Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to the Maths Funny podcast with
Speaker 1: me Joshua Fox. As you guys know, I recently welcomed
Speaker 1: Lachlan Gerton and Tylie Pritchard from the Confessions of a
Speaker 1: Reality Start podcast into the Mass Funny Family and onto
Speaker 1: my podcast feed here, and they did a great chat
Speaker 1: with Tory all about her recent split from Jack, which
Speaker 1: you guys all listened to, and after I listened to that,
Speaker 1: I was kind of fascinated with this part of what
Speaker 1: is it actually like for the villain couples that do
Speaker 1: stay together once to show ends, because like, how much
Speaker 1: does that noise from viewers and their co stars and
Speaker 1: even the experts who are all slating their relationship and
Speaker 1: wanting them to fail, how much does it actually impact them?
Speaker 1: So on this this week, Lachlan and Tylie are sat
Speaker 1: down with Bryce and Melissa to talk about well this
Speaker 1: and what it's been like for them because obviously, during
Speaker 1: their season in twenty twenty one, they became arguably one
Speaker 1: of the most disliked pairings of all time. But since
Speaker 1: then they've kind of.
Speaker 2: Proved everybody wrong.
Speaker 3: They've married for real.
Speaker 1: They've got two beautiful children who you can hear playing
Speaker 1: around them during this interview, and some of the things
Speaker 1: they said during this interview even I was surprised about,
Speaker 1: including the phone call that Bryce received from expert mel
Speaker 1: Shilling long after filming wrapped, which I'm not sure she's
Speaker 1: gonna want people to know about, but Bryce said it,
Speaker 1: and now you guys can hear it.
Speaker 3: Enjoy.
Speaker 2: Hello, Bryce and Melissa, thanks for coming on Confessions of
Speaker 2: a Reality Star.
Speaker 4: Oh, thank you for having us.
Speaker 5: So it's been four years since you guys are on
Speaker 5: our TV screens. You're quite a controversial couple. People to
Speaker 5: this day still have like a lot of commentary, a
Speaker 5: lot of judgment about your relationship. How does it feel
Speaker 5: like four years on you have become a success story,
Speaker 5: but to still have people feeling like they know you
Speaker 5: and that they have the right to comment on you
Speaker 5: guys and where you're at.
Speaker 4: Honestly, we were on a reality TV show, so we've
Speaker 4: left ourselves open to have our relationship assessed and judged
Speaker 4: by everybody. So it just it just comes with it.
Speaker 4: So long as we know our own relationship, that's perfectly fine.
Speaker 4: But honestly, it doesn't. It doesn't. It used to really
Speaker 4: upset me because now I couldn't.
Speaker 3: Yeah, look, I think twelve months post show it probably
Speaker 3: affected us more, and more so me because I was
Speaker 3: probably the brund of it and probably caused that controversial tank.
Speaker 3: But honestly, now our foye is online, it's like a
Speaker 3: dropped off. To be fair, probably when we got married
Speaker 3: for real, I reckon that we kind of just went night.
Speaker 3: I might be completely wrong with my judgment, but the
Speaker 3: way that I see now is we're kind of lost
Speaker 3: it and it's just all love and support. Which it's
Speaker 3: a nice feeling because it kind of would be good
Speaker 3: to have that feeling four years ago when we're doing
Speaker 3: the show.
Speaker 5: Absolutely, and I guess there's been so many other people
Speaker 5: now that have gone through the show experience and can
Speaker 5: kind of.
Speaker 6: Take the label right. Each year there's a different villain.
Speaker 3: It's so funny. I did an interview a couple of
Speaker 3: months ago and Matt started this season like we've heard
Speaker 3: this and that about certain people, and I was like, yeah,
Speaker 3: you never know until you see come out. But honestly,
Speaker 3: some of these blokes made me look like an absolute state.
Speaker 3: Like I was like base level, Like these guys are
Speaker 3: common ever, so they they hit the top like I
Speaker 3: don't know how they're going to get any worse than
Speaker 3: some of these guys. I hate judging them saying that
Speaker 3: they're worse than ready because everyone is kind of under
Speaker 3: the same lebel end of the day's a villain or whatnot,
Speaker 3: or controversial, but people do other things like that are
Speaker 3: a bit more controversial than myself, like unin punchable, but
Speaker 3: I gave a chickah that I should not and really
Speaker 3: get doing. So there's different worlds, but I probably don't
Speaker 3: think they were a bit more controversial than me.
Speaker 2: It's interesting thinking back, like so much has obviously happened
Speaker 2: in the four years since you're on the show. You've
Speaker 2: had your twins, you've gotten married in real life, so
Speaker 2: it's easy to almost forget about the mass experience. I'm
Speaker 2: sure you've tried to many times. But in preparing for
Speaker 2: this interview, we kind of went back that headspace of
Speaker 2: the twenty twenty one news cycle. We found a few
Speaker 2: headlines just to kind of bring back the I guess
Speaker 2: the fact that you were in the headlines pretty much
Speaker 2: every day every week, especially you bryce. These are some
Speaker 2: of the headlines that stood out. The man who made
Speaker 2: me turn off married at first sight for good heavy,
Speaker 2: it's us against the world. Married at First Sights Melissa
Speaker 2: and Bryce forcefully deny claims their relationship is toxic. Yeah,
Speaker 2: there were investigations. Married at First Sight has been cleared
Speaker 2: by a media watchdog overclaims of gas lighting. In its
Speaker 2: latest eighth season, Bryce and Melissa's season of Married at
Speaker 2: First Site cleared of breach over abuse complaints. And then
Speaker 2: it wasn't even just the news cycle. There were also
Speaker 2: lawyers weighing in is Bryce from Married at First Sight
Speaker 2: committing family violence?
Speaker 4: Well, I do remember that one.
Speaker 3: I actually hear that one of you.
Speaker 4: Actually, that was one of the only ones that I
Speaker 4: did see us our screenshot is that Actually that was yeah, very.
Speaker 3: Oh you're surprised them the last one. I didn't have
Speaker 3: the last one. The other ones I've heard of because
Speaker 3: I don't read some repeat But look, I guess similar
Speaker 3: to like the previous seasons the last couple of years,
Speaker 3: Like there's a narrative and the media help drive it
Speaker 3: and not say singling you two for example. But there's
Speaker 3: like people that are in space that you guys are too,
Speaker 3: like whether it's podcasts like your news outlets, they do
Speaker 3: drive a narrative that's given to them from the lie
Speaker 3: or in the mole, and like it's just it comes out.
