25-year-old tech consultant took unpaid time off for reality dating show—'The only awkwardness has been on my side'

Elan Bibas builds AI tools for Fortune 500 companies. This summer, he also competed on viral reality dating show, "Love Island USA."

The 25-year-old who lives in Miami says he took time off from his job as a management technology consultant to compete on season seven of the Peacock series — kissing contestants Huda Mustafa, and Cierra Ortega and Olandria Carthen, his first day on the show.

"I'm just the person that loves fun little side quests," Bibas tells CNBC Make It. "I think they make for great stories down the road."

Despite appearing on 11 episodes of the six-week show, Bibas says he's held onto his full-time job with his employer, Slalom, a business and technology consulting firm with over 10,000 employees and 53 locations worldwide.

Bibas has been on unpaid leave from his full-time job since late May. He says he owes the ability to appear on "Love Island" to the relationships he's built at work and a company policy that allows employees to take time off to pursue personal endeavors.

Asking for the time off was still "incredibly stressful," Bibas says. He received the offer to appear on the show over Memorial Day weekend and had three days to approve the time off with HR, accept the offer and board a plane to Fiji where the show was being filmed.

"I was already on the plane, flying to Fiji and filling out forms for all the final approvals [at work]," he says. "That was a little messy."

No one at his company knew what he was taking the time off for either, because of agreements he signed with Peacock. Bibas says he referred to the show as a "personal opportunity" in workplace conversations.

He also did not know just how popular the show would become or if he would get any airtime at all. Viewers watched the show for more than 18.4 billion minutes over its 36-episode run, and it was the highest rated reality show on streaming services during the period, according to Peacock.

"There's some things that are inevitable on the show that you have to do, and that maybe I wouldn't want my co-workers to see," Bibas says.

That made logging back online after returning from the show "nerve-wracking," Bibas says. He put off checking his work messages for a week because he was so nervous about what his co-workers would think.

Luckily, the reactions were overwhelmingly positive, Bibas says. He says some offices held watch parties during his time on the show, and so far, he estimates he's gotten around 50 messages on Microsoft Teams from co-workers cheering him on.

"I think the only awkwardness has been on my side," Bibas says.

He's even been asked to give an informal presentation called a "lunch and learn" at work about his experience on the show. A Slalom spokesperson says, "It's important for us to have a company culture where people feel empowered to embrace both their professional and personal passion, especially if the goal is love."

While many reality TV contestants use the spotlight as a launchpad to kickstart full-time careers in social media influencing or television, Bibas says he plans to return to his job this fall. He hasn't been put on a work project just yet, but when he's ready to hit the desk, he'll be working a nine to five just like the rest of his co-workers.

"I've got to be honest, I love work," Bibas says. "I love the intellectual challenge, and I need that in my life"

Disclosure: Peacock is the streaming service of NBCUniversal, parent company of CNBC.

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