Thursday through Tuesday at 9pm ET / 6pm PT exclusively on Peacock.
