Married At First Sight stars Aleks Markovic and Ivan Sarakula split for good in February – after briefly reuniting after their shock exit from the controversial reality show.
WATCH: MAFS’ Aleks defies producers with a late-night Instagram rant
According to the Daily Mail Australia, it was Ivan’s decision to call time on their relationship.
“It was Ivan’s decision to end things and he dumped Aleks out of the blue. He didn’t want to be with her anymore,” a source told the publication.
“She was blindsided and is still upset. The rest of the cast are so confused, but Aleks and Ivan are respecting each other’s privacy and keeping things to themselves.”
The conservative pair were shown quitting the show this week in scenes that were filmed in November.
Earlier this week, Aleks and Ivan revealed the reason why they chose to skip Sunday’s commitment ceremony and exit the show for good.
Speaking to 9Entertainment, Aleks confessed that the “pressures of the show” caused her to “self-sabotage” her and Ivan’s relationship so that they could go home early.
“I did self-sabotage the relationship and in a way ‘friend-zoned’ Ivan just to get home,” she admitted in her official exit interview.
She continued: “Being in the experiment and under so much stress, you just want to leave at some point.
“Some people are strong enough to stay in there and be around everything, but it got to a point for me where I’d just had enough.
“I needed to get home, I needed to get back to reality, I needed to get back to my friends,” she said.
Aleks went on to say that she and Ivan have maintained a relationship of sorts since leaving the show, with the confines of the experiment being the reason for them leaving so soon.
“I knew I was never going to leave Ivan, I knew I was always going to have him in my life. But at that time, it just wasn’t in a romantic way because I’d built up my walls, self-sabotaged and just left,” she said.
Speaking during his exit interview, Ivan confirmed the pair had maintained contact, saying: “We’re still speaking on a daily basis, we’ll see what happens.”
He added: “Would I have been happy to just be friends? I think we are in too deep for that at this stage. You never know what the future holds.”
Despite cutting their on-screen marriage short, Aleks also commended Ivan for helping her to harness some of her best qualities on the show.
“I definitely learnt about myself in this experiment,” she began. “Ivan taught me how to just drop my walls down, stop being so uptight and stubborn.
“He’s really taught me to be myself, that I’m beautiful and that I’m wanted and loved and respected, so that’s a major thing for me and I’ll always thank him for that,” she concluded.
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
