Ciara Miller and Tefi Pessoa entered the whirlwind that is the Love Island cinematic universe this summer when they signed on as co-hosts of its sister series Aftersun.
Pegged as Love Island USA’s companion show to unpack each week’s drama, Miller and Pessoa have what many past hosts of Aftersun don’t: Chemistry. Both women have gone viral in their own right, with their castings as co-hosts breathing life into the series, making it appointment television right alongside new episodes of Love Island USA.
What do Miller and Pessoa attribute to the newfound success of Aftersun? “Women on the mic,” the Summer House star tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I feel like, obviously, there’s an epidemic of men on podcasts, and this is our effort to uproot that.”
Pessoa adds, “I think that we are two people who have opinions, but we also aren’t vicious people, unless you give us a reason to be. Then I can get creative.”
Each week, Miller and Pessoa prep for Aftersun just like you and I do, by catching up on new episodes. And even though they host Love Island‘s weekly aftershow, they don’t receive any special treatment and have to wait to catch up on the drama when they’re sent cut episodes after they release on Peacock.
“They send us the episodes after it’s aired in America,” Miller admits, as Pessoa says, “We’re always a little bit delayed. So when an episode comes out, I will not check Threads.”
Below, Miller and Pessoa dish on the success of Aftersun, what a day of Friday filming looks like, the advice they give dumped Islanders for life post-Love Island and how Miller is getting prepared for season 35 of Dancing With the Stars.
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Aftersun has had a huge resurgence this year, and viewers are really enjoying the revamped format. It feels much more insidery and somewhat like a podcast. What elements of the revamped Aftersun do you think have contributed to the success of the show?
CIARA MILLER Women on the mic.
TEFI PESSOA Undeniable friendship and laughter.
MILLER Yeah, women on the mic. I feel like, obviously, there’s an epidemic of men on podcasts, and so this is our effort to uproot that. Yeah, I just feel like if you just talk more than them, faster than them, outsmart them, and women are funnier than men, right? Exactly.
PESSOA I think that we are two people who have opinions, but we also aren’t vicious people, unless you give us a reason to be. Then I can get creative. But we are friends in real life, and we also have different perspectives on reality TV, being as Ciara is on reality television, and I am addicted to it, because I am a child of Nick and Jessica, the Newlyweds.
MILLER She’s an encyclopedia of pop culture and all things reality TV. Like, I actually think she has a photographic memory.
PESSOA I wish.
MILLER No, I think you do, though.
PESSOA Thank you. But I think that we have a great chemistry, and I think we’re funny.
MILLER Yeah, we got jokes.
PESSOA We got jokes.
MILLER I got a few jokes.
PESSOA You know what it is? We bite into a bit. Oh, we love us a bit.
MILLER You know what? Silly geese.
PESSOA There’s not enough geese out there, and we come from a long line of silly geese. There’s a lot of people, I think, in the internet now that know that rage baiting gets a lot of views. And I’m never gonna judge anybody for how they pay their bills, but I think there’s not a lot of people online talking about what they do like, and I’m sick of hearing what people don’t like. So, I think that’s also an effort that we try to make, where I don’t want to ragebait anybody. I don’t want to talk about what I don’t like. Let’s talk about what we do like and still humanize people, but you can humanize somebody and poke fun and still hold them accountable, and I think we dance that dance pretty well. Hey, she’ll be on Dancing With the Stars later this year!
MILLER Plugging my next project.
PESSOA Period. Team Ciara. #TeamCiara, I’ll be starting that one.
What is the filming schedule like for Aftersun? Aftersun comes out on Saturdays, but what does the week leading up to its release look like?
MILLER A lot of studying, a lot of lying in the sun.
PESSOA A lot of lying in the sun, and studying.
MILLER A lot of catching up on episodes. I don’t let her talk to me about the episodes prior to. Because every single week, she will [try]. I’m like, we have to record a whole show on this, so don’t tell me your opinion on Tuesday, so save your opinions.
PESSOA We show up on 10 a.m. Friday.
MILLER We get in glam, and then when we sit down, that’s us discussing it for the first time. I take notes in my phone as I’m watching it.
PESSOA And I don’t.
MILLER Because she has photographic memory, and I don’t.
PESSOA But we start at like 3:30 [p.m.], and then we usually sit down, because we we love our partners, Cuervo Tequila, and we do plugs for them, and then we wrap around 9 p.m., and then we don’t talk to each other in the car on the way home.
MILLER We’ve said everything.
PESSOA Truly, to the editor’s credit, we talk so fucking much, and still it’s like a seamless show.
MILLER Which people were like, “Ciara, you’re talking over her.” It’s literally us talking so much that they have to figure out where to cut things, because we don’t shut up.
PESSOA We don’t shut up. But I hate that too, that people are like, “Oh, you’re talking over each other” — you’ve never seen two girls excited to see each other at brunch? Shut up. Whatever. Also I know no one talks over me. Are you kidding? (Laughs.) Who? Literally, are you crazy? What are you talking about? She’s not talking over me, I’m letting her get a word in.
