THEY seemed like love’s young dream after being paired together on Married At First Sight last year.
Erica Roberts and Jordan Gayle met on the E4 show - on their wedding day - and were hailed as a success stories, staying together for 11 months and constantly posting loved up pictures on Instagram once the series ended.
But after announcing their split in February, the MAFS couple couldn’t be further from amicable.
Yesterday, Erica told The Sun how she dumped Jordan after constant rows with one specific fight over his birthday celebrations acting as the final straw.
She claimed there were “a lot of red flags” throughout their relationship, and alarm bells started ringing for her as early as the wedding day.
“The warning signs were there from day one,” she said.
Erica also said she and Jordan had an unaired argument on the last night of their honeymoon in Antigua, during which Jordan “had an absolute meltdown”.
But now, Jordan has hit back in an exclusive interview, calling his ex “bitter,” and telling us her comments make him question their whole relationship.
“I feel like people who followed our story will look at these comments and think this doesn't make sense,” he says. “If there's red flags from the honeymoon, then why the hell, on social media, were we looking the way we was?
“It doesn't make any sense.
“If you're seeing red flags from someone on a honeymoon after you've only known them for a week, then what are you doing with them 11 months after, if it's apparently so bad?
“To me, it's looking at it through a very bitter place and I don't need to look at it in a bitter way.
“I'm happy with the time I had. I don't regret anything.
“Obviously, there's good memories and I wouldn't change that.
“I don't get it. I honestly don't get it.
“I don't get where all this anger and bitterness has come from.”
Erica said part of the reason she stayed with Jordan for so long was due to pressure from MAFS fans.
She said: “You have all these people being like, 'Oh, my God, we love you guys and you're amazing. We want you to work.'
“I think obviously that that did have a factor in it, like you do want to make it work, and not just for yourself, but for people that watch the show.”
And Jordan was shocked by these comments.
Loved-up Tayah Victoria and Adam Aveling of series six fame had the first Mafs baby.
The pair couldn't keep their hands off each other on the programme and quickly found their feet in the outside world, moving into Adam's Doncaster home.
Just 18 months after meeting, the couple welcomed their daughter Beau.
Season five couple Michelle Walder and Owen Jenkins also managed to make their marriage work away from the cameras and had their first child in December.
Teacher Michelle, 29, has no regrets about taking part in the experiment. She told us: “I just feel very lucky and thankful that it has worked out - and excited for everything to come.”
Michelle and Owen were both sick of dating apps when they applied in 2019.
Owen recalled: “I had been out for some drinks with a friend after work.
"While he was out for a cigarette I was scrolling on Instagram waiting for him to come back in.
“The MAFS advert was the last thing I saw, and I joked, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if I signed up?’
“A few beers later when I was back at home I sent in the application, and the rest is history.”
Another couple to make Mafs UK history is Zoe Clifton and Jenna Robinson.
Despite a slight rocky start, where they clashed over Jenna's vegan lifestyle, the show's first same sex pairing are still going strong.
They even have a successful podcast together called Life With a Pod.
Jenna shed light on being involved in the show earlier this year when she told us: "We're not legally married, and I never felt like we were. I definitely feel the process makes you take the relationship a lot more seriously and having the help of the experts… if you can survive that process it sets a firm foundation for a long-lasting relationship."
“It's such a bad look for her,” he says. “I couldn't care less anymore, but obviously, closer to the time, I was like, was it just a game?
“If that's the case, it just sounds like it's a game.
“When I hear this stuff it just blows my mind because it's disappointing for someone to actually have that kind of mentality.
“Obviously, it was just a waste of time. But I don't regret the way I was.
“Honestly, my mind is blown. I shouldn't be surprised.”
Jordan has since moved on from Erica with Melissa Golik, an emergency nurse from Australia, who he met through Instagram.
And he believes what he went through with Erica has made him more certain that Melissa, who moonlights as a DJ, is the right person for him, due to her being “genuine” and out of the public eye.
He said: “[My new relationship is] so refreshing.
“What I'd say about MAFS is that I learned everything I did want and what I don't want in a life partner and going forward, so just for my life as well.
Comments like that make you think, ‘God, you could be with someone for so long and actually really not know them.'
“I don't need the glitz and glamour enough to fake it.
“Some people aren't being themselves because they think it's going to bring them fame or attention or whatever, and people might be disingenuous, but I want to live a genuine lifestyle around genuine people.
“And I've definitely got a girl that's really genuine, really nice, so, yeah, I'm happy.
“It's restored my faith in girls.
“After going through what you go through on MAFS, then the public break up and comments like that, that make you think, ‘God, you could be with someone for so long and actually really not know them’ or they just completely change.
"You'd think it would take a lot for me to have my faith restored but I'm just happy that I've genuinely found that.
“It makes it almost sweeter.”
As well as a girlfriend who’s more removed from the showbiz world, Jordan is also embarking on a new career away from telly too, working on the overhead lines on train tracks.
“I'm actually starting a new career working in the rail industry,” he tells us. “A couple of my mates, one's a train driver and one is a train engineer and they've gone on for years about how I should get into this industry because it's really good money, they look after you well and you get a good life to work ratio.
“So I'm actually doing my qualifications for that at the moment, and then will start working in October.”
He continues: “I think the most important thing for me now is just living a more settled life.
“The last two years have been crazy. Before I filmed MAFS. I was in LA, then I came back, then I filmed MAFS.
“Since then, after the show, you're travelling here, there and everywhere, going to events and stuff like that.
“Whereas now, I've got a really nice girl, I'm starting a new career that's going to be long-term, good money and I'm looking to live a more set-up lifestyle now.”
In fact, Jordan wants to remove himself so much from the MAFS world, he won’t even be watching the new series that’s on TV right now.
He says: “It's not PTSD but it's just there's a lot of baggage watching it and I just don't want to.
“My experience was that when I was watching it, it was nothing like when I lived it, and it ruined it for me.
“Reality TV is just not reality.
“I just don't have a good association with watching it. I just didn't like what they chose to show.”
