Love Island USA‘s Leah Kateb made a rare comment about where her relationship stands now with ex Rob Rausch.
“[After the show], we hung out at Universal Studios Hollywood [in July 2024] and all of that. Our whole season went to Universal and then I think the last time [we saw each other] was that time,” Leah, 26, revealed in Us’ exclusive sneak peek of the Tuesday, August 11, episode of the “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast. “I just haven’t seen him [since then].”
Leah clarified there was no bad blood between the pair.
“I don’t think it’s awkward and I don’t think he’s a bad person,” she added. “I don’t hate anyone. I actually am really happy for him and proud [because he’s doing so well].”
Season 6 of Love Island USA, which aired in 2024, started with Leah and Rob, 27, coupled up. They had viewers rooting for them but ultimately explored other connections.
Rob and Andrea Carmona remained together until hers — and later his — elimination. Leah, meanwhile, found love with Miguel Harichi, whom she is still in a relationship with two years after leaving the villa.
“I also think it’s so crazy that people hold on to these moments so deeply. It’s like … guys this is two years ago. It was a week,” Leah told host Amanda Hirsch about still seeing people rooting for her and Rob. “Imagine if I was holding onto a week of their lives. I’m like, let’s cut it out.”
She continued, “I will still see edits of us and some people are like, ‘You need to leave Miguel. I’m like, ‘Guys, we’re losing the f**king plot here.’”
Elsewhere in the clip, Leah recalled the more tumultuous moments of her and Rob’s villa connection. She pointed out a conversation after Andrea was voted off by the other Islanders, which became an iconic moment in Love Island USA history.
“[Producers] would say, ‘If you pull X, Y and Z right now then we’ll give you two extra glasses of wine. There’s one scene where they said I have to pull someone and I didn’t want to. It was after so much drama and I didn’t want to talk to him,” Leah recalled. “I didn’t want to make it seem like I want him. I didn’t want any of that. And they were like, ‘If you pull him, we’ll give you two glasses of wine.’”
Leah expressed regret at her decision to play into the narrative.
“Looking back at it, I’m like, ‘You stupid bitch. You should have just left it alone.’ Now when I watch it I’m like, ‘I know what they were trying to do,’” she continued. “They were just trying to make it seem like I wanted Rob’s back. The day after the girl had left. … They got what they wanted but now when I’m looking at it, I feel like they knew exactly what they were doing. They wanted to make it look a certain way. I was begging them because I do not want to talk to him.”
Despite her previous romance highs and lows, Leah was grateful it led her to Miguel, 29.
“I would say [this is] my first real relationship. Because I feel like I’ve had situationships. It was never a boyfriend and girlfriend situation,” she shared. “Miguel has never had a girlfriend so I am his first.”
Leah noted that she and Miguel both work because they are “really chill people,” adding, “I’m not someone that is like, ‘If we’re not married by [this time then] … that’s just not my vibe. I feel like we’re both very go-with-the-flow type of people and I think we really just mesh very well.”
The full episode of the “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast with Leah goes live on Tuesday, August 11, at midnight PST.