Speaker 3: You hear people say how they're showing and what loo
Speaker 3: it's it is true, Like it's not great to hear
Speaker 3: test's going out and say, hey, look it's the ed.
Speaker 3: But you've got to think what you've seen is clearly
Speaker 3: there and was part of myself, asks people doing the experiment,
Speaker 3: but what wasn't shown as well because you can't fit
Speaker 3: everything in. So there's obviously more to someone than what
Speaker 3: you see on that show, which is I guess why
Speaker 3: people and you say to me more than anyone, Like
Speaker 3: I said, to gravitate towards people who get the villain label,
Speaker 3: and I don't know whether it's the empathy that I've
Speaker 3: been their shoes and they reach out and say, hey,
Speaker 3: how is it? How do you hear look like you
Speaker 3: navigate this craziness. But to be honest with the pop
Speaker 3: I get the villain at it. On these shows, a
Speaker 3: number of the genuinely nice people away from the show,
Speaker 3: the ones that get the great label and look like
Speaker 3: angels and get the good at it, are onto the
Speaker 3: ones with the biggest egos. They're very much so self
Speaker 3: absorbed and they're not nice people. So it's yeah, it's
Speaker 3: so funny how this show creates characters and then you
Speaker 3: get headlines like that, which I'll create a character as
Speaker 3: well in the public space.
Speaker 5: Why do you think that is too with the people
Speaker 5: that kind of go on to maybe get the good
Speaker 5: edit so to speak. Do you think production or the
Speaker 5: network sees something in them to propel them into like
Speaker 5: a more celebrity status or whatever it is?
Speaker 3: Bitty yes, and though to me, I purely put it
Speaker 3: down to heavy to be a producer puppet, like you're
Speaker 3: happy to be the one that goes and starts a
Speaker 3: drama like this year we saw Jamie on that, so
Speaker 3: like I've never met Jamie, that was spokano, but you
Speaker 3: can clearly tell her she was in there being told
Speaker 3: if Nation from produced sty you go and did a party?
Speaker 3: If you say this you so that bring it up
Speaker 3: like she's only been shown that context of creating conversations
Speaker 3: amongst the dinner table or in a group setting. So
Speaker 3: that is such an obvious sign that the producers loved her.
Speaker 3: And yeah, people like people didn't enjoy it. I've got
Speaker 3: nixed feelings on how I felt towards up sound good
Speaker 3: so bad? Yeah, I don't know if just to me,
Speaker 3: that's a prime example this year with Jamie. She was
Speaker 3: clearly producing puppet and they're trying to hate a picture
Speaker 3: up Now. I might be wrong, she might be lovely, and.
Speaker 5: Hopefully she is Melissa for you. Obviously Bryce did get
Speaker 5: the villain at it. You had a lot of people
Speaker 5: weighing in, whether it was media, whether it was fans
Speaker 5: of the show, whether it was people on the show.
Speaker 6: How was that experience for you?
Speaker 5: Because correct me, if i we're onto Bryce, I think
Speaker 5: in once at any interview, maybe that you know, Melissa
Speaker 5: did speak up for herself. You guys had all these
Speaker 5: chats and whatever, and it just was never shown.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it was.
Speaker 4: It was quite a disappointing experience looking back on it
Speaker 4: now considering what we lived through and what actually happened
Speaker 4: during our time filming, but then to see what was
Speaker 4: shown it was it was just so just so starkly
Speaker 4: different to what I'd lived and having people weigh in
Speaker 4: on our relationship. I clearly wasn't in a very I
Speaker 4: wasn't an experienced personal relationship, so I was hearing all
Speaker 4: these difference in opinion from people from all over the
Speaker 4: world about how my relationship should be. And look, the
Speaker 4: relationship was ever perfect, one perfect from the beginning. We
Speaker 4: never that wasn't ever something that we were trying to promote.
Speaker 4: But we were happy with our relationship and we were
Speaker 4: building on it, and we were complete strangers when we
Speaker 4: first met, so of course it was never going to
Speaker 4: be perfect. But having everybody have their say, people are
Speaker 4: obviously providing their own real life examples and situations, and
Speaker 4: looking back, it wasn't great at the time, but now
Speaker 4: I see it as an opportunity that the show has,
Speaker 4: mainly from our season, opened the door to discussions about narcissism,
Speaker 4: gas lighting, coercive control, all of those horrible relationship you know,
Speaker 4: incidents that happened that many people have gone through, and
Speaker 4: what may have been perceived as what happened with us,
Speaker 4: I think isn't true. It is edited, The whole series
Speaker 4: is edited. But I think it was a good opportunity
Speaker 4: for that conversation to open that door for those conversations,
Speaker 4: and here we are now. I think that would be
Speaker 4: highlighted as one of the top words gas lighting, narcissism.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we probably put it in a mass dictionary, So
Speaker 3: I think it's.
Speaker 4: A good thing.
Speaker 2: No fact, when you both watched the show, and even
Speaker 2: now when you look back after four years, what would
Speaker 2: you each say was your biggest regret from the whole experience.
Speaker 3: For biggest regrets, I definitely have to put up there,
Speaker 3: don't that's the biggest. But the biggest I would be
Speaker 3: being so gullible to retreat experience. Obviously it didn't look
Speaker 3: good and I haven't said that on the show. It
Speaker 3: didn't reflect Whine as a person, that whole interaction with
Speaker 3: back I kind of would have just stuck to my
Speaker 3: guns all that night and just separated myself from everyone,
Speaker 3: Like you can go back and see it. UK was
Speaker 3: like clearly away from everyone else, like at the very
Speaker 3: edge of around chair, Like it's we couldn't have tried
Speaker 3: to yeah situation anymore if we try. But I think
Speaker 3: that's what we might be to regret, because just what
Speaker 3: followed in the show added. But I agree with everything
Speaker 3: that was being written because it did all that way.
Speaker 3: Like for me, it's an outside I didn't look anything
Speaker 3: else but that it's just being completely stupid, so I couldn't.
Speaker 4: There's nothing I really regret that maybe just I was.
