Rudy Pankow and Madison Bailey’s characters – JJ and Kiara – are a couple on Outer Banks, but fans are convinced that they’re not actually close in real life. After it was revealed on Thursday, November 7, that JJ died during the show’s season 4 finale, speculation about Rudy and Madison’s offscreen relationship has gone viral.

Many fans have pointed to one JJ and Kiara scene in season 4 that appears to use stunt doubles. The clip features the characters cuddling, with Kiara resting her head against JJ’s chest, but the two are never shown in the same shot together. “The camera cuts,” one fan pointed out, along with a video of the scene in question.

“This is just insane,” another X user wrote. “The fact that Rudy and Madison refused to record it together and they had to use stunt doubles just shows their unprofessionalism to their work. And they weren’t even supposed to be doing anything huge in that scene, just hugging a bit.” However, there is no confirmation that the duo actually “refused” to film PDA scenes together.

JJ and Kiara didn’t actually get together until season 3, but fans were shipping them as a couple from the very beginning. Fans have theorized that the pair’s respective significant others – Madison’s girlfriend is Mariah Linney and Rudy, 26, is dating former OBX director’s assistant Elaine Siemek – weren’t happy about how passionate viewers were about wanting JJ and Kiara to get together.

Both actors have come to the defense of their girlfriends amid the criticism they’ve received. “I think a lot of people can intertwine a narrative and what they want to believe and they take it out on someone that doesn’t deserve it,” Rudy told Cosmopolitan ahead of the show’s season 4 premiere. “That’s unfortunate and it’s hard. That’s why I spoke up – no one should go through something like that.”

The actor was referring to his 2021 Instagram post, where he stood up for Elaine, 28, when fans were giving her a hard time. “I’m here to call out the disrespect and harassment someone I love dearly is getting on a daily basis,” Rudy wrote. “It has gotten to the degree where lies are being spread and accusations are being said that go beyond the normal ‘hate.’ Not only is she not what she is being accused of being, she is the complete opposite and actively is so. Accusing someone you don’t know of being abusive and manipulative is not ok, especially when you don’t know the relationship personally.”

Around the same time, Madison, 25, directly addressed fans who accused Mariah, 25, of causing a wedge between her and Rudy. “I’m seeing all these posts about Mariah not liking Rudy, which, I mean, that’s not true,” she said on Instagram Live. “That’s just not true. She likes both of them. I got on the f–king phone with Rudy this morning because of y’all’s f–king bulls–t.”

The actress said she was really “set off” by someone who claimed Mariah was only dating her for clout and called out Outer Banks fans who wanted her to date Rudy. “We never had any romantic relationship ever and y’all are like, ‘They belong together.’ No we don’t,” Madison insisted.

Fans now think that JJ was only killed off of Outer Banks because Rudy and Madison didn’t want to work together anymore, but the show’s creators have said that it was always the plan to have the beloved character die.

“We were pretty sure early on that this was where it was going,” Shannon Burke told Cosmopolitan. “We thought that one of the Pogues would die almost in the very beginning in season 1 and we were pretty sure that it was going to be JJ. We just weren’t sure when we were going to play that card. We knew this would be JJ’s season. This is JJ’s story. And we realized pretty early on, like, ‘OK, we’re going to play this card now.’”

JJ died in Kiara’s arms and both actors reflected on what it was like to film the heavy scene. “This character is a huge loss and everybody’s going to feel it,” Madison admitted. Rudy added, “I knew everyone was on board to bring their all and I felt that from everyone. Madison and I brought it, and I know that we crushed it. It was emotional, but I think deep down, everyone was on the same page. ‘Let’s make an impact.’ And we did that.”