Jen Terry Would Rather Be Happy Than Chosen

Three. That’s how many times Jen Terry was asked to go on Love Island USA before she said yes. It turns out, the people’s everything bagel has always been hard to get.

Four years ago, when she was a 19-year-old model living in Los Angeles, producers reached out for the first time through her agent. “But I was too young,” Terry says, “so I said ‘No, I’m gonna pass.’” The next year, the villa came knocking again — and again, she turned them down. But the third time’s the charm for the Florida native. “They reached out again, and I thought, ‘OK, this is the third time,’” she says. “I was in my hometown with my best friends I've known since birth, and they were like, ‘Do it.’”

Those friends and persistent casting producers knew what they were doing. On Season 8 of the Peacock reality series, which wrapped filming in July, Terry became a fan-favorite contestant for her Taylor Swift-loving, straight-talking, sometimes man-hating attitude — and though she left the show single, the plot has only thickened in the months since.

When I link up with Terry, now 23, on a warm, rainy October afternoon in New York City, she’s looking chic as ever in a cinched leather jacket over a polka-dotted minidress. Before walking along Cornelia Street (because what else would two Swifties do in the West Village?), we take shelter from the rain at a Mexican joint, ready to spill the tea over tacos and catch up on her whirlwind life.

“How was that date you went on last night?” I ask excitedly, before we can even dip our chips in guac. I, along with the rest of the internet, peeped the TikTok Terry posted the night before, where she was getting ready for a date in the city. “It was really fun,” she tells me. “I think dating in New York is so much better than dating in LA. I feel like the guys are cuter. My normal type is a funny, weird finance frat guy, and there's millions of them here.”

While Terry seems to be swimming in her type of man in NYC, in Fiji, she didn’t get so lucky. After Gabriel Vasconcelos, her original connection, got sent home in Episode 14, she coupled up with Gal Tshnieder in Casa Amor — who ended up being, for lack of a better word, a total flop.

“I think he was honest the first day, and then he lied every day after that,” Terry says, reflecting on what led to their all-too-predictable breakup. She thought she’d found a genuine connection in Tshnieder, but his mixed signals and wandering eye told a different story. The situation was relatable for many daters out there (Hi! Party of one!), and Terry’s ability to let it go, move forward, and speak the truth is exactly why viewers fell in love with her.

“There's nothing you can say to change it,” she says when I ask about escaping the dreaded situationship. “You have to believe in yourself, and if you don't, it's just going to drag on forever.” She and Tshnieder have hung out since leaving the villa, and when I ask if she ever confronted him about his behavior, she doesn’t miss a beat: “No. I don't care that much.”

Terry has basically become besties with her ex, even doing a cheeky photo shoot with him after leaving the villa. “We’re not good together as a couple, but we're great as friends,” she says. “I have his location. He has mine. He tells me about his dates. He’s even tried to set me up on a few.” “Would you trust him to pick someone for you?” I ask. “He would do good. He knows what I like,” she says.

I know a bunch of great guys. I know they exist. I just haven't come across any for myself.

As we gush over dating tea, I can’t help but reminisce on one of Terry’s most memorable moments: the “I hate men, they all f*cking suck” speech she delivered right before Tshnieder chose Amora Robinson in Episode 27, sending Terry home.

“I was probably being dramatic when I said that,” she says (to which I reply, “No, you weren’t”). “Obviously, I know all men don't suck. I know a bunch of great guys. I know they exist. I just haven't come across any for myself. But I know they're out there.”

After spitting bars like that throughout her season, Terry returned home to find that public opinion had done a complete 180. Initially labeled a “nothing burger” for her lack of villa drama, she won viewers over with her unfiltered takes on men and dating. Fans flipped the nickname on its head, rebranding her the “everything bagel” in a matter of episodes.

“I didn't believe it,” Terry says. “I was like, ‘What do you mean? They love me? They think I'm funny?’” The love for her newfound fan base, which she says consists mostly of the girls and gays, has been nothing but mutual. “Hearing them say, ‘You remind me of myself. You’re so relatable. I see myself in you,’ those have been my favorite messages.”

It’s not just online. As Terry and I walk down Cornelia Street, a fan stops us, visibly thrilled to see her. She responds with such genuine warmth that I have to ask if they knew each other previously. (They didn’t.)

Other fan interactions have been a little more… pointed. On a Saturday night in July, Terry got home to Los Angeles from Fiji, and that Sunday morning, she found herself at the farmers market with newfound allies. “Multiple girls came up to me, and they were like, ‘F*ck Gal!’” she recalls. That pattern continued, and for at least the first month of being home, anyone who came up to Terry wanted to trash-talk Mr. Coffee Shop. “I thought that was so funny,” she says. “I guess people are always gonna connect me to this motherf*cker the rest of my life.”

But if there’s one thing Terry has made clear, it’s that she doesn’t need a man to be the punchline of every story. She’s perfectly happy carrying the plot on her own. “I have always never let anyone tell me what to do,” she says. “If I’m dating a guy and he tells me I can't do something, I'm immediately like, ‘I have to leave you because you can't tell me what I can and can't do.’”

After all, there are millions of funny, weird finance frat guys out there — and she’s in no rush to find the right one. “I’m not opposed to men right now, but I'm not dying to meet someone. I want to have fun, but I'm not desperate,” she says. If one of them ever tries playing in her face, well, he can join Tshnieder in the friend zone.