The Rise of Leah Kateb: Why Is She so Hyped?

If you've been on TikTok, Instagram, or are a reality TV fan like me, you have definitely heard the name Leah Kateb. This 25-year-old Persian princess from The Calabasas starred in Season 6 of Love Island, the most-watched season in Love Island history. If you’re unfamiliar with Love Island, it’s a reality TV dating show in Fiji that consists of a group of singles in a Villa searching for one thing. Love.

Throughout their 6 weeks in the Villa, they had no access to their phones, the internet, or their loved ones. They’ll enter this new reality and encounter love, heartbreak, betrayal, and the ultimate drama. The goal is to find a partner and then be voted as America’s favorite couple and win one hundred thousand dollars. But, not everyone can achieve this task, as there are multiple opportunities for these islanders to be voted off and shipped out of Fiji.

Season 6 was a wild ride, but throughout this, one person genuinely caught the eye of the 6 million Love Island viewers. Leah Kateb’s beauty, fiery personality, and humor are what truly stole America’s heart. She may have placed second in the finale on America's favorite couple, but she is by far the most favorite Islander in Love Island history.From starting with 80k Instagram followers before going on Love Island and now having over 2 million followers, we’re going to learn about what is making Leah Kateb so popular, her backstory, and her plans as she returns home from Villa and enters back into reality. This is Leah Kateb.

The Snake Bites Back

What truly leveraged Leah and made more people know her was the incident between her and her fellow islander Robert Raush. Raush who goes by Rob is your typical heartthrob. He’s conventionally attractive, toned, has bright green-blue eyes, and has a huge snake tattoo that wraps around his bicep.

He’s also infamously known for always wearing his denim overalls. Rausch, a snake wrangler from Florence Alabama,

“When the guys walked in, and I saw Rob like I only thought Rob.” Leah Kateb said on Call Her Daddy, a podcast hosted by Alex Cooper. “The second Rob walked in we looked at each other, and the second we looked at each other..., we already started making inside jokes, like right off the bat.”

They were coupled up at the start of the season and were America’s favorite couple. They had an instant connection and often bonded over their love for animals as Leah is an aspiring vet who owns a farm, and Rob loves catching snakes and has a farm as well. These islanders had cute inside jokes like sharing “brain cells” when they lost their train of thought and having a designated signal when they wanted to talk to each other.

Leah was the only islander who truly understood Rob’s humor and his often awkward personality. They just clicked and viewers loved watching their relationship develop on screen. Edits of them were trending on TikTok.

This romance started to turn south when a new bombshell walked in. Bombshells are islanders that surprisingly enter the villa and ultimately cause turmoil in developing relationships between the Islanders. Therefore this new bombshell can steal your man or woman which makes things start to get messy.

The new bombshell, Andrea Carmona, entered the villa in Episode 6. As she stepped in she already had her eyes on Rob and knew who she wanted to take

It didn’t help that Rob was getting attracted to her as well. He started to get reeled in. “That’s one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen in my life,” Rob whispered to Kendall, another Love Island Contestant when Andrea walked in.

He even stated how he hoped she had a terrible personality or else he’d be in trouble.

Andrea and Rob begin to get to know each other. Their connection grows deeper and stronger. Andrea told Rob “ I couldn’t explain it. I just feel safe and genuine. I haven't felt this way for someone in a long time”

Even though Rob was coupled up with Leah, in Love Island the point is also to explore other women and get to know them. He claimed that Leah had nothing to worry about. He said how it would always be her.

Leah seeing Rob explore with another girl wasn’t what she liked but she gave him the benefit of the doubt. Although hesitant, Leah remained calm about this situation.

“I felt like our connection was so strong that nothing would have ruined it. Like what would top us?”,she told Alex Cooper.

This backfired. Rob left Leah to have a chat with Andrea. This small chat turned to hours.

Leah was officially left in the dust. Rob was supposed to get to know both of them equally. Frustrated, Kateb storms up to Rob asking if they can chat.

