Love Island USA’s Liv Reveals What She Really Thinks of Kaylor and Aaron — and Why She Has ‘No Regrets’ (Exclusive)

Liv Walker didn’t find a love connection on Love Island USA — but she did make herself more than a dozen new best friends.

“It was just the best experience of my life. I loved it. I would never fault it,” Liv, 22, tells PEOPLE exclusively after being dumped from the island alongside Catherine Marshall and Daia McGhee in a dramatic episode that aired Thursday night on Peacock. “I don’t regret anything.”

The Sydney-based blonde entered the villa on day two as a bombshell, and immediately stirred the pot by setting her sights on Rob Rausch, who was coupled up with Leah Kateb at the time.

During her time in Fiji, she was coupled up with Rob, Hakeem White, Miguel Harichi, Nigel Okafor and Caine Bacon. Though her connections fizzled, she quickly became a fan favorite thanks to her tireless support of her gal pals, her snappy one-liners and her unapologetic knack for speaking her mind no matter who was in the line of fire.

“Everyone’s amazing,” she says of her castmates, “and the drama’s only going to get more intense.”

Here, the reality star answers burning questions, including where she stands with frenemy Leah, what she really thinks of Kaylor Martin and Aaron Evans’ relationship — and who she wants to win the big money at the end.

PEOPLE: How are you feeling? What’s going through your mind?

LIV WALKER: I’m feeling everything under the sun. I’m obviously super upset because I left my friends, but I’m also so grateful and I’m happy that I get to go back to reality. I have no regrets. I feel like I did everything I would do on the outside. Maybe I could have handled certain arguments better, but I love that I stand up for my friends, and if it means I get called something or get looked at like this, I’ll take it.

Things with Leah got a bit heated during Movie Night. Where do you two stand now?

Leah and I are like evil twin sisters. I’ve never had a sister, but we fight like sisters and we make up like sisters. We’re super close, even though it probably doesn’t look like it. We both stand up for what we believe is right, and I feel like sometimes we get carried away a bit, but I love her to death. I’m rooting for her.

You guys got off to an understandably rocky start when you entered the villa and stole her man.

No one thought I was going to do it! So there was a shock factor. [But] we all got over it.

You also seem to have found a friend for life in Kaylor. What do you make of her relationship with Aaron?

She is my ride-or-die. I absolutely adore her. I’ve always said that she’ll be my maid of honor or bridesmaid for life because she’s such a genuine soul and she sees the best in everyone no matter if they’ve hurt her. [Aaron] has done her dirty many times, and it’s a hard situation because I have so much love for Aaron as well. And he does care so much about her, and he knows he messed up a lot. Personally, I feel like if you’re given the chance to explain everything you’ve done, just say it all! I feel like him not saying it all and saying he forgot [about things that happened with Daniela Ortiz-Rivera in Casa Amor] kind of made the situation worse.

And look, I want whatever’s best for her. If I was in her situation, would I take him back? Probably not. But I’m not in the situation, and I don’t see the chats they have individually. I like them together when they’re good, but also, yeah, don’t hurt my girl. When we found out he went on [The Traitors], he was kind of not in the girls’ good books. We were like, “We can see why you were on it. Traitor. Yeah, got that.”

You coupled up with Caine after Casa. What made you choose him, and when did you realize you guys weren’t necessarily the best match?

At one stage, I was going to come back single from Casa. I was thinking about that. And I knew that I didn’t want to bring someone back for the sake of bringing them back to save myself or whatever, because you’d tell on my face that I can’t stand talking to this person. [But] Caine is a lovely guy. He’s very straight up and honest, and that’s something I do like. We didn’t really get to know each other at the start, but it came down to, “Okay, he did express interest, he tried, he made an effort.”

How did you feel about him shifting his focus to Sierra Mills? Were you bummed or did you see it coming?

