Ariana Madix Reveals the Moment from This Season of Love Island USA That Left Her ‘Reeling’ for Days

“I had to catch up on episodes after that because I wasn’t — I was like, ‘Help, I’m still at the restaurant,’ you know?” she tells PEOPLE of the dramatic moment

Ariana Madix might have a great poker face, but not even she is immune to having an emotional reaction to Love Island USA‘s twists and turns.

The Bravo star, who is hosting the Peacock series for the second time this summer, has to stay poised and impartial when she’s inside the Fiji villa and dealing with the Islanders — especially considering she’s usually there to deliver news that will shake things up.

“I don’t always get a lot of [happy moments], because usually when I come in, it’s stressful,” she tells PEOPLE from Fiji, where she lives full-time while the show is filming. “They see me coming and they know bad news is potentially coming.”

When she does find herself stunned at the outcome of a recoupling or dumping, Madix, 40, has to stay in host duty, but now she’s revealing how she really feels about one of the season’s most dramatic dumpings so far.

Bombshell Charlie being dumped, despite his strong connection with Hannah, was one of the moments that tested Madix’s ability to stay neutral as host.

“The recoupling when America voted for the bombshells and the moment that I had to dump Charlie, that was really tough,” she says.

Ariana Madix hosts ‘Love Island USA’ season 7.Ben Symons/Peacock via Getty

“I feel like I was reeling from that for — I had to catch up on episodes after that because I wasn’t — I was like, ‘Help, I’m still at the restaurant,’ you know?”

It was a struggle too, for her, to watch Hannah Fields move on with Pepe Garcia-Gonzalez after Charlie Georgio was dumped so suddenly. “I was like, ‘I’m not ready yet,’” she says.

She continues, “Because I loved Hannah and Charlie together, watching them, and I felt like I was watching the second coming of The Notebook that night on the monitors waiting to go in. I just was like, ‘I cannot believe we’re about to recouple them.’”

She was left completely “shocked” when the boys opted to dump Charlie that night. “I truly did not think they would vote him out.”

Ariana Madix on Love Island USA’s ‘Aftersun’.Kim Nunneley/Peacock via Getty

Madix is not the only one who was really rooting for Hannah and Charlie. Now that Hannah has been dumped from the villa, too, both stars have weighed in on their possible future.

Hannah said never say never to rekindling things with Charlie.

The 23-year-old told PEOPLE days after she was dumped by her fellow Islanders that she is “definitely” open to talking to both Charlie and Pepe in the outside world.

“I would like to see how our relationships could play out in the real world, because obviously it’s really, really, really different. And you never know.”

She played somewhat coy, though, as she said, “Only time will tell. I’m not forcing anything. I think it’s really up to how they both feel.”

Charlie, meanwhile, was chomping at the bit to go back into the villa at any means necessary to win Hannah back.

The Brit did not mince his words as he told PEOPLE he was angling for the show to “send me back in [to the villa] to go get [Hannah] back.”

“Let’s see how real it is. Let’s see what her reaction would be. On a TV note, I think it would be great, but also for me, I feel like I was robbed of a real Love Island journey,” he said.

New episodes of Love Island USA drop every day except Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Peacock.