“It was just so hurtful. It was so weird to hear. I wouldn't have guessed he felt like that.

So to hear that was shocking. Like heartbreaking. “ Leah said with tears coming down her eyes. Her voice trembled as she spoke. You could hear the pain in words as she started to remember the moments she was hurt by Rob.

This was where everything started. Leah began questioning Rob about why he was spending so much time with Andrea and why he was not spending time with her. This eventually turns into a whole argument and results in Rob saying nasty things to her.

He started claiming that he’s not sexually attracted to her and because of that they won’t work. He wanted Andrea and not her. Silence filled the room. Leah's eyes darkened once she heard those words. Rausch is crying, his face flushed red as tears flow down his face. Leah sat in distraught.

“Every single bad thing I thought about myself was swarming in my head. I’ve never felt that embarrassed in my life. I felt so unwanted, so gross.” Leah stated.

Leah claims that after their conversation hearing the words that Rob wasn't sexually attracted to her made her sick. She ended up throwing up in the bathroom.

“It’s so bad to hear that as a woman. Especially to me. It has taken me a while to feel good about myself... cause I’m very critical of myself. And I think that it took me back… it put me in a very bad headspace.” Kateb said.

According to producers, it was 4 am when this heavy conversation was filled. Their conversation was also 2 hours long in real time and got cut down for the episode. Emotions were heightened, both Islanders weren’t in the best mind space, and the worst came out.

“Are you crying because you have to pick between two women?” She asked confused

Rob then begins to shout at her saying that she’s not asking him about how he feels. Leah is getting screamed at when it was Rob who left her.

Eventually, they go back and forth and Rob walks away with frustration and ends up jumping in the pool. This fight scene went viral on Tiktok. Viewers began to show a lot of sympathy for Leah.

After this, Leah ultimately starts to get villainized. The Islanders don’t treat her with respect and people start getting mad at her for ending the relationship with Rob when it wasn’t her fault.

“I just wanted to get out of there. I wanted to go home so bad…”, Leah said on Call Her Daddy. What made this worse is soon after Andrea got voted off to go home by the Islanders This was a mutual decision from the girls, but Rob was convinced that this was revenge for the fight they had.

Rob begins crying and yelling at the female islanders. He then starts claiming he’ll go home with Andrea.

“Now you’re sending three home! Great job guys!” he said sarcastically.

It would be him, Andrea and the other male Islander that was voted off, Hakeem.

Andrea getting voted off was full of drama. Everyone was crying, yelling, and blaming Leah. The other male Islanders were begging Rob not to go home.

This was a big moment for Love Island because it was messy, and emotional which spiked viewership. After all that, Rob decided to stay in the villa, and not go home with Andrea.

When the rest of the female islanders were alone, Leah spoke her mind. This is what makes her so popular. She knows her worth. She's known for stating her mind by imitating Rob's reaction to Andrea being sent home.

“Now you're sending three home and you're still here b****, crying in your overalls, now what?”

This line said by Leah went viral. People loved her standing up for herself and it was funny. This made viewers realize how real Leah is. This is when her fan base began to grow.

The People's Princess

Love for Leah Kateb started to grow. After her viral moments, she was rapidly growing in popularity. Viewers referred to Leah as The People’s Princess, because she was the only Islander who was self-aware, treated people right, and not initiating unnecessary problems.

Moreover, she was America’s favorite islander. The issue was that Kateb didn’t know it. She was constantly getting hate from the islanders from the whole Rob situation. The next challenge would not help this wrong narrative that she believed in.

In Episode 25 the Islanders encounter another challenge. It’s called The Social Media Challenge. In this game, the Love Island producers took tweets and Instagram comments about this season's contestants.

Each of the social media comments has a blank part that is missing an islander's name. The contestants must read out the tweet or Instagram comment and guess which Islander the social media comment was about. These tweets were far from sweet. A majority of them were trolling the Islanders and saying very nasty things. Since these Islanders are completely secluded from the outside world they have no idea of what America thinks of them. Reading these tweets gave them an idea of how they are perceived.