I wasn’t bummed, as bad as that sounds. He did express interest in wanting to talk to Sierra, but everyone knew about it but me and I was like, “If you want to get to know someone, I never worry about it. Just let me know so I know where I stand.” And he didn’t. If you have enough time to tell the boys, you have enough time to tell the Casa girls, you had two seconds then to tell me in a passing comment. We sleep in the same bed. No one wants to be told something through the grapevine. [But] I wish him the best. Sierra’s stunning, and you can’t hate her because she’s so sweet.

Right before Casa, Rob expressed interest in potentially starting things anew with you. 

Rob and I obviously had a very rocky start. At the start, I was so nervous and I was not the same person, but as we went along, we both started to become ourselves. We have the same sort of humor, and I’ve obviously always found him attractive. Just before Casa, I was going to pick him [in the recoupling], but Cass [Laudano] chose him first. Then, it was kind of like, we have the same humor, we get along, you’re attractive. We could maybe see where it went again.

Did you think about him at all during Casa? And were you disappointed when he came back with Daniela?

I did think, “Oh maybe….,” because there was that one conversation [before Casa] and no one else knew about it. A little bit of me thought of him, I won’t lie there. But no, when he came back with Daniela… I thought it was Andrea [Carmona]! I thought Andrea was going to be there.

But all possibilities down that road between you two ended with Casa?

Yes.

You were understandably very upset during the challenge in which you were called a “mean girl” in a tweet. What do you have to say to fans who interpreted your actions as that of a “mean girl”?

I don’t know if it’s my personality, I don’t know what it is, but all my friends at home, too, are very blunt and they’re very forward. And personally, I love a friend that will tell me how it is and not beat around the bush. I never want to be seen or known as a mean girl. That really got to me because I pride myself on being there for my friends, and I feel like a lot of times I do put people before myself. I like to see them happy. I do know that one tweet is not how everyone feels, but at the end of the day, I know everyone in there had my back and they’re like, “You’re not like that.” I can see how being blunt and straight up can come across as a mean girl, but if standing up for your friends and having their best interest is a mean girl, I’ll be it. I don’t care.

Do you think the Love Island formula can work?

I really do. I feel like even though it didn’t work for me, it’s a situation where you have to be vulnerable and you have to be straight up and you have to just say how you feel, because time is not on your side.

What do you wish viewers knew about what it’s actually like in the villa?

It’s hard, I’m not going to lie. It’s not easy. It’s hard to see people you like talking to each other in front of your face. It’s long days. As much as it looks like we’re just sitting by the pool, it’s draining. When you have an argument or a situation with friends or someone you like at home, you get the distractions of your phone or talking to your parents or talking to your other friends and you hash it out and then you get over it and you forget about it. But here you’re like, “I have to sleep next to that person.” We all have thick skin.

You’re from Australia. Were you open to possibly moving to the U.S. if you found a love connection?

Yeah, 100%. I love the United States. I said to them when I got on the show that I would relocate if I found someone. And I’m not going to say I haven’t yet because who knows what could happen. But yeah, I definitely would.

Might viewers catch you on another reality show?

I wouldn’t say I wouldn’t be open to doing another reality [show]. I need a little break — I want to hang out with my friends for a bit, ride this moment, but I wouldn’t say no. I don’t know what though. A love one, I’m like, “Eh, I’ll take a break.” Maybe [meet] someone on the outside.

Will you stay in touch with your fellow Islanders?

Yeah, I’m going to have these friends for life. Each person brought a different part to the team, and we each learned from each other. I don’t know who’s going to win, but I wish they all could win because they’re honestly the sweetest girls ever.

Who are you rooting for to win?

Well, obviously my ride-or-die sister Kaylor I want to win. But this is the hard thing. You’ve got Nicole [Jacky] and Kendall [Washington] who are stable, straight, no problems, perfect, in love with each other. Then you have Serena [Page] and Kordell [Beckham], and I feel like they’re also super strong. I’m going to root for my girl Kaylor, but I think Kendall and Nicole, if we’re going off stability. Leah and Miguel are the dark horse, I feel. Everyone loves Leah.

Love Island USA airs every day but Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on Peacock.