MILLER No, literally, I’m fighting for my life sometimes (Laughs). I wanted to put that on Threads one day.
PESSOA No one’s talked over me since 1998.
As each new season of Love Island comes out, fans have more and more to say. This year there’s been a conversation about fans believing that votes could have been rigged, specifically in the case of Sol and Gabriel’s dumpings. What are your opinions on fans believing that the voting or dumpings could have been rigged?
PESSOA Well, I think Americans have been saying that every voting. There is something wrong with this electoral college.
MILLER But, you know, no, I don’t think [votings are rigged.] It feels like very low stakes to rig the voting. But, who are we?
PESSOA I think NBC would rig the voting so they can keep their $100k (Laughs), not give it away. Period. But, I don’t think that’s rigged at all. And I think production, it’s very fair, to be honest. There are some people that we don’t want to see go, and alas…
MILLER If someone is rigging the election, I feel like B613 can figure it out.
You both have experience navigating the whirlwind that is social media. As you meet with dumped islanders on Aftersun as they are preparing to enter post-villa life, is there any advice that you share with them, or would you rather not give them advice and let them navigate as they seem fit?
PESSOA I always tell them don’t let people tell you who you are.
MILLER And also it’s hard to give advice, because you really do have to go through it to kind of learn the ups, the downs of it. But I always say, keep your friends that you had from the very beginning. Like, they will keep you grounded, they will tell you everything you need to know, and the internet is not a real place. Although people have parasocial relationships with you, they don’t know you, so keep that in mind.
PESSOA We’re also sometimes the first friendly faces that aren’t production that [dumped Islanders] see, and we remember that these kids are 24, 25…
MILLER Yeah, they’re babies.
PESSOA So, we do try to be like, “Hi, you’re safe here. We’re gonna talk, and we’re not going to make you out to be this, like, villain edit thing,” you know.
MILLER But also, we’re not coming here with pitchforks, and their perspective is valid. Obviously, we can push and pull a little bit, but at the end of the day, they lived with that experience, we didn’t.
PESSOA A microphone is dangerous enough; we don’t have to do anything.
Season eight is nearing its end. What couples or Islanders are y’all’s favorite at the moment, and is there a couple that you think will definitely make it to the finale?
PESSOA Course, I do!
MILLER Brinity! We are huge Brinity fans. I’m actually very much an Aniya and Carl fan. I hope that they can ride this out.
PESSOA We want Aniya to be with somebody who wants her, and that she also wants, so if that’s not meant to be…
MILLER Right, that’s true. I’m really interested to see what Melanie and Sincere are gonna do, you know, what’s gonna happen post-Movie Night.
PESSOA I’ve been Melanie and Sincere in many scenarios.
MILLER Oh my God.
PESSOA And that’s being 25.
The final part of Movie Night will come out tomorrow. Have you seen that cut yet?
MILLER We actually haven’t. I just want to let you know, they send us the episodes after it’s aired in America.
PESSOA Yeah, we just get a link.
MILLER So, we’re honestly behind.
PESSOA We’re always behind it, because we don’t have VPNs, so we’re always a little bit delayed. So when an episode comes out, I will not check Threads.
MILLER Yeah, you can’t even get on Threads because the clips are everywhere.
PESSOA I’m like, “Ciara, he came out of a cake?!”
Are there any moments that were not shown in the first part of Movie Night that you think have to be shown in the second part on Thursday?
PESSOA I feel like they’re all dangerous.
MILLER KC has to have another section in there. Corbin has to have another section in there. KC and Sincere both need to have like two parters, but that’s my opinion. But we’ll see.
We’re nearing the end of Love Island season eight, so what are both of y’all’s plans post-Love Island Aftersun? Do you see reality TV both in your future? Ciara, we know you’re doing Dancing With the Stars.
PESSOA I’m going to be front row at Dancing With the Stars with a shirt that says “Dance Ciara, Dance.” They’re gonna think it’s, like, a memorial shirt. (Laughs.) I don’t think I have any reality TV aspirations.
MILLER She’s gonna be marked safe.
PESSOA I’m gonna be marked safe. But when I am in my 50s, I will be probably a Real Housewife in some city. So, like a couple years after Ciara.
MILLER I’m just trying to get back to America.
PESSOA She’s trying to get home back to Jasper, her cat.
MILLER I obviously have Dancing With the Stars. I gotta get in the gym, because that was my goal for Fiji.
PESSOA I would love to see you in, like, Special Forces. That would be fun.
MILLER I’m not doing that.
PESSOA But I think it’d be very fun. Not for me; I never want to do that, but I’d like to see you.
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Love Island Aftersun airs Saturdays on Peacock; New episodes of Love Island USA season eight, hosted by Ariana Madix, drop Thursdays through Tuesdays. Catch up on all of THR‘s season eight coverage here.
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