Belle-A Defends Huda and Jeremiah amid ‘Love Island USA’ Backlash (Exclusive)

Warning: This story contains spoilers for Love Island USA season 7.

Love Island USA fans are skeptical of how closed-off Huda Mustafa and Jeremiah Brown seem to be so early on in the villa, but Belle-A Walker is here to squash those concerns.

The 22-year-old was the first Islander to be dumped from the villa after Nic Vansteenberghe chose Cierra Ortega, and she’s breaking down some of the biggest questions fans have now that she’s on the outside of the drama.

When it comes to Huda and Jeremiah, Belle-A tells PEOPLE that fans’ skeptical comments “break my heart.”

Belle-A says that both Huda and Jeremiah were huge support systems for her in the villa.

“Huda and Jeremiah became kind of like my parents in the villa and they definitely helped guide me,” she says of the pair, who coupled up on day 1 in the villa and have remained together ever since — with little to no exploring of other possible connections.

“Huda was there to wipe my tears, and Jeremiah was there to be my wingman in so many different cases. And all of that seemed so genuine and authentic to me.”

Belle-A, who coupled up with Nic on day 1 but was left single after bombshell Cierra stole him, says that since leaving the villa and seeing fans’ criticism of how closed-off Huda and Jeremiah are so early on, she doesn’t “like what I’m hearing,”

Despite how much she loves them together, Belle-A says they “owe it to themselves” to “test” their connection.

She admits it would be “sad” to see Huda and Jeremiah, one of the villa’s strongest couples so far, not go the distance, but she knows that there’s a lot of time still to come.

“I do also know that it’s still early in the process. And if one of their heads were turned, it wouldn’t be a crazy thing.”

“I really, really enjoy seeing them together and love their relationship and love what they’ve already built,” Belle-A adds. “But I think they also do owe it to themselves to test that connection as well.”

Her friendship with Huda is one of her biggest takeaways from her week in the villa, Belle-A says.

“Somebody I’ll never forget is my girl Huda. She was there to wipe my tears and remind me of my worth and pick me up when I was feeling down,” she says. “I will never forget her for that.”

She also praises the 24-year-old for being a role model, as Huda has been open with the girls, and within her couple, about the fact that she’s a mom to a 4-year-old daughter.

“I am so proud of her going into this. I think it takes so much strength to do what she’s doing, and really, she’s giving representation to all of the other single mamas who maybe have never seen somebody like them on a screen before,” Belle-A says. “She’s giving them a voice too.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

New episodes of Love Island USA drop every day of the week (except Wednesday) at 9 p.m. ET on Peacock.