- Love Island: Beyond the Villa season 2 premieres on Peacock on Wednesday, April 15.
- One of this season’s stars and Love Island winner, Amaya “Papaya” Espinal, soft-launched a new boyfriend five months after her split with Bryan Arenales.
- Here’s what we know about Amaya Papaya’s new boyfriend.
We finally get to see what national treasure Amaya “Papaya” Espinal has been up to since she and Bryan Arenales won the $100,000 grand prize on Love Island USA last summer, thanks to the latest season of Love Island: Beyond the Villa. She and Bryan split shortly after returning home from Fiji because their romantic “visions didn’t align.” Womp. But, fear not: She has a new man in her life!
On April 14, just one day before Beyond the Villa season 2 dropped, Amaya shared pics from a romantic vacay on her Instagram Stories, but fans still don’t know who this man could be since she hasn’t posted any pics of his face or (fully) popped out with him on a red carpet just yet.
His identity remains a mystery—so much so, that fans have been studying his tattoos to figure out who he is. Here’s what we know about Amaya Papaya’s new boyfriend (so far, anyway).
They’ve been linked since early 2026
Yep. While the exact timeline of their romance is unclear, Amaya soft-launched her mystery man and attempted to keep his identity anonymous in February 2026. That marks five months after she rose to fame on Love Island, by the way.
Per screenshots obtained by People, the nurse-turned-reality-TV-personality shared pics to her Instagram Stories when he surprised her with a stunning floral arrangement for Valentine’s Day. She even posted a snap showing off his tattoos when they had a spa date for the holiday. Cute-cute-cute.
Not long after, they stepped out for a Valentine’s Day date night at the LaQuan Smith fashion show during New York Fashion Week and even snapped a photo together. And though she didn’t reveal her man’s name, it definitely seems to be the same guy, and his ink seemingly matches Amaya’s social posts. (!!!)
He likes to stay out of the spotlight
According to a since-deleted social media post Amaya shared in February, her boyfriend is totally off the grid and doesn’t even have an Instagram account.
“Not everyone trying to hunt down my man with his neck tattoo. Spoiler—he doesn’t even have an IG so good luck. We don’t date influencers here, we date bosses,” she wrote, per The Shade Room.
She also opened up about the connection at the Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party in March, telling Entertainment Tonight, “It’s going really good. Honestly, it feels like being with my best friend, so it doesn’t feel forced, and even if we’re not doing anything with each other, it’s the best moments.”
Amaya added, “I also like the fact that he is not in the spotlight, not in the scene, and doesn’t care to be in the scene…So, it goes really deeper.”
And, just because he’s away from the spotlight doesn’t mean he doesn’t know what he’s in for when it comes to Amaya’s star rising.
“Honestly, I’m really thankful to be having a relationship [where] he understands,” Amaya explained. “He understands my world, and he understands that this is my job, and I feel like that’s where we balance each other out, you know?”
They’re (sort of) Instagram official
While Amaya still keeps her relationship extremely low-key, she still shares small moments with her mystery man on social media.
Per Reddit, she posted photos and videos caressing and kissing him during a romantic beach getaway on her Instagram Stories on April 14. She also included a cute snap of him wrapping his arms around her in a photo dump.
He might make an appearance on Love Island: Beyond the Villa season 2
Season 2 of Love Island: Beyond the Villa hits Peacock with a two-episode premiere on Wednesday, April 15, and we finally get to catch up with Amaya and all her adventures. But will we finally catch a glimpse of her mystery man?
“So I’m currently in a relationship, happily in love,” Amaya told Swooon of her romance. “And you guys will see some bits and pieces on maybe how that story unfolds. But, yeah, we like to keep that private in that way. But you’ll see just enough, just enough love.”
I’m simply too seated!
