Love Island Games veteran Johnny Middlebrooks knows he left viewers divided with his approach to season 2, but he is standing behind his strategy - including that controversial Andreina Santos recoupling twist. Us Weekly caught up with Johnny on Wednesday, October 8, shortly after he was voted off the show. He broke down why he believes he set the standard for how Love Island Games is played, where he stands with Andreina after that Instagram video and more. Did you want to play the game differently this season compared to your last time on the show? With my strategy this time, obviously my first season of Games [was divisive]. A lot of people will look at the way that I handled it and think it was super questionable. But to be real, I feel like I set the precedent on how to play the games. Find the best partner on my first season - and that's what I was doing. 'Love Island USA' Status Check: Which Couples Are Still Together? But you don't think it was received that way by viewers? People thought, "Oh, Johnny is just playing all the girls." I was just trying to find the best partner. If I felt like the girl that I was with at that time wasn't going to suit me in the finale, I just waited for the next girl that best suited me and that I thought was gonna help me compete in the finale. It just so happened that I had three - I think it was two or three different couples. I ended up getting to the finale because I picked the best partner. If I didn't pick those partners, maybe I would have gone home. What about going into season 2? Ben Symons/PEACOCK Same thing. I was trying to find the best partner, and when I came in, I got lucky enough on the romance side, which is what I kept saying with Andreina and why we got coupled up. I came in and everyone told me, "Oh, my God, Lucinda killed her in her first duel and you should have seen it. It was so bad." I was like, "Look, I'm not going to come in here and not believe in her. I'm going to try and boost her up." I was trying to support her and make her believe in herself because I was very attracted to her. And we did meet on the outside before. And what was the history with that? Nothing was, like, crazy. We just met a couple times and we shared a kiss on the outside. We intentionally did not take it far because I knew I was going on Games. But she didn't tell me that she was going on Games. She knew I was going, but I didn't know she was going. She was just like, "You're about to go film a show. I don't want to get started with you before you go." I was like, "OK I respect that." I thought I was just waiting to maybe talk to her when I got back. Then you saw her as one of the Islanders in season 2. When I saw her on the show, I thought this is my chance to see what's up. I took my opportunity to really get to know her. The whole problem was I'm trying [to] overlook the fact that she wasn't really that good at challenges. I know you need to be good at the challenges because in my mind - at the very end - you're going to get tested. Even if you can make it all the way through the season without having to go through tough challenges, you're going to have to show your strength at the finale. But you had doubts about making it to the end with Andreina? When I was with her, my whole plan was, "Hey, if I can find somebody where I can develop a [romantic] connection, then cool. I'll overlook the competitive side." But when I gave her 10 days of putting all my eggs in her basket, I felt like the connection just wasn't really there. I told myself that the next opportunity I get to recouple up with someone else, I have to take it. With Games, any of the recouplings are designed to be kind of crazy. Do you have any regrets about choosing a chance to switch up your couple? I understood the implications of my actions. I understood what situation I was putting myself in and the situation I was putting Andreina in. I knew it was going to suck and I hated that it put Andreina in this position. But at the same time, it was the sacrifice I had to make because I knew that this is probably the last time I'm going to get a chance to recouple. Everyone says, "You should have just waited a little bit. She was safe." This is a game show. We all knew that we were on the last week and there's no time to wait and see what happens. There [were] no more recouplings. I knew that because I've been here before. We have less than a week. If I stay with Andreina and there's a challenge tomorrow, I could lose that challenge. Then how stupid would I feel [about] not going with my gut? 'Love Island U.K.' Couples: Where Are They Now? It was about the game before the love at that point. Andreina and I were not good as a couple competing. We would have gone home. I was right when it came to the competition aspect that me and Gabby [Allen] won. It was the best thing possible. It was just that America hated what I did so much that I couldn't get through with the vote. But realistically, when it came to th