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If you spent this summer glued to Love Island USA (if you’re reading this, you absolutely did), you already know Carl Schmidt and Aniya Harvey made us believe in fairytale endings. Now, a few short weeks post-finale, they’re trading the fire pit for a much bigger stage: starring in Samsung’s new campaign.
Fun fact : I watched every single episode of season 8 as Refinery29’s official Love Island USA correspondent, live-Threading with other couch islanders like me. I watched Carl and Aniya fall for each other in real time, screamed at my TV more than once, and thought too much about a relationship consisting of two people I’ve never met. So, when I got the chance to talk to the pair over Zoom for their new Switchers campaign with Samsung, it felt less like an interview and more like finally getting to catch up with two friends I hung out with all summer.
I was able to attend Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event last year and I came away genuinely floored by how much innovation and fun the brand builds into every launch. I even left with an S 25 Ultra — the camera is amazing — and I swear I’m not capping (or whatever the kids are saying these days). So, when I talked to Carl and Aniya, I wanted to know everything.
The campaign is giving “life imitates art” as it parallels Carl and Aniya’s experience inside the villa.
“It’s so funny. The Samsung Switchers campaign really resonates with my experience in Love Island because you go through this journey of meeting new people and you’re kind of nervous to go out of your comfort zone and experience other things,” Aniya told me. “And I feel like this is the perfect concept for i t because it’s literally diving into being okay and going out of your comfort zone, switching to something else.”
I asked Carl to tease what we can expect because I was quite impressed by the couple’s acting chops and he said, “I don’t know how much I can give away, but I think you can expect some humor” and shared some candid thoughts and some of his favorite features on the Galaxy Z Fold8.
“Honestly, I was a little skeptical at first,” he admitted. His favorite detail so far, he shared, is the big-screen surface, plus a detail he keeps coming back to: being able to pull up comments on Instagram or TikTok in a split view without ever losing the video.
“If I want to read the comments, I just open up the comments and they’re just right there next to it. I can still see the video, I can still see the comments, and I can just scroll like that. I really like that feature too. There’s a lot of cool features on this phone,” he said.
I was curious to know if the pair’s relationship to their phones had changed post-villa. Ask any Islander what changed the most once they walked back into the real world, and the answer is almost always the same: their phone stopped being just a phone.
“Coming out of the villa, I think I got a new addiction, a new rush,” Carl said. “It wasn’t just, oh, this is my social media, this is my friends, this is my family. Now this is kind of our life. This is the way we make money [and] provide a living.”
As a dark-skinned Black woman in this society, it’s always so nerve-wracking to be vulnerable, because you don’t know how it’s going to be perceived. I feel like that was the main purpose of me wanting to do the show, for people who look like me to be inspired.aniya harvey
He admitted there are mornings he’s genuinely nervous to check his notifications, caught between wanting to share everything with fans and staying true to himself. “I hope I’m doing most things right,” he said, “and that we can give the fans what they want and stay true to ourselves at the same time.” He’s right, and I think he is doing a phenomenal job. It’s important to remember that at the end of the day, you won’t be able to please everyone.
Aniya felt the same shift when it came to her relationship to her mobile device. “Your whole life is now on your phone, regardless of what [app] you open up,” she said. “You can literally see topics about yourself all day, every day.” It’s a huge adjustment, she added. The rest of us can only imagine how hard the adjustment must have been.
That tension extends to the fandom itself. Carl and Aniya have become one of the season’s most shipped couples, which means their relationship with the internet is its own full-time job. “It all comes from a really good place,” Carl said of the fan love, right before laughing about the time a rumor had him supposedly proposing in Nantucket.
“People have their conspiracy theories, which is fun, but it’s wild to see how far they’ll take it,” Carl said. “Guys, slow your roll here a little bit.”
In this current age of parasocial relationships and intense fandoms, it’s important to have healthy boundaries and both Carl and Aniya seem to understand that.
One of the reasons fans are so attached to Carl and Aniya is because they seem to represent the kind of love so many women are craving, and so much of that is due to Carl’s easy, unforced version of soft masculinity we saw on Love Island. When I told him as much, he admitted the term itself was new to him.
