How Ciara Miller’s Reality TV Starpower and Tefi Pessoa’s Social Media Savviness Revamped ‘Love Island Aftersun’ 

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.

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? 

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 Thank you. But I think that we have a great chemistry, and I think we’re funny. 

PESSOA You know what it is? We bite into a bit. Oh, we love us a bit. 

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.