There are two ways people can win on reality TV shows like Love Island USA.
The most obvious way is by finding love. Fans may decide the winners by picking out one couple who will win the prize money, but anyone who manages to find love will leave the show feeling like a winner.
The second way is finding reality television fame.
These are new celebrities in the world, with giant fanbases, and this can become a lucrative proposition for these young people.
The best way to determine their rise to reality television fame is how their social media followings jump following their appearance on the show.
Once these people break the 100,000 followers mark on a site like Instagram, they can make a full-time salary each year simply by becoming a social media influencer.
Once they break 200,000 followers, they can become wealthy from the fame they achieved on Love Island USA, and there are a few Season 3 Islanders that hit that total.
1. Cashay Proudfoot (+317,000)
Cashay Proudfoot, or Cash as she became known to her fans and fellow Islanders, was the breakout star of season 3.
When Love Island USA started the season, Cash had just under 4,000 Instagram followers.
By the time the Islanders had their New York City reunion, Cash has over 321,000 Instagram followers. This is an astonishing 7,925% jump in followers.
Cash has been more active on Instagram Live and she live vlogged a lot of the reunion party on her account.
According to Influencer MarketingHub, Cash can make anywhere between $956.25 and $1,593 for every post she makes for a company as an influencer.
2. Shannon St. Clair (+235,000)
Shannon St. Clair started out with a decent-sized Instagram following thanks to her name being in the news due to her previous relationship with Dave Portnoy.
She had 29,000 followers to begin with, one of the largest of the original Islanders.
However, she was also one of the most-searched of the original Islanders on the Internet and her numbers skyrocketed.
By the time she left the show with Josh Goldstein after the death of his sister, Lindsey, her numbers jumped even more.
By the time of the cast reunion, Shannon had over 264,000 Instagram followers. This was an 810% jump in followers.
3. Olivia Kaiser (+223,000)
Olivia Kaiser didn’t see her Instagram numbers really skyrocket until after she won Season 3 with Korey Gandy.
When Olivia came onto the show, she had a mere 5,000 Instagram followers. Thankfully, by the time of the reunion, she was up to 228,000 followers on the social media site.
This was an impressive jump of 4,460% in followers.
4. Korey Gandy (+200,000)
Korey Gandy won Season 3 of Love Island USA with Olivia Kaiser.
Many fans consider him to be the reason they won, calling him one of the most popular Islanders of the season, along with Cash.
Korey started the season with 10,000 Instagram followers and is now witting at 210,000 followers, for a jump of 2,000%.
4. Cinco Holland (+194,000)
When it comes to the guys, the one with the second-biggest jump was Cinco Holland.
However, Cinco’s numbers really started to jump when Cash showed up in Virginia and started dating him in the real world.
This caused fans to tune in and see what Cinco and Cash were up to, outside of Cash’s frequent postings.
Cinco started the season with 12,000 online followers and he passed 200,000 during the reunion. He now has 206,000 followers, a jump of 1,616%.
According to Influencer MarketingHub, he can make somewhere between $618 and $1031 for every post he makes as an influencer.
6. Josh Goldstein (+188,000)
Josh Goldstein had to leave Love Island USA early when his sister Lindsey Goldstein died.
When his new girlfriend Shannon left with him, the couple’s popularity skyrocketed. Shannon ended up with over 235,000 new Instagram followers, and Josh was right behind her.
While he started out with a lot fewer followers initially, at only 3,743, he now has 192,000 and should quickly eclipse the 200,000 mark soon.
That was a jump of 5,029%.
7. Will Moncada (+112,000)
Will Moncada and Kyra Lizama came in second place this season and were together longer than any couple of the show’s finale.
Many fans doubted whether they would last and many thought Kyra couldn’t trust Will. However, they are still a couple and are talking about moving in together.
Of the two, Will had the bigger jump in popularity on Instagram. He went from 25,000 Instagram followers to 137,000, a jump of 448%.
Kyra has the same amount of followers as Will, but she started out huge, with 60,000 Instagram followers before coming onto Love Island USA, and 137,000 presently, for only a 128% jump.
8. Aimee Flores (+111,000)
Aimee Flores saw her Instagram numbers jump when she brought fans along on her trip to get to know Wes Ogsbury better after they were both eliminated from the show.
Aimee and Wes set out on several adventures together as they explored their relationship off the show.
Before coming onto Love Island USA, Aimee had 8,000 Instagram followers. She is now up to 119,000, for an impressive 1,387% jump in followers.
For people at this level, the opportunity for money is between $354 and $591 a post.
As for Wes, he started out with 3,800 followers and now has 42,000.
9. Trina Njoroge (+108,000)
Trina Njoroge had a tough time on Love Island USA. Not only was she dumped by co-star Jeremy Hershberg, but she then ended up in a love triangle with Cinco and Cash.
This quickly made her an early villain on the show.
However, by the end, people had a change of heart and come around to Trina. She ended the season as one of the more popular Islanders by the time she left the villa.
Trina had 11,000 Instagram followers before coming on the show and now her following sits at a nice 119,000. That was a jump of 981%.
10. Javonny Vega (+103,000)
Javonny Vega was a quick fan favorite on Love Island USA thanks to his high energy and infectious personality.
However, even with fans hating his early exit, it has not paid over to his Instagram account, which didn’t jump as much as many other popular Islanders.
Javonny started off with 8,000 Instagram followers and now has 111,000, a jump of 1,287%.
Love Island USA is currently on hiatus. Re-live the third season on Paramount+, streaming right now.