Speaker 4: I was so open and honest, but it just sort
Speaker 4: what edits without? Like you know, people go, you didn't
Speaker 4: stand up for yourself. You're a doormat and you only
Speaker 4: see an hour an hour's worth of footage while we're filming,
Speaker 4: as everybody says, twelve fourteen, sixteen hours a day.
Speaker 2: So it's.
Speaker 3: Just it was It's funny, like how was just said
Speaker 3: about being open and honest? Like people probably think that
Speaker 3: my biggest regrett is put in with fourth in that
Speaker 3: I must forget off forgot that one. That's obviously regret
Speaker 3: because of what hindsight's a wonderful thing. But at the
Speaker 3: same time too, being honest in those early stages kind
Speaker 3: of built the foundation for our stories today. Like there's
Speaker 3: obviously context missing at conversations like at that I put
Speaker 3: in the retreat, but I said, look, would I go
Speaker 3: up to you? Are probably not the rest of that
Speaker 3: conversation went to But that's why I've come to it's
Speaker 3: a mass the experiment to change my way to go
Speaker 3: other that sort of real niche target. I was looking
Speaker 3: for a female so but again that didn't make for
Speaker 3: interesting TV. So it's like, oh, would I go up
Speaker 3: to the bar. Probably not slice sites cut it out
Speaker 3: so it's you can see what but that whole conversation
Speaker 3: yourself looks negative on screen, but actually there at the
Speaker 3: time was good care.
Speaker 2: Yeah, man, what was that experience?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 2: When the show starts airing on TV? You're kind of
Speaker 2: reliving the lowest of lows in your relationships and the
Speaker 2: moments of the fights and when you're not talking to
Speaker 2: each other, and then you find out that you are pregnant,
Speaker 2: which is arguably one of the highest of highs in
Speaker 2: a relationship. How did you navigate that experience?
Speaker 4: It was difficult. Thankfully we had a good support network
Speaker 4: around us in terms of our family and friends. Yeah,
Speaker 4: it was. It was tricky, but I basically just shut
Speaker 4: myself off from the show it being filmed, it aired,
Speaker 4: there was nothing we could do about it except about
Speaker 4: living our lives. And probably more fortunate for us that
Speaker 4: we didn't want because we weren't, because we weren't a
Speaker 4: couple that were considered successful. Even though we were, you
Speaker 4: didn't see us all of the billboards and at the
Speaker 4: lots of Grammy's getting invited that like we we obviously weren't.
Speaker 4: We weren't put up in spotlights, which you know, it
Speaker 4: was sad at the time and still is because you
Speaker 4: want to be you want to you want your relationship
Speaker 4: to be, to be you know, loved and appreciated and
Speaker 4: shown as being successful. But it's what made us quite humble.
Speaker 4: And we've just gone back to our lives. We still
Speaker 4: do things with social media and you know, go to
Speaker 4: the odd event here, and then you know, we've got jobs, family,
Speaker 4: you know, we still struggle to make ends meet with finances.
Speaker 4: We're just like everybody else at the end of the day.
Speaker 5: It is interesting you bring that up too, because I
Speaker 5: think it was like, obviously the twenty nineteen season, the
Speaker 5: Jewels and cam love story was so promoted and whatever,
Speaker 5: and then you guys are like the most successful couple
Speaker 5: from your season, and what were you just like dropped?
Speaker 5: Did you feel like dropped by the network? Not supported
Speaker 5: by the network?
Speaker 3: I looked to me, there was ever that Camon Jewels
Speaker 3: Love network anyway, So you can't be if you don't
Speaker 3: have it. I really languish that we've.
Speaker 4: Had just the support even to even today. Deright that
Speaker 4: for me, like you watch Max still, you know, yeah,
Speaker 4: I watched it this season and I haven't watched it
Speaker 4: since our season. And you know, psychology and psychiatrists are expensive.
Speaker 4: You know that's that's older is still there that I
Speaker 4: still have to pay for myself now, So even just
Speaker 4: a little bit of support, you know, he and go,
Speaker 4: here's a lifetime psychiatrist for you would have been great,
Speaker 4: but left to our own devices, now we're on our own.
Speaker 2: There have only been a handful of couples that are
Speaker 2: still together after being matched by the experts. So it
Speaker 2: is a bit wild to think that you guys, being
Speaker 2: one of that small group that you're not celebrated by
Speaker 2: a Channel nine. Is not this recognition from fans that wow,
Speaker 2: they are the ones that made it. Have you had
Speaker 2: those sort of discussions or any discussions with other success
Speaker 2: couples about what it's like or is there a private
Speaker 2: group chat of all the math success stories. Is there
Speaker 2: anything like that.
Speaker 3: For a chat and saying good she might to others
Speaker 3: but not us on a level. But yeah, no, there's not.
Speaker 3: I remember when Jack and Tory last year we caught
Speaker 3: up with them and had a bit of a chat,
Speaker 3: like just about general life and whatnot. Obviously no longer
Speaker 3: to get up, but that like I suppose like that
Speaker 3: was still keen to sort of have a chat and whatnot,
Speaker 3: like heard nothing from Ree and Jeff Jack and like
Speaker 3: people reach out to us have to have a conversation,
Speaker 3: like I'll never go and reach out to them that way.
Speaker 3: It's like if people want to touch base us and say, hey,
Speaker 3: how do you navigate this crypt et cetera, I'm having
Speaker 3: answer afraid or have a chat or like respond to
Speaker 3: a message like I'm not going to be rare and
Speaker 3: just ignore it because I would have appreciated that support
Speaker 3: when we did it. So that's why I look at it.
Speaker 3: But no, it's just I don't know, like in terms
Speaker 3: of the whole thing. Celebrated the news like and having
Speaker 3: that connection, it's like it is what it is. Like
Speaker 3: remember last year we were in Sydney and we had
Speaker 3: someone from Channel nine was a digital team, was something
Speaker 3: to us about they were asking those dinner party things
Speaker 3: they do on the website. If we were ask if
Speaker 3: we were interested in doing it, because I said that
Speaker 3: are really keen to do it. Anytime that something goes
Speaker 3: up about us, it's their biggest hits on their website,
Speaker 3: so they want to try and make something of it.
