One of this year’s Love Island USA contestants is giving up his duties as a police officer to join the reality dating show — and his boss is not happy about it.
J. William Reynolds, the mayor of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, is calling out season eight islander Sean Reifel for resigning from his post less than a year after he was sworn in with the Bethlehem Police Department in order to fly to Fiji to film Peacock’s hit series.
“Our police department spent a lot of time training and we paid thousands of taxpayer dollars to send him to the police academy,” Reynolds said May 29 to local ABC outlet WHTM.
“We are disappointed he left as we now have another vacancy in our department that is impossible to fill until next year.”
He added, “I never thought I’d see the day in America where reality show participation wins out over being a police officer.”
Reifel was sworn in as a police officer in August of last year, according to a post by the police department at the time that showed Reifel and Reynolds smiling and shaking hands in photos.
The rookie cop, 29, has not responded to Reynolds’s comments criticizing his decision to abandon his duties. The show is shot in real time, so Reifel is likely already in Fiji ahead of the season eight premiere of the show, airing June 2.
Reifel described himself in promotional material for season eight as a police officer, saying in a video: “I’m not a model, not an actor, I’m a police officer actually.”
He said that he enjoys helping people through difficult situations and that he is looking for someone “thoughtful.”
Reifel is one of the first 12 islanders announced to be entering the villa for the return of the popular show, which is hosted by Ariana Madix. The show follows a group of single people who enter a secluded villa hoping to couple up with other contestants as they compete in games and challenges along the way.
In addition to a police officer, the season eight cast includes a Paralympic athlete and a British-born islander whose brother competed in season seven of the show.
Days before the show was set to premiere, one of the initially announced cast members — Vasana Montgomery — was dismissed from the series after resurfaced videos showed her allegedly using the n-word, marking the second year in a row that a contestant was kicked out of the villa over the use of racist language.
