‘Love Island’ alum Cashel Barnett booked into jail on domestic violence charges

Cashel Barnett is behind bars in Utah.

The reality TV star, who appeared on the first seasons of Love Island USA and The Challenge: USA, was booked into Salt Lake County Jail on Monday on charges of assault and domestic violence, the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Department confirmed to Entertainment Weekly.

Barnett, 34, is facing two third-degree felony counts of aggravated assault and domestic violence in the presence of a child, as well as two counts of misdemeanor assault, according to records reviewed by EW.

The charges were brought against Barnett on May 9, and a warrant for his arrest was issued by a judge three days later. Salt Lake County Deputy District Attorney Ronda Woolson sought a no-bail warrant for Barnett after a lethality assessment was conducted with the alleged victim, Barnett’s former partner and the mother of their child, who claimed that she feared Barnett would try to kill her if he wasn’t kept in custody.

A detention hearing for Barnett has been scheduled for Thursday. Andrew K. Deesing, an attorney for Barnett, told EW that “upon finding out about the arrest warrant, Mr. Barnett immediately retained counsel and then surrendered on the arrest warrant in Utah’s Third District Court first thing” Monday morning.

“We are obviously in the very early stages here and won’t have any comment until after that hearing on Thursday,” Deesing noted.

Authorities say that on April 25, Barnett’s ex gave a delayed report of an April 10 incident in which she allegedly attempted to calm Barnett down during an argument by hugging him. She claims Barnett slapped her arms away and followed her into a bedroom, where he picked her up by the neck with both hands, slammed her onto the bed, and choked her. She further claims that Barnett slapped her in the face and told her, “You’re okay.”

The incident allegedly took place in front of Barnett and his ex’s child and caused his ex to experience nausea, vomiting, memory loss, headache, trouble swallowing, and difficulty breathing.

Barnett is best known for his participation in the first season of Love Island USA, which premiered in 2019. A native of Sacramento, Calif., he entered the Villa on day one, was briefly paired with eventual second runner-up Caroline “Caro” Viehweg, and was dumped on day 20.

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly‘s free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

He returned to reality TV alongside Kyra Green, who he also briefly dated on Love Island, for the inaugural season of the CBS competition show The Challenge: USA. He was eliminated in the second episode.