Speaker 7: Was it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we have a conversation you want, never had the conversation,
Speaker 3: never came Duncan and never learned doing it. So it's
Speaker 3: like stuff like that. And honestly, dugd is a great blake.
Speaker 3: Don't know much about Evelyn, but Dublan's cool. But I'm
Speaker 3: just like, that's a prime example, like they test the waters,
Speaker 3: something must happen, and then never ranged bacs. It's like,
Speaker 3: you probably probably do it because we'll give people a
Speaker 3: different perspective on us as actual novel people speaking to
Speaker 3: you now. So I think maybe it's a case that
Speaker 3: Channel and Iron just doesn't want to admit that they
Speaker 3: will roll with us. Maybe that's the case. I don't know.
Speaker 2: I mean that specific example is interesting because Duncan and Evelyn,
Speaker 2: I mean, I've always had great interactions with them. I
Speaker 2: like them as a couple, but they weren't a couple
Speaker 2: matched by the experts. They're not a success story. And
Speaker 2: when nine has this small group of success stories to
Speaker 2: choose from, that instead championning this other mismatched couple. So
Speaker 2: it's interesting.
Speaker 3: It wouldn't been.
Speaker 4: Nice just to even you know, they said, you know,
Speaker 4: after after filming, you know, you just don't hear from production. Ever, again,
Speaker 4: you don't hear from the psychologist that you spoke to
Speaker 4: and you know, gave everything to everything about your life
Speaker 4: too for months, and it's yeah, it's just it's just silence.
Speaker 4: And it just wouldn't been nice even if they were,
Speaker 4: you know, they someone that EPs had quite a bit
Speaker 4: to say about us after the show, and it just
Speaker 4: would have been nice eating to get in the room
Speaker 4: and sit down and actually say hey, like you know,
Speaker 4: clear the air maybe, or or go okay, well, this
Speaker 4: is why you know, you were purely there for entertainment.
Speaker 4: It just it just kind of was like crickets.
Speaker 3: So I will bring up one situation that did happen
Speaker 3: poshow that surprised me when we announced that we're engaged
Speaker 3: and expecting the boys. I remember I put a post
Speaker 3: up at the time and might even been a story,
Speaker 3: and someone read it was like a Q box and
Speaker 3: someone put on there had the experts and have reached
Speaker 3: out to checking and see how you're going. And I
Speaker 3: put somebody like, you're kidding yourself, right, like you saw
Speaker 3: how I treated this. To her credit, I'll give her
Speaker 3: a slight bit of credit. Mel Shirling actually reached out
Speaker 3: ya Instagram and said, hey, Bryce, don't give you a call.
Speaker 3: So I remember, we're in a car driving from Mornington
Speaker 3: up to Norwourn in the city, which is about for
Speaker 3: those who don't know, gift to me as the car,
Speaker 3: and she calls when we're driving up there, and that
Speaker 3: conversation was a bit. It was interesting because she's like,
Speaker 3: you know that, like technical, we're not allowed to do this.
Speaker 3: We can't follow participants, we're not supposed to speak to them,
Speaker 3: contracting all sort of stuff like even doing this now,
Speaker 3: I'm breaking my contractual agreemance with Trail Run. At end
Speaker 3: of myle and I said, I was very polite, so off,
Speaker 3: but in my mind, we're getting your full shit because
Speaker 3: you follow ex participant. You always commentated on me, so
Speaker 3: I've seen you responding on place and I'm like again,
Speaker 3: it's like it's that, it's one thing I can't say.
Speaker 3: It was like fake your us and like respect to
Speaker 3: mel don't know she's gone through some personal stuff and
Speaker 3: to help them, I hope to go well. Same time
Speaker 3: to him, like it's that fake. Nice to be fair
Speaker 3: of John, Like if John ever called me, I'd tell
Speaker 3: him to go jump, because he to me, was probably
Speaker 3: the most fake out of all of them. Off camera,
Speaker 3: you'd go through the hallways at that warehouse, like Bryce
Speaker 3: mate in the last side. Always loved it on the couch,
Speaker 3: so Bryce told me while we were Dickhead, and then
Speaker 3: at the end of the expa me. He's like, Bryce,
Speaker 3: I made it. Loved watching you. I can't wait to
Speaker 3: watch a back Australia and I love watching you. They're
Speaker 3: all of a sudden, Hey, where was the damn from
Speaker 3: john saying congrats guys on them getting engaged in the twins,
Speaker 3: like very happy for you, like fake nice I saw
Speaker 3: summed him up so perfectly, and I'm so glad that
Speaker 3: he got a Josh box that got the video of
Speaker 3: him like the Current Affairs style have you like? That
Speaker 3: was him to a tee, Like I never college on
Speaker 3: stuff on so medi about masks, but that's one thing
Speaker 3: I had to because I was like, he literally summed
Speaker 3: it up in a sixty secondary on Instagram. What Johnny's
Speaker 3: like as a person like that was so like, don't
Speaker 3: know the right word, like contradicting of him and any
Speaker 3: he says like the legal and Josh saying I'll make
Speaker 3: you do this. I'm like, mate, what's yourself back on
Speaker 3: this reel? What just on the show? And then how
Speaker 3: you can duct this off off camera while filming show
Speaker 3: and then work out why people don't have that respect
Speaker 3: or positive to say about you?
Speaker 4: And now you know why production does the likes.
Speaker 5: Yeah, in that conversation with mel two, how long did
Speaker 5: it go for? So did she kind of was she
Speaker 5: like apologetic about anything or was it more like congrats guys?
Speaker 3: Yeah, apologizing that apologizing, but like I was saying that
Speaker 3: she was happy for us and was probably about her
Speaker 3: fifteen minute call. And yeah, it was like just saying
Speaker 3: I like this more so explaining why she hadn't reached
Speaker 3: up personally like Alessandra. To be fair, she's got an excuse.
Speaker 3: She was on the outside of the world. Yeah, it
Speaker 3: also has Instagram all I've gone at the distance. But
Speaker 3: so again it's that sort of you know, but again
Speaker 3: respect that she reached out you whatnot. Yeah, it was
Speaker 3: an interesting folk called. Again, I can imagine a Maths contract.
Speaker 6: I wanted to throw to our surprise guest question.
Speaker 2: Yes we got sent a mystery question.
Speaker 6: No it's John.
Speaker 2: We got to send a question from a maths participant.
