Married At First Sight’s Jono McCullough and Ellie Dix have opened up about their tumultuous experiences on the Channel Nine show in their most unfiltered interview yet.
In a bombshell with Daily Mail Australia, the 39-year-old Health company owner went rogue and admitted he made a secret pact with his TV bride Lauren Dunn in a bid to boost their public profiles.
“After signing up for the show, applying for months and packing up your life, you don’t really want to go home for the first week,” Jono admitted.
However, the pair’s alliance quickly fell apart and Jono revealed Lauren’s nasty behind-the-scenes comments about him.
‘But then there was no question of looking after each other on Lauren’s part. She immediately stood behind my back and said, “I’m boring a robot,” he explained.
Married At First Sight’s Jono McCullough and Ellie Dix have opened up about their tumultuous experiences on the Channel Nine show in their most unfiltered interview yet
“It’s like living with a serial killer, and I had no idea she said this, but it was a good storyline and it seems like they (producers) decided to run with it.”
Jono claims that the production team took advantage of Lauren’s character assessment of him, edited the story and edited the footage to make him appear that way.
“They just found footage of me staring blankly when I should have been talking, and yeah, it was pretty, pretty hard to watch,” he claimed.
Jono went on to talk about a heated moment from the show, where Lauren’s actions were publicly criticized by another contestant.
“Jayden (Eynaud) said, ‘That’s it, Lauren, shut up. You treated Jono like crap. You had a boyfriend,'” he said.
In a bombshell with Daily Mail Australia, the 39-year-old Health company owner went rogue and admitted he made a secret pact with his TV bride Lauren Dunn (pictured) in a bid to boost their public profiles to give.
Meanwhile, Ellie also described the emotional toll her ‘bad guy’ role took on her in the final episodes
Despite these revelations, Jono showed a sense of empathy for Lauren, especially in light of the backlash she faced.
“But at first she was upset because the table turned against her, and it was led by Jayden,” he mused. “And when I watched it again last night, I actually felt sorry for Lauren.”
Meanwhile, Ellie also described the emotional toll her ‘bad guy’ role took on her in the final episodes.
The new couple angered their co-stars and viewers alike when they announced their relationship during the show’s reunion episode on Sunday night, after denying they had feelings for each other.
The pair also exchanged secret text messages after Ellie decided to end her relationship with her groom Ben Walters and leave the experiment.
‘It was really tough. I feel so exhausted just watching Monday’s episode,” Ellie told Daily Mail Australia.
The couple felt that producers had deliberately decided to portray their new relationship in a negative light and re-edited the footage to make it appear that way.
“We were hoping that they would show it as something beautiful that came out of this experiment, and they just chose to make us look pretty bad, like laughing at Sara, Tim and Lauren, and this is not how it happened ,” Jono said.
They claim there has been a misrepresentation of their physical affection, which Jono claims has been blown out of proportion.
The pair angered their co-stars and viewers alike when they announced their relationship during the show’s reunion episode on Sunday night, after denying they had feelings for each other.
“I think they showed every bit of PDA we had for six hours, and some of it multiple times in one minute,” he claimed.
“I could understand why people would say we’re mean people after seeing that, but it didn’t happen that way,” Ellie added.
“I’ve actually never been called a ‘mean girl’ in my life.” And everyone I meet would say, ‘I can’t believe this is Ellie.’ It’s just not me.’
The couple felt that the producers had deliberately decided to portray their new relationship in a negative light and re-edited the footage to make it appear that way
Jono also addressed the controversy surrounding Lauren and allegations that she had a secret boyfriend during filming.
Jono clarified the situation and suggested that while Lauren wasn’t a boyfriend per se, she was indeed exploring romantic possibilities outside of their TV marriage.
‘I don’t think it was a boyfriend. But it was a person she was interested in, right? Yes. “It was a person she wanted to have a romantic relationship with, and it wasn’t with me,” he claimed.
They claim there is a misrepresentation of their physical affection, which Jono claims has been blown out of proportion
Jono also addressed the controversy surrounding Lauren and allegations that she had a secret boyfriend during filming. Jono clarified the situation and suggested that while Lauren wasn’t a boyfriend per se, she was indeed exploring romantic possibilities outside of their TV marriage.