‘Love Island USA’s Ariana Madix “Thrilled & Excited” With Emmy Nomination & The Sweet Message From Her Mom That Made Her “Tear Up”

Ariana Madix has earned her first Emmy nomination as host of Love Island USA and is sharing her thoughts with Deadline.

The television personality is still in Fiji hosting Peacock‘s dating series, and news of her nomination caught her by surprise.

“I’m so thrilled and excited,” Madix told Deadline about the recognition from the Television Academy. “I mean, almost a little bit shocked just because when you look at the names of the categories — these are juggernauts of hosting when it comes to reality TV. So, to be up there next to them is crazy and amazing, and I’m so excited.”

Madix is not wrong, as she is nominated among an elite group of reality TV hosts, to which she is now included. The other presenters in the category include RuPaul Charles, Alan Cumming, Kristen Kish and Jeff Probst.

Getting nominated for the show is a full-circle moment for Madix, as years before ever hosting it, she was a fan of the dating series. As presenter, Madix hopes her love for the show comes across to viewers.

“I hope my love for my role on the show and my love for the show itself comes across because I think that if it does — it’s so important,” she said. “I really think it is such an amazing show and I’m so lucky to be a part of it and to be recognized for that is incredible.”

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Madix is in the final stretch of hosting Love Island USA Season 8 and was still asleep when she got news that she was nominated for the Primetime Emmys.

“When I went to bed the night before the nominations came out, of course, in Fiji time, I was thinking, ‘If something like that happens, it would be so amazing.’ And hopefully people think that I’m deserving of a nomination, but if it doesn’t happen, then you know I wake up with the same amount of Emmy nominations,” she recalled. “Then, it’s 4 a.m. Fiji time, I was awoken in the middle of the night, in the pitch dark, by my [hotel] room phone ringing, which is a terrifying sound, because why would anyone be calling me at 4 o’clock in the morning unless it’s something really bad.”

She continued, “It was my team calling me to tell me about the nomination, and to congratulate [me]. I was in such a stupor, and I was so half-asleep that I almost went back to sleep, wondering if that had actually just happened or not.”

Madix received calls from her friends, her family, and her boyfriend, Daniel Wai, congratulating her on her Emmy nomination.

“I got an amazing text from Andy Cohen and all of my team in the States,” she added. “I haven’t been able to look at my phone to see everything. I’m actually just scrolling right now, just very overwhelmed. I have a lot of really awesome, amazing people to respond to.”

One of the most special messages following her nomination was from her mother, with whom she shares a very close relationship.

“We have this thing from when I was a kid. She would call me her awesome girl,” Madix said of the sweet message she received from her mother. “And when she texted me, ‘Congratulations,’ she referred to me as her awesome girl, which always makes me tear up a little bit because it’s kind of our thing.”

With Madix now being an Emmy-nominated host, she will be introduced as such, which she says makes her “giddy,” adding, “It’s so wild. It’s one of those things that when you’re plugging away, and you’re working, and you say, ‘Maybe one day,’ and then you see your name up there with some of TV’s greatest — It’s just a dream come true.”

Madix knows she’s up with some big names in the category and doesn’t want to get her hopes up about winning, saying, “It feels like a big of a David and Goliath situation with this amazing category, but I think seeing the packages and seeing them say all of the names, and my name being one of those names — I think that is gonna feel like the best win ever in that moment.”

She continued, “To quote RuPaul, who has won this category so many times, ‘You’re a winner, baby!’”