Speaker 2: They were on your season. I think you have a
Speaker 2: good relationship with them, so you don't have to turn
Speaker 2: to be stressed about this. But this is what they
Speaker 2: had to say.
Speaker 8: Hey, guys, it's Belle. I hope you're doing well in Queensland,
Speaker 8: but I miss you down here in Melwoyn. So I've
Speaker 8: always been a big supporter of your relationship. I feel
Speaker 8: like you guys have always been super strong and gotten
Speaker 8: through anything. So my question for you would be what
Speaker 8: advice would you give couples that are facing outside judgment
Speaker 8: or opinions about their relationship, whether this comes from family
Speaker 8: or friends or random people. I know you guys unfortunately
Speaker 8: experienced a lot of that in your relationship, and I
Speaker 8: think it does happen to a lot of couples. So
Speaker 8: what advice would you give those couples that are facing
Speaker 8: that sort of negative judgment and opinions?
Speaker 3: Good luck? I do love we love Belt.
Speaker 2: So for anyone that doesn't know, that was Belinda from
Speaker 2: your season Great Friends, now one of the only two
Speaker 2: people that you're still in touch with, mel, how would
Speaker 2: you answer that.
Speaker 4: This was a question that came up a few times
Speaker 4: over the years when people would message me.
Speaker 9: And say, you know, thank you for highlighting your relationship
Speaker 9: by I often get I don't get the same level
Speaker 9: of support and from my own family and friends that
Speaker 9: say that my relationship.
Speaker 4: Is unhealthy or toxic. I think it was just for
Speaker 4: our relationship. It was a good opportunity to open those
Speaker 4: doors for discussion and people know if they're in a
Speaker 4: relationship that's not healthy or there's there's underlying issues. It's
Speaker 4: just about a matter of being able to have those
Speaker 4: open conversations, recognize the signs where you may be struggling.
Speaker 4: You may need support outside of the existing support you
Speaker 4: have now, whether it be professional support, but it is.
Speaker 4: It is a tricky one because nobody knows your relationship
Speaker 4: but you, and you're the only person that can fix it.
Speaker 4: So it's hard because I don't want to be I
Speaker 4: don't want to be a relationship expert. What I went
Speaker 4: through is vastly different to what people go through in
Speaker 4: their day to day lives, and I would just suggest
Speaker 4: reaching out to somebody that you trust, maybe someone that's
Speaker 4: not in your inner circle, but more so where mental
Speaker 4: health plans or an option getting that professional support. That's
Speaker 4: what I did.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's been the most common message where you get
Speaker 3: since the shows like watching you two still being together
Speaker 3: on the show and backing each other up kind of
Speaker 3: reminded them of their own relationships, saying, oh, like my
Speaker 3: parents or like our family don't like our partner, but
Speaker 3: we've got a really good relationship and we know we do.
Speaker 3: It's like, well, I always sort of have said to
Speaker 3: people that come from the street and basically said that
Speaker 3: it's like, well, just back yourself, being like, if you've
Speaker 3: got your gun feeling that it's right for you, then
Speaker 3: see it out and then at some point it might
Speaker 3: come a time where that judgment does change. That could
Speaker 3: happen for us one day. It highly is very likely
Speaker 3: it won't touch because she's a keep up for life,
Speaker 3: but that can happen, and like feelings change, like there
Speaker 3: was no secret post or appreciator. Sorry that I'd been
Speaker 3: a couple of relationships, some were good, some were not good,
Speaker 3: just a fore you. But so like I'm going to
Speaker 3: feel like I've learned from different legships in the past
Speaker 3: and brought into our current relationship and that's what's making
Speaker 3: it work because I've made mistakes in the past and
Speaker 3: I'm the boss. Yeah, And basically, whereas pans purpose so
Speaker 3: I do.
Speaker 4: That's what massed in me, and that's a.
Speaker 3: Pretty much the case. At the same time too, it's
Speaker 3: like when you know what you've got between the two
Speaker 3: of you and having that communication, Like we definitely argue
Speaker 3: and have disagreements more often than probably not, but we
Speaker 3: get over them very quickly, we resolve it, we move on.
Speaker 3: But then that's kind of built the foundation of our
Speaker 3: marriage what it is now so.
Speaker 5: Kind of interesting, I think too, Like that's what a
Speaker 5: real relationship is, where sometimes on the show, the success
Speaker 5: couples are the ones that they're not even shown arguing
Speaker 5: or they're not shown having disagreements, whereas, like we all know,
Speaker 5: in real life, when you're part of a partnership, you
Speaker 5: don't agree on every single thing, or you have moments
Speaker 5: where you're just pissed off at each other or whatever.
Speaker 6: It is.
Speaker 3: Well on the show itself, I don't think we actually
Speaker 3: had one argument that was I think we might have
Speaker 3: had one disagreement and it wasn't even due to anything
Speaker 3: that one of us did. It was an external song argument.
Speaker 3: I'm here, Yeah, the fake, fake.
Speaker 4: Argument where we appeared to have been fighting right before
Speaker 4: we shound the pouch. We hadn't spoken to each other.
Speaker 7: But that was just it was like, you've got to
Speaker 7: hold the argument you had, and you know, when we
Speaker 7: get on the couch, you've got to be really angry
Speaker 7: and frustrated at each other and then tell the experts
Speaker 7: what happened.
Speaker 4: And it was just kind of like, I'm not I'm
Speaker 4: not good at acting.
Speaker 6: I'm just oh, that is such a wild directive to.
Speaker 3: Actually, we did have another fake argument. Remember the second day,
Speaker 3: asked the wedding where we're in a holding motel?
Speaker 2: Yeah, all the fake arguments are coming out?
Speaker 3: Should I share up?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 3: So we just got married and we were on the
Speaker 3: way to our honeymoons in the middle of a fort,
Speaker 3: but we had to get to a holding motel on
Speaker 3: the way on the Hawks River. And anyway, it was
Speaker 3: we got married on a Friday, and I got a
Speaker 3: text for my ex to you once on a Saturday morning.
Speaker 3: I know, it was quite spiebab. It was like a
Speaker 3: like getting mad today, hate what it's all worth? The light
Speaker 3: one like it was pretty not great. But anyway, I
Speaker 3: told Liz like off camera and I was like, oh,
Speaker 3: so makes just sitting this like how did she been know?
