Leah Kateb and Miguel Harichi’s love story snuck up on Love Island USA viewers when they least expected it.
Season 6, which premiered in June 2024, introduced Leah as an original Islander who initially formed a connection with Rob Rausch. After that tumultuous romance came to an end, Leah briefly explored a connection with Connor Newsum while Miguel entered the villa as a bombshell.
Several recouplings later, Leah and Miguel found their way to each other. By the end of the season, Leah and Miguel’s relationship grew more serious and they walked away from the season as runners-up following Kordell Beckham and Serena Page’s win.
Once out of the villa, Leah and Miguel were determined to make their relationship work. They prioritized the next chapter of their lives with Miguel living primarily in Los Angeles with Leah despite his U.K. citizenship. Amid their overnight fame, Leah couldn’t help but gush about her strong bond with Miguel.
“I never get tired of him and I feel like he offers me so much insight. He is really wise and he calms me down in so many ways,” she exclusively told Us Weekly in October 2024 about being “obsessed” with Miguel. “I feel like he always has me laughing and he is so patient with me and very receptive to everything. He is the happiest, most pure person.”
“Things are going great. It’s never a boring moment for us,” he shared two months later. “The relationship is just progressing. I love her more and more every day.”
He added: “We can just sit in the bedroom — just the whole day doing nothing and we’ll just find a way to entertain each other.”
Keep scrolling to relive Leah and Miguel’s romance:
June 2024
Ben Symons/Peacock
Leah was an original Islander when season 6 premiered in June 2024. After forming connections with Rob and then Connor, Leah developed a romance with Miguel that lasted until the finale. Leah and Miguel, who scored second place, became exclusive after filming wrapped one month later.
“I can understand why people were invested in Rob and I. It felt like we were like twins [who] were each other’s puzzle piece,” Leah said on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast. “There were so many moments where I was like, ‘Oh, my God, like, they put him in there for me.’ … Everyone in the villa was like, ‘You and Rob are f***ing adorable.’”
Leah noted she was actually “so miserable” during her on-and-off romance with Rob and things were “light and day” different with Miguel.
“He made my time in there what I felt like it was supposed to be the whole time,” she shared. “He made me feel like I was permanently blushing.”
Miguel, for his part, remained unbothered by the support for Leah and Rob.
“I’ve definitely seen a few comments. People are entitled to their opinion. I ain’t gonna hate ’em for it. It is what it is. Ship who you ship, but at the end of the day, I’m the one with her. There’s a reason behind it. So whether you like it or not, suck it up!” he told Us with a laugh. “You gotta see who’s really connecting over there and I feel like me and Leah did connect in a way that’s very different to how she and Rob connected. It really doesn’t bother me at all. I know where me and Leah are and we’re in a very good place.”
August 2024
Taylor Hill/Getty Images
Miguel took to social media to share a “special shoutout to the most incredible women.”
“It’s mad looking back at the start of my villa journey, being there overall for the experience and an open mind to finding someone l’d get along with but I couldn’t have imagined walking away with someone who occupies my mind 24hrs of the day. Connections like these are a diamond to find and I feel I found the rarest of them all. I definitely owe thanks to Love Island UK for not picking me,” he noted. “Thank you Leah for putting up with my bs and thank you for being everything that you are, you’re 1 of the strongest women I know and the most caring, kind soul. I spent everyday back home thinking of going back to you and I can’t wait to see that beautiful face again.”
He continued: “I wish you nothing but pure happiness and blessings because it’s all you deserve and all though I may not be with you now I’ll be there soon Happy birthday princess.”
“I have never met someone like Miguel. I think he is the best guy and only guy ever for me,” Leah gushed in an interview pegged to her being crowned one of Us Weekly’s Reality Stars of the Year. “I think it’s wild that we met on this show.”
“I want to say, ‘don’t’ — but I found Miguel. So you know what, why not? F*** it, you’ll live. You’ll make it out alive. They’ll make sure you don’t die,” she quipped. “Just go on it. Have fun. F*** it.”
December 2024
Jerritt Clark/Getty Images for Skylar
After fans noticed Miguel calling Leah his “wife” on TikTok, he clarified the term of endearment, telling Us, “She’s not my wife legally. We haven’t gone and got married, but for me, I just view her as my wife. When I date, I date for marriage. I don’t see any short-term things. Even though we aren’t married yet, I just view her as my woman, my second half, my wife. For me, it’s another way of putting her as my queen, my princess.”
Miguel added that his commitment to the relationship was showcased when he went through the process of securing a visa that would allow him to reside in Los Angeles with Leah.
“I know everyone’s like, ‘How has it stayed so long?’ I’ve actually had a six-month work visa,” he explained. “I’m going back to the U.K. to renew it and extend it. I am planning on moving out here. That is my goal.”
January 2025
Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for AVA Resort
Miguel honored his romance with Leah, writing via Instagram, “What a year 2024 has been … to being where l’m at right now, living it up with the most incredible, having the most amazing woman and achieving goals that once seemed so far away, I have some much thanks, love and appreciation to all of you who stand by me, support me and push me to achieving more!”
March 2024
Miguel Harichi and Leah Kateb.Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Revolve
“Happy birthday to my guardian angel, invisible string, my lover, and my other half. You’re sleeping next to me as I write this and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. You feel like a hug of sunshine, all the time every time. I will forever be grateful that you came into my life and brought nothing but love, peace, happiness, safety, and pure joy into it,” Leah wrote via Instagram. “My baby who could even make watching paint dry fun. I couldn’t have dreamt you up better myself, I really thought men like you were extinct lol. Or only in movies. You have the purest soul l’ve had the pleasure of meeting, with the best intentions towards everything and everyone. You truly are 1of1 and I’m so lucky that I get to be the one to love you.”
She continued: “I know you always say I motivate you, but the truth is you motivate me. Your drive, your passion, and energy is beyond inspiring. And your energy is irreplaceable. My one true love, my only love & my forever love. I never knew I had a Miguel shaped hole in me until you came and filled it. … Now I can’t imagine life without you. The most wise, understanding, funny, thoughtful, loving, and special person ever. You make me excited to go to sleep and excited to wake up. You are everything I could have ever asked for in a man and then some. I know your parents, sister, family, and friends are SO proud. My true gentleman I love you so much baby!”
Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images for Sports Illustrated
“Miguel and I, we really are just very in sync, and I feel like we’re both just like — I think we’re in love. I don’t want to be with anybody else, and I definitely see myself being with him forever,” Leah told Swooon while promoting her and Miguel’s Love Island USA spinoff series, Beyond the Villa. “I really don’t think I was made for anyone else.”
In a separate interview for Betches, Miguel teased possible proposal plans, saying, “It’s going to be a good one. But I’m not saying it’s going to happen any [specific time]. Listen, it happens when it happens but I know I’m going to propose to her. I know she’s my woman, and I’m definitely going to work hard on making sure that’s a very memorable proposal.”
