Paige DeSorbo is shedding light on why she disappeared halfway through her hosting gig on Love Island USA.
During the Sunday, June 15, episode of the Peacock hit, it was hard to miss narrator Iain Stirling casually taking over for Paige before the challenge she was hosting was over. Two days later, the Summer House alum took to her “Giggly Squad” podcast on Tuesday, June 17, to reveal that a health scare caused her to step away early.
“It’s insane. It’s a long filming day and we started pretty early,” Paige recalled “Mind you, I’ve just landed and it’s not even a full 24 hours that I’m there. So in no situation was I acclimated. But I’m fine. I’m not gonna be a diva. I’m doing the job.”
Paige started off strong — despite a wardrobe issue — but she didn’t anticipate how the heat in Fiji would affect her.
“I do my entrance and I’m not nervous at all. I’m like I was born for this. I’m cool, I don’t need a beta blocker. Because I was like, ‘Should I take two beta blockers?’ Then I was like, ‘No, there’s gonna be a lot of sun. I don’t want it to be too much,'” she continued. “The sun starts beating down on me pretty aggressively. I’d say we’re about like two hours into filming.”
The reality star was in “a full suede skirt,” which didn’t help her stay cool, adding, “Obviously we’re taking breaks. We’re taking water breaks. They’re coming over to me with an umbrella. They’re shielding me from the sun. They’re having like ice packs and all of this stuff.”
Despite starting to feel off, Paige didn’t want to “be a problem” for the cast and crew. (The show is regularly hosted by fellow Bravo star Ariana Madix.)
“I have a high pain tolerance. If I’m uncomfortable, I’m really waiting until the very last second to tell you,” she explained. “About an hour and a half or two hours into filming, I’m feeling a bit queasy. I throw up. We take a proper break. And I’m like, ‘Guys, I’m just feeling like not myself.'”
She didn’t want to stop filming even though she didn’t feel good, saying, “When I threw up, I was halfway there. I had finished four people and I’m like, ‘I can do the next half. This is fine.’ I just had to throw up and I’m good. I get back out there, I get through two more people and I’m swaying a little bit. I’m not feeling totally normal but again, I’m not stopping the show.”
“I literally sit down and pass out. They’re like, ‘OK, we’re gonna take your blood pressure. We’re gonna stop for a minute,'” she detailed. “They bring me back into the room and I’m like, ‘Guys, I’m so sorry but I just don’t think I can finish it.’ We had two people left. It took everything in me to also say that. I have to advocate for myself.”
Paige thanked the show’s crew for being so understanding.
“I was like, ‘Can you fix it in post-production?’ They were like, ‘Don’t worry about it. You’re so fine. We’ll figure it out.’ I couldn’t wait to see how they edit it,” she quipped. “Because I was like, ‘I’ve watched this before.’ And the narrator is like, ‘Paige had to step away for a minute.'”
The setbacks didn’t take away from Paige’s excitement for the opportunity, adding, “I was so excited to be the host of something and not be on it [like the] victim. I just felt so much pressure taken off.”
New episodes of Love Island USA stream on Peacock daily — except Wednesday — at 9 p.m. ET.