Speaker 3: Like we haven't spoken for like well over six months.
Speaker 3: And anyway, I went and told our coupin's producer because
Speaker 3: they're ato getting to know her and see what she
Speaker 3: was like. And she's like, oh my god, like have
Speaker 3: you told listen to she? And now I said, oh, yeah,
Speaker 3: I told her before and she's like, she come, that's
Speaker 3: gonna be on camera. And then we're sitting in my
Speaker 3: tour room and then she comes in an hour later,
Speaker 3: so you know how you told me about that text message?
Speaker 3: Like yeah, and she's like we've got to re enact
Speaker 3: it and we're like what the help and we're like
Speaker 3: it's not hobing away, like where are we going? Like
Speaker 3: you didn't know, Lisa, we had this.
Speaker 4: Thing and I'm like it was it was the worst.
Speaker 4: You can tell. You can tell I'm clearly when you
Speaker 4: go I got an a text message from my expart
Speaker 4: and I'm.
Speaker 6: Just like, oh, I really want to go back and
Speaker 6: rewatch that now.
Speaker 3: Made the car it's not shown, remember any mean, we're
Speaker 3: like they're going to show this is going to be
Speaker 3: so awkward to watch.
Speaker 6: Yeah, because your acting was too bad.
Speaker 4: Because I kept say because I didn't care. I like, well,
Speaker 4: and they're like you've got at least you can't just
Speaker 4: say that you've got care like it's his it's his
Speaker 4: ex fiance, and I'm going, but I don't care, and
Speaker 4: the camera right in my sakes and they just keep
Speaker 4: saying it. You've got to he's got to get more emotional,
Speaker 4: you know, you need to say how sit you are?
Speaker 3: Like really, I was out at the pool and boxy
Speaker 3: outside room, I'm like, oh my god, she's going to
Speaker 3: break up for me on day two.
Speaker 4: Yes, so it was cringe.
Speaker 3: I wish it made it. They didn't, unfortunately that.
Speaker 5: So it's good to know that perspective too, because I
Speaker 5: feel like even the commentary on couples throughout every season,
Speaker 5: I know, like a lot this season, Jeff and Ree
Speaker 5: were called boring a lot, and they were just like, oh,
Speaker 5: they're like talking about their feeling to each other.
Speaker 6: Seems really awkward.
Speaker 5: It's like, yeah, because it's probably like the fourth time
Speaker 5: they're trying to have this conversation on camera and try
Speaker 5: to like Jeff giving read his key or whatever to
Speaker 5: move in and she's like thanks.
Speaker 6: It was like he obviously didn't do it for the
Speaker 6: first time on camera.
Speaker 3: Yeah, what's right if.
Speaker 4: The ring isn't in the right, you know, don't you
Speaker 4: ring on the angle? Then you've got to turn the
Speaker 4: ring over and make sure, then go film it again
Speaker 4: and get the close up of the ring. And this
Speaker 4: this is what they always wanted us to do on camera,
Speaker 4: always churning out our wedding bands. So you have to
Speaker 4: do it in a very obvious way and just the
Speaker 4: show doubt or yeah, yeah, yeah, to like yeah, look anxious.
Speaker 3: Ringburn, give us a pensive look and think about something
Speaker 3: sad and what makes you emotional? Just it. I'm like,
Speaker 3: mine doesn't sit me going off.
Speaker 5: Well, that's what they did with Dave this season too.
Speaker 5: Do you remember when they first are showing the cracks
Speaker 5: with him and Jamie in their relationship. They're like zooming
Speaker 5: in on him on the couch, like fidgeting and playing
Speaker 5: with is when in right?
Speaker 6: And yeah, yeah, I love all.
Speaker 5: This inside tea, like the different ways that you can
Speaker 5: like make you guys seem more anxious and more tense
Speaker 5: and what you probably were.
Speaker 2: There are some scenes as well when they're getting ready
Speaker 2: for a dinner party and they like splash water on
Speaker 2: their face and I'm just thinking, like, what are they
Speaker 2: trying to build here, like, I can't imagine them asking
Speaker 2: the person to okay, now, can you just look in
Speaker 2: the mirror and question yourself and wash your face? Like
Speaker 2: that would be so intense, and it's the fuck.
Speaker 4: So we just need to apply your lipstick, get great,
Speaker 4: you're working off, and do it again. So you just
Speaker 4: you're constantly doing the same thing over and over again.
Speaker 4: And it felt like one of the worst jobs on earth,
Speaker 4: especially for me, because I just it did feel like work.
Speaker 4: Every day. Yeah, doing and having to do it over
Speaker 4: and over and over again was it was so tiring
Speaker 4: and frustrating, and you just you.
Speaker 3: Do feel yeah, no, the in the beginning, oh so
Speaker 3: it's new to you. It's all exciting and fun. But
Speaker 3: then come that the dinner party, and then you bit like, okay,
Speaker 3: there's only so long you'll tolerate sitting in a hot
Speaker 3: tenth in a warehouse. You're already going to give me
Speaker 3: under the fire because you can hear the voice down
Speaker 3: the hallway and they're having fun and clinking glasses and
Speaker 3: scarring beers, and it's like when you're seeing a tent
Speaker 3: with paving twists, the bottle of water getting ready to
Speaker 3: be abused. For half now this is good. And then
Speaker 3: you're coming sweating and it's like, oh my god, like,
Speaker 3: why are you sweating? It's looks some anxious it's gonna
Speaker 3: be seeing a ten hour backs for an hour waiting
Speaker 3: to come in like.
Speaker 6: It's being hard hostage.
Speaker 3: God Like, look you get the three experts. I'm like,
Speaker 3: oh my god. Bryce looks like he's like under pressure.
Speaker 3: He's like he's really hot and leaves like fluster and
Speaker 3: I'm like, no, I'm proviously hydrated to be fairlightes Yeah,
Speaker 3: play on that too.
Speaker 5: It's it's well, I think kind of every season, especially now,
Speaker 5: people are getting more vocal even while the show's airing,
Speaker 5: Like a lot of the cast are going rogue this
Speaker 5: season about it all and kind of Melissa you saying
Speaker 5: it was like going to work every day, going to
Speaker 5: a job every day. Do you think participants are compensated
Speaker 5: fairly to be on the show, because you know, the
Speaker 5: rumor over the years is the pay is not very good.
