“Love Island USA” Season 8 contestant Sean Reifel was blasted by a Pennsylvania mayor for resigning from his cop duties to compete on the dating reality TV show.
Bethlehem Mayor J. William Reynolds blamed 29-year-old Reifel for allegedly leaving the Bethlehem Police Department short-staffed less than a year after he was sworn in.
“Our police department spent a lot of time training and we paid thousands of taxpayer dollars to send him to the police academy,” Reynolds told local news outlet WHTM.
“We are disappointed he left as we now have another vacancy in our department that is impossible to fill until next year.”
He added, “I never thought I’d see the day in America where reality show participation wins out over being a police officer.”
Reifel’s former boss, Police Chief Michelle Kott, also voiced his disappointment over the resignation.
“I love Sean, he’s a good guy, he was a great officer, but I’m disappointed,” Kott told local outlet The Morning Call over the weekend.
“We work so incredibly hard to try to recruit the best people we can to be part of the Bethlehem Police Department.”
Kott also explained why the upcoming reality star was unable to take a leave of absence and return to his duties after the show.
“At this time, I don’t think there’d be a department that would be willing to allow someone to leave for ‘x’ amount of weeks to go on a television show when everyone’s hurting right now and overtime is being utilized to fill those gaps,” Kott said. “Officers are getting burnt out. It’s just a bad look to me.”
Despite his resignation, Reifel still introduced himself to Peacock viewers as a cop in the second official trailer that revealed the first 12 Islanders.
“I’m not a model, I’m not an actor, I’m a police officer, actually.” Reifel boasted while showing off his upper body strength by walking on his hands. “You could be having the worst day of your life, and I’ll just help you sift through that.”
The Pennsylvania native has already made headlines for allegedly being involved in a nasty custody battle with the mother of his 2-year-old son.
Reifel isn’t the only Season 8 cast member to face backlash before the season even premiered.
Contestant Vasana Montgomery was axed from the upcoming season after videos surfaced of her using a racial slur.
The 26-year-old contestant from Beaverton, Oregon, was filmed allegedly singing the N-word in a song lyric, according to TMZ.
A source close to production told Decider that the videos were privately owned and that they were only made aware of them after Montgomery had been announced as part of the cast.
“Love Island” Season 8 premieres Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET on Peacock.