“Before the show, I’d never even heard the term soft masculinity,” he said. “I’ve more just tried to see it as a form of healthy masculinity. That’s just how I’ve kind of been raised.” Carl, a salsa dancer, then walked me through what leading on the dance floor taught him about partnership: being protective, being direct and fully committing, instead of “half-assing” a move, and most of all, giving your partner room to shine. “It’s your responsibility to lead the dance, but she’s the one who’s making it look beautiful,” he said.
Before the show, I’d never even heard the term soft masculinity. I’ve more just tried to see it as a form of healthy masculinity. That’s just how I’ve kind of been raised.carl Schmidt
That analogy was just another example of Carl’s impressive emotional intelligence. He just exudes a genuine outlook that is refreshing to see.
For Aniya, the choice to go on Love Island carried extra weight. As a Black woman on the show that has a history of mistreating its contestants of color, she knew what her journey could mean to the women watching.
“As a dark-skinned Black woman in this society, it’s always so nerve-wracking to be vulnerable, because you don’t know how it’s going to be perceived,” she said. “I feel like that was the main purpose of me wanting to do the show, for people who look like me to be inspired”
Aniya revealed that the response from Black women has been the most meaningful part of the entire experience. She loved being the representation she felt from Black women on previous seasons of Love Island USA who taught her “that you can be a confident, dark-skinned woman, you can have your head held high, you can be vulnerable, and you can still love yourself, be beautiful, and figure it out.”
Aniya is a beautiful, walking representation of the duality of being confident yet vulnerable and she’s exactly what we need to see onscreen, and in marketing. That’s why this Samsung campaign is so cool. Aside from the social media discourse and speculation, at the end of the day, we just want to keep watching this couple win.
Neither Carl nor Aniya is mapping out a five-year plan just yet as they’re too busy saying yes to whatever lands in front of them. Case in point: Carl went shark diving the day before our call. And you know what? As he should! This is the perfect time to accept opportunities as they come and to enjoy the ride. I told the pair that the world is their oyster and Carl agreed, saying he’s “open to try every and anything” that comes his way.
New phone, new season of life, new comfort zones to switch into. Carl and Aniya seem more than ready for all of it, and after a summer of rooting for them, so am I.
Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?The Love Island USA S8 Winners Were the Soft BoysWhy 'Love Island USA' Season 8 Has Been A MessLove Island USA Needs An Overhaul Next Season
Photos by Katie Flores/Variety via Getty Image
If you spent this summer glued to Love Island USA (if you’re reading this, you absolutely did), you already know Carl Schmidt and Aniya Harvey made us believe in fairytale endings. Now, a few short weeks post-finale, they’re trading the fire pit for a much bigger stage: starring in Samsung’s new campaign.
Fun fact
: I watched every single episode of season 8 as Refinery29’s official Love Island USA correspondent, live-Threading with other couch islanders like me. I watched Carl and Aniya fall for each other in real time, screamed at my TV more than once, and thought too much about a relationship consisting of two people I’ve never met. So, when I got the chance to talk to the pair over Zoom for their new Switchers campaign with Samsung, it felt less like an interview and more like finally getting to catch up with two friends I hung out with all summer.
I was able to attend Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event last year and I came away genuinely floored by how much innovation and fun the brand builds into every launch. I even left with an S 25 Ultra — the camera is amazing — and I swear I’m not capping (or whatever the kids are saying these days). So, when I talked to Carl and Aniya, I wanted to know everything.
The campaign is giving “life imitates art” as it parallels Carl and Aniya’s experience inside the villa.
“It's so funny. The Samsung Switchers campaign really resonates with my experience in Love Island because you go through this journey of meeting new people and you're kind of nervous to go out of your comfort zone and experience other things,” Aniya told me. “And I feel like this is the perfect concept for i t because it's literally diving into being okay and going out of your comfort zone, switching to something else.”
I asked Carl to tease what we can expect because I was quite impressed by the couple’s acting chops and he said, “I don’t know how much I can give away, but I think you can expect some humor” and shared some candid thoughts and some of his favorite features on the Galaxy Z Fold8.
“Honestly, I was a little skeptical at first,” he admitted. His favorite detail so far, he shared, is the big-screen surface, plus a detail he keeps coming back to: being able to pull up comments on Instagram or TikTok in a split view without ever losing the video.
“If I want to read the comments, I just open up the comments and they're just right there next to it. I can still see the video, I can still see the comments, and I can just scroll like that. I really like that feature too. There’s a lot of cool features on this phone,” he said.