Speaker 5: You're being propelled out to however many million Australians who
Speaker 5: are going to judge you in your relationship for the
Speaker 5: next few months or years, and you're working twelve hour
Speaker 5: days essentially, if not more, and giving up jobs and
Speaker 5: giving up lifestyles. Do you think participants should be compensated
Speaker 5: more fairly for being on the show.
Speaker 4: Actually, I don't. I think if you sign up for
Speaker 4: this show, then that's that's the risk you're taking, and
Speaker 4: you do take that risk of getting the villain edit
Speaker 4: and whatever edit you want to call it, if you
Speaker 4: make that choice like we did. We made the choice
Speaker 4: and it was it wasn't good for us financially, And
Speaker 4: if I had just done a little bit more research
Speaker 4: then Apple rule would have made it more informed decision.
Speaker 4: But then at the mored of the day, people signed
Speaker 4: up the show because a lot the fame most of
Speaker 4: them do, especially now, it's definitely changed since our seasons,
Speaker 4: the earlier seasons where it was, you know, you still
Speaker 4: have people that wanted to be on TV and the
Speaker 4: majority of us, you know, we do want to find love.
Speaker 4: I would have to say now just looking, because I
Speaker 4: don't watch the show, but I see it all over
Speaker 4: my Instagram and I'm Yahoo and all over Google. It
Speaker 4: pops up constantly, and it just doesn't feel like it
Speaker 4: has the same authenticity anymore. So if you choose to
Speaker 4: go on the show, I don't think I think the
Speaker 4: compensation is you know, you getting compensated as a producer
Speaker 4: scene after the show.
Speaker 5: There's been a lot of talk, I feel like, particularly
Speaker 5: this year, about the future of maps as well, and
Speaker 5: like you guys kind of pointed out before, less people
Speaker 5: going in for the love story quote unquote, and more
Speaker 5: cast going rogue as the show's on and trying to
Speaker 5: like tell their side of the story as it's airing.
Speaker 5: Do you see a long future for the show still
Speaker 5: or do you think people are becoming kind of too
Speaker 5: smart and too aware now to believe everything that's been
Speaker 5: shown on our screens.
Speaker 3: No, to be honest with you, I've read articles saying
Speaker 3: at the show could get stand and whatnot. That show
Speaker 3: is going though away any time zero if it continues
Speaker 3: to make sure online money. You guys know as well
Speaker 3: as I do in the media, if something's bringing revenue,
Speaker 3: it's cementing. As long as that is the ant cracks
Speaker 3: and charts the pieces, So they'll just keep finding people
Speaker 3: to do it. People will happily be doing it. I've
Speaker 3: already had one person message me on Instagram saying I've applied.
Speaker 3: I've had a chat with a producer on Zoom and whatnot,
Speaker 3: Like I'm doing this testing. What do you think I said?
Speaker 3: Good luck. I'm not going to go out here and say, oh,
Speaker 3: go and do it, you'll love it or not. Don't
Speaker 3: do it because I had a crap experience, Like everyone
Speaker 3: have their own experience with it, Like the thing.
Speaker 4: Is, it'll be unfortunately. I just I just see something
Speaker 4: awful happening. Yeah, I yeah, yeah, I don't want to
Speaker 4: say what, but it's just something terrible is going to happen.
Speaker 4: You pick the wrong person like I was supposed to
Speaker 4: be on the show. According to the psychologist, she said
Speaker 4: that they had to actually really push to get me
Speaker 4: in because of my former mental health issues. I believe
Speaker 4: they said the same or something similar to Jake at
Speaker 4: the time because he worked for mental health charity and
Speaker 4: the effects it could have. So really, I'm I'd be
Speaker 4: intrigued to see all those testing and all those psychological
Speaker 4: tests that I did. I'd been interested to give them
Speaker 4: to my new psychiatrist to show them what, you know,
Speaker 4: should I have gone on? Should I have actually been
Speaker 4: allowed to participate? He's moving forward. If you're not careful
Speaker 4: and somebody does get are some guy At the beginning
Speaker 4: of this season, that he was a lovely girl and
Speaker 4: he's a teacher.
Speaker 6: Oh Tim, was it Tim?
Speaker 3: Oh? Yeah, yeah, I am.
Speaker 4: So only from what I've read, he's just getting absolutely
Speaker 4: slammed and I couldn't. I don't know him, I don't
Speaker 4: know what went on the show, But I just feel
Speaker 4: for people that are just absolutely hounded online and in person,
Speaker 4: and you just don't know what people are capable of.
Speaker 4: Not stinkty, yes, but you don't know what people are
Speaker 4: capable of, and it doesn't really matter and what kind
Speaker 4: of edit they get. You know, they might get a
Speaker 4: great edit, they might they might come off the show
Speaker 4: looking fantastic, but then it just might not be something
Speaker 4: that suits everybody. And they're concerning that we're pushing we're
Speaker 4: pushing people too far with this type of entertainment.
Speaker 3: I still think that if it did get to that
Speaker 3: point where something horrific happened, like or are starting, I
Speaker 3: still don't think that will in the show be fair.
Speaker 3: It might tote them down or reassessing how they go
Speaker 3: about it, but it will never end it. That shows
Speaker 3: you to stay.
Speaker 5: So yeah, their producers and I guess the network always
Speaker 5: pushed the message that they have psychological support there that
Speaker 5: participants are looked after all that kind of stuff. Is
Speaker 5: that only during the duration of the show, and then after,
Speaker 5: like you were saying earlier, you kind of left to
Speaker 5: your own devices.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I don't know what it's like now, Yeah,
Speaker 4: but we do. I've never received a shred support since,
Speaker 4: as I said, any psychologists I've seen the psychiatrists that
Speaker 4: I see. I've faced it up myself, and that's you know,
Speaker 4: it's not cheap, what four or five years on and
Speaker 4: I didn't expect the show to fund that, but it's
Speaker 4: just nothing. It's just complete silence and not even any
Speaker 4: tools to strategize how to manage it moving forward, even
Speaker 4: the long term. Yeah, it's kind of it's kind of
Speaker 4: like being in a job and having going through this
Speaker 4: erotic experience and then just being kicked out the door
Speaker 4: and good luck and hope you survived it. And if
Speaker 4: you don't, well you signed a contract.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but show psychologists borne you there filming with production.
