The winning pair of this season’s The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. Photo / Provided
They seem to have found love on a reality TV show, but Bachelor winner Annie Theis and Moses Mackay have split.
During tonight’s Bachelor and Bachelors show on tvNZ 2, it was revealed that the couple couldn’t make it outside of the show.
But it’s not all bad news for Singles fans, with Lexi Brown and Hamish Boyt revealing they’re still very close.
So what’s wrong with our Bachelor partner? Is the “real world” pressure too great to allow their new love to flourish? Or is the updated, faster Bachelor format a recipe for disaster?
This is where former Bachelor’s and Single spouses stand now:
Moses Mackay and Annie Theis
For Mackay and Theis, their relationship status may have been teased, by never posting on social media about the other after the show was over.
Speculation also became exaggerated when TVNZ 2 stopped tagging Theis on Instagram photos featuring all the women on the show, despite having previously done so, leading some to believe things went badly after filming was over.
While the chemistry between the Bachelor and the intruder show is undeniable on screen, Mackay tonight shared the news that they are now “just friends”.
He also revealed that they initially tried to get him to work with Mackay to fly to visit Theis and his family, before things came to a halt.
Theis later shared that, “being on the show was really a bubble” and suggested she should be allowed to ask the question “how do we do this in real life?”
Last week the Herald also revealed that concert goers and The Bachelor NZ fans were taken aback when Sol3 Mio’s bandmate Moses Mackay ruined the end of the reality dating show.
Speaking to the audience between songs at their Auckland concert, Pene Pati asked the audience: “Do we have someone here on a date? I’ll meet you as a wingman here, now. Nothing?
And his bandmates continue to tease that Amitai Pati and Mackay are both single – indicating that the bachelor is no longer with the contestant he chose.
“As for the people at home, they are both single,” Pene said and pointed to Amitai Pati and Mackay.
Lexie Brown and Hamish Boyt
Single Couples sparked speculation of a split after their social media accounts were recently removed from any evidence about them being a couple.
The show ended in March, and the couple started their relationship shortly after the show ended. Brown had to choose between Boyt and Australian scholar Todd Dialectos.
During the special event, Brown confirmed that the couple was still together and had spent their time fishing and traveling around the country.
Brown even revealed that the couple planned to move together to Mount Maunganui.
Speaking to the Herald after the season ended, Brown said the couple got to know each other beyond the confines of reality shows.
“It’s a time of pretty fast growth in a situation like ours. You’re out of the show and you don’t really know each other,” Brown said the morning after the final screening of the film.
She also touched on the potential challenges of letting go of the relationship, but was confident she could succeed with Boyt.
“You hear stories, and you can understand how people broke up the day after the last rose ceremony because you really don’t know anyone. I guess the first 24 hours can be really hard, depending on who you choose.”
And the show’s conclusion gives little reason to believe the couple won’t stay together. Boyt impresses the Brown family and his mother claims he loves Hamish during home visits.
Maternal consent is clearly key in helping their relationship develop in the outside world.
Past goodbyes
This is not the first time the franchise couple has split, in fact, there has been no success for the couples participating in the reality show.
The Bachelorette season 2019 saw Lesina Nakhid-Schuster leave the show without choosing anyone. But Lily McManus found love with clothing designer Richie Boyens.
In 2017, Zac Franich and Viarni Bright announced that they were quitting after six months together.
In 2016, then-graduate Jordan Mauger broke with contestant Fleur Verhoeven just 72 hours after he was crowned the winner of the show.
Art and Matilda Rice, the first couple of the NZ franchise stay together.