The only issue is Love Island producers were coming for Leah. They knew that she was gaining the most popularity, so villainizing her would help gain more views. Therefore, the tweets shown about Leah were all very negative and they didn’t represent the majority of what people thought of her.

What was worse is she believed that America hated her the most. They were also taken out of context. One of the tweets said,

“Leah on Love Island is so toxic, not a girl's girl, criticizes male vulnerability, dramatizes people's words to get others on her side, has a sense of entitlement, the list goes on.” @lilfayze

The thing is, this tweet is not a genuine representation of how the people truly view Leah. Plus, this tweet isn’t true and takes Leah’s behavior out of context. Fans loved Leah for her honesty and not trying to mask her imperfections. She always stayed true to herself.

“That tweet read me to filth. I was doing self - f******* reflection after that tweet." Leah statedAt this point, Leah was overwhelmed and wanted to leave. The hate and the drama was too much. She often pulled production aside asking if she could go home.

Love in the Air

Eventually, Leah was able to drift from all the hatred and drama. She needed to find a partner who would have her back, and not judge her based on the people's perceptions in and outside the villa. This changed when Islander Miguel Harachi began taking an interest in Leah.

The 27-year-old from London, England, Miguel entered the villa in Episode 9 as a bombshell. Although he has been in the villa for a while, Miguel and Leah begin developing a connection later in the season. They coupled up during Episode 27. Harachi’s goofy personality and bluntness instantly attract Leah. Leah and Miguel have the same humor and can be unserious with each other. Their shared laughs and jokes make them feel comfortable in each other's presence. Miguel always stands up for Leah.

During the recoupling Miguel shares why he wants to be coupled up with Leah.

“This girl makes me feel super comfortable. She accepts me for everything I am. She’s a very conscious girl.

I’m able to be myself around her with no restraints. You know, for a smooth talker, I don’t have the words today. I guess you also make me stumble on my words, you know what I'm saying? But overall, she makes me feel really good. She’s really the only woman I want to get to know on this level.”

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Miguel and Leah's relationship stays strong, and they even make it to the finale as a runner-up.

“Miguel is to thank for, for probably 80% of me in the villa. He made my time when we were a couple up, how it was supposed to be the whole entire time. He made me feel like I was permanently blushing.

He was my protector in the villa, he was everything and more. I am so appreciative of him.” Leah said.

Leah constantly thought America hated her. When Leah and Miguel kept on moving on throughout the episodes, and America voted them on, she was so surprised. You could see her eyes widening, stunned that viewers were supporting her.

Leah expressed this and said “Every time I got voted for America's favorite, I was genuinely shocked, it wasn’t like let me put on a show I was gagged. Like what the f****!”

Future Plans

Leah Kateb fans had one surprise waiting for Leah after she left the villa. One million Instagram followers would be waiting for her. This was her fan base’s goal to show their support.

Leah was the first islander in Love Island history to reach 1 million followers. She also had more followers than the official Love Island Instagram account. As of today, Leah has 3.1 million Instagram followers and 3.5 million followers on TikTok.

"It’s crazy because the energy shift in the villa to how people are receiving me out here is something I don't understand,” Leah stated.

Now that Leah has this platform she has been doing frequent GRWM’s, day in the life, makeup tutorials, and more. She was also featured on various podcasts. Kateb has also joined the United Talent Agency. This means we will be seeing more brand partnerships, and advertisements featuring Leah.

“The love that I've been receiving is like I want to hang out with you guys, I want to talk to you guys, do things for you guys, do things with you guys. It makes me really excited for the future.”

Leah is not going anywhere, and this is only the start of her career. Fans can’t wait for more content from her and for her to keep sharing her fierce personality. You can catch Leah next on Love Island, The Reunion, which is premiering Monday, August 19, at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT on Peacock.