Speaker 3: She was love with al and great with different tools
Speaker 3: and stuff like that. But at the same time too,
Speaker 3: there was one thing that I had mentioned to her
Speaker 3: that I had told nobody else at all. I told
Speaker 3: Liz and I know Liz would not have said any
Speaker 3: repeated information, but somehow a executive, like a higher produce
Speaker 3: like not the not Tara, one of the other ones,
Speaker 3: but one of the little range ones, came back and
Speaker 3: allude to a comment that I made to the psychologist
Speaker 3: two weeks prior, and I said, there's no way possible
Speaker 3: that anyone wouldn't know that.
Speaker 5: Do you have conversations now about how you tell the
Speaker 5: kids when they're older, because we were. We interviewed Cyral
Speaker 5: last year and she was saying that, you know, her
Speaker 5: and Eden have to talk about how they raise their
Speaker 5: son and like the stuff that she's been called online
Speaker 5: and all that kind of stuff when he's old enough
Speaker 5: to understand that. Do you guys worry about that with
Speaker 5: your boys?
Speaker 10: I do, definitely, But honestly, it's just about you know,
Speaker 10: they can They'll be able to find any footage content online,
Speaker 10: but it's just more about how we raise them and
Speaker 10: how they how they see us in our family at home,
Speaker 10: in our family dynamic.
Speaker 4: That's the most important thing. And just to teach them
Speaker 4: that you know about trolls and about bullying and not
Speaker 4: to take that information or take that feedback on board
Speaker 4: and just see what their mum and dad is like
Speaker 4: and how how they're being raised. That's the most important thing.
Speaker 4: We can't can't control anything else.
Speaker 2: One final question, just to bring everything full circle. I
Speaker 2: think we both know the answer to this, but we've
Speaker 2: been dying to ask you. You both at certain points
Speaker 2: blocked us individually on Instagram. Bryce, I believe we're unblocked.
Speaker 2: Less you still have Talia blocked.
Speaker 6: It's fine, I understand. I'd like to say I understand, well,
Speaker 6: I guess.
Speaker 2: We understand the reason why. But from your perspective, why
Speaker 2: block Australian journalists? What was your motive there?
Speaker 4: I don't remember blocking you. I'm so sorry what I'm
Speaker 4: very I don't.
Speaker 3: I don't.
Speaker 4: I don't even remember that you don't.
Speaker 5: You don't have to apologize because I think, with the
Speaker 5: benefit of hindsight and now covering this show for a
Speaker 5: lot longer, there's ways that journalists tackle things that when
Speaker 5: you learn more about the show, you probably wouldn't write
Speaker 5: recaps in the same way.
Speaker 6: You know what I mean.
Speaker 5: So I'm also sorry for whatever I reported on you
Speaker 5: guys back in the That's the thing that.
Speaker 4: I can think of is if I blocked somebody i'd obviously,
Speaker 4: especially from a journal's perspective, I've read something that I
Speaker 4: will set me in the mind. Oh, I don't want
Speaker 4: to interact. But it's funny. I've written quite a few
Speaker 4: articles from me with my blog, and I had them
Speaker 4: blocks because one of their articles they wrote about me
Speaker 4: was quite perriftic. Back in the day. It was more
Speaker 4: just I've blocked so many people in media because I did.
Speaker 4: I saw something that I didn't like. I didn't that
Speaker 4: I read or saw, And yes, I just I went
Speaker 4: on blocking spring My list are so extensive.
Speaker 5: Well, you have to protect your piece too, Like I again,
Speaker 5: if I was in that position, I'll be blocking people left,
Speaker 5: right and center.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And my purely was to the fact that, yeah,
Speaker 3: I would have read something that I didn't like. I
Speaker 3: just knew it wasn't in your need a true and
Speaker 3: it's it's a moss of just you two.
Speaker 2: There's ended endlessly, So it's not personal.
Speaker 3: Take it personally, but I would.
Speaker 4: Take it personally from back then.
Speaker 2: But I'm glad we got to clear the air though.
Speaker 2: That was the main reason why we organize this so
Speaker 2: we could ask that. So I'm glad we're all good.
Speaker 5: No, I mean I have these conversations. I think we've
Speaker 5: had this conversation too as journalists. The way the show
Speaker 5: moves and the way we cover the shows and what
Speaker 5: we've learned over the years changes so much about how
Speaker 5: you want to report on it too, Like how I
Speaker 5: reported on The Bachelor in twenty seventeen is so different.
Speaker 6: To how I would do it eight years on.
Speaker 5: When you learn more about what people are going through
Speaker 5: during these experiences instead of just being like you're almost
Speaker 5: seem like fictionalized people on TV and you have to
Speaker 5: remember that you're real people as well.
Speaker 3: I just wish the Australian public was sort of more
Speaker 3: like the UK. The UK gets it, but the UK
Speaker 3: audience gets shows like masks like that's why we've got
Speaker 3: such people in the UK and we were loved over
Speaker 3: it because they are mistated it where they loved us
Speaker 3: over there where australis, but it's like it's Australia had
Speaker 3: more of an understanding that the UK does. You can
Speaker 3: find a much better space on social media, like say
Speaker 3: journalism as well, it would be so different.
Speaker 6: Amazing. Well, thank you so much for your time today.
Speaker 6: We appreciate it so much.
Speaker 3: Thank you for money us on and promise we'll be
Speaker 3: able to interact a lot more.
Speaker 2: Now we'll start a group on Instagram now once you
Speaker 2: just love telling. Thanks so much though, Thank you guys,
Speaker 2: you guys.
Speaker 1: Lachlan and Tylier have just posted some more from this
Speaker 1: interview like a bonus extra bit, onto their podcast feeds,
Speaker 1: So if you search up Confessions of a Reality Start
Speaker 1: you can go listen to that. If you want to
Speaker 1: check out and hear more, I will link it in
Speaker 1: the description and also give them a following Instagram if
Speaker 1: you want to at Confessions of a Reality Star.
Speaker 3: The audio in this.
Speaker 1: Episode was edited by Sophie Coghill and and yeah, I
Speaker 1: will see you soon.
Speaker 3: Goodbye,