I was curious to know if the pair’s relationship to their phones had changed post-villa. Ask any Islander what changed the most once they walked back into the real world, and the answer is almost always the same: their phone stopped being just a phone.
“Coming out of the villa, I think I got a new addiction, a new rush,” Carl said. “It wasn’t just, oh, this is my social media, this is my friends, this is my family. Now this is kind of our life. This is the way we make money [and] provide a living.”
“
As a dark-skinned Black woman in this society, it's always so nerve-wracking to be vulnerable, because you don't know how it's going to be perceived. I feel like that was the main purpose of me wanting to do the show, for people who look like me to be inspired.
aniya harvey
”
He admitted there are mornings he’s genuinely nervous to check his notifications, caught between wanting to share everything with fans and staying true to himself. “I hope I’m doing most things right,” he said, “and that we can give the fans what they want and stay true to ourselves at the same time.” He’s right, and I think he is doing a phenomenal job. It’s important to remember that at the end of the day, you won’t be able to please everyone.
Photo Courtesy of Samsung
Aniya felt the same shift when it came to her relationship to her mobile device. “Your whole life is now on your phone, regardless of what [app] you open up,” she said. “You can literally see topics about yourself all day, every day.” It’s a huge adjustment, she added. The rest of us can only imagine how hard the adjustment must have been.
That tension extends to the fandom itself. Carl and Aniya have become one of the season’s most shipped couples, which means their relationship with the internet is its own full-time job. “It all comes from a really good place,” Carl said of the fan love, right before laughing about the time a rumor had him supposedly proposing in Nantucket.
“People have their conspiracy theories, which is fun, but it’s wild to see how far they’ll take it,” Carl said. “Guys, slow your roll here a little bit.”
In this current age of parasocial relationships and intense fandoms, it’s important to have healthy boundaries and both Carl and Aniya seem to understand that.
Photo Courtesy of Samsung
One of the reasons fans are so attached to Carl and Aniya is because they seem to represent the kind of love so many women are craving, and so much of that is due to Carl’s easy, unforced version of soft masculinity we saw on Love Island. When I told him as much, he admitted the term itself was new to him.
"Before the show, I'd never even heard the term soft masculinity," he said. "I've more just tried to see it as a form of healthy masculinity. That's just how I've kind of been raised." Carl, a salsa dancer, then walked me through what leading on the dance floor taught him about partnership: being protective, being direct and fully committing, instead of "half-assing" a move, and most of all, giving your partner room to shine. "It's your responsibility to lead the dance, but she's the one who's making it look beautiful," he said.
“
Before the show, I'd never even heard the term soft masculinity. I've more just tried to see it as a form of healthy masculinity. That's just how I've kind of been raised.
carl Schmidt
”
That analogy was just another example of Carl's impressive emotional intelligence. He just exudes a genuine outlook that is refreshing to see.
For Aniya, the choice to go on Love Island carried extra weight. As a Black woman on the show that has a history of mistreating its contestants of color, she knew what her journey could mean to the women watching.
"As a dark-skinned Black woman in this society, it's always so nerve-wracking to be vulnerable, because you don't know how it's going to be perceived," she said. "I feel like that was the main purpose of me wanting to do the show, for people who look like me to be inspired"
Aniya revealed that the response from Black women has been the most meaningful part of the entire experience. She loved being the representation she felt from Black women on previous seasons of Love Island USA who taught her "that you can be a confident, dark-skinned woman, you can have your head held high, you can be vulnerable, and you can still love yourself, be beautiful, and figure it out."
Aniya is a beautiful, walking representation of the duality of being confident yet vulnerable and she's exactly what we need to see onscreen, and in marketing. That's why this Samsung campaign is so cool. Aside from the social media discourse and speculation, at the end of the day, we just want to keep watching this couple win.
Neither Carl nor Aniya is mapping out a five-year plan just yet as they're too busy saying yes to whatever lands in front of them. Case in point: Carl went shark diving the day before our call. And you know what? As he should! This is the perfect time to accept opportunities as they come and to enjoy the ride. I told the pair that the world is their oyster and Carl agreed, saying he's “open to try every and anything” that comes his way.
New phone, new season of life, new comfort zones to switch into. Carl and Aniya seem more than ready for all of it, and after a summer of rooting for them, so am I.