Whilst Married at First Sight may not have the healthiest track record of happily-ever-afters, last year’s season of the experimental reality TV show did show audiences that love isn’t always teased on-screen.
During the 2023 season, audiences met Evelyn and Duncan, two contestants who were married to Rupert and Alyssa respectively.
As their on-screen marriages fell apart on national television, the pair shocked audiences with a twist of their own – following the filming of the show, they began dating.
Fast forward almost a year and Duncan and Evelyn are now the only “couple” from season 11 still together.
It was a story fans weren’t expecting, and now, it seems this year’s season of MAFS will have a similar ending after a bombshell couple swap dominated the 2024 MAFS reunion.
Are Jonathan and Ellie still together?
“Yes, we’re in love,” Jonathan McCullough, 39, confirmed to WHO during a chat with the couple. “We feel really lucky to have found each other.”
Not only are they still together, but the couple just announced another huge relationship milestone: They purchased a house together!
Talking to our sister site New Idea, the couple revealed they bought a property in Queensland Palm Beach.
“It’s definitely too big for the two of us, it’s massive,” Jono laughed during the interview. “We just decided it was the right time to get in, and get something.”
“And nothing says I love you like buying a property together – and getting into debt!” Ellie added, before revealing they were planning on inviting “three or four other MAFS couples” over for a Christmas dinner.
The latest announcement comes shortly after the pair embarked on another exciting new chapter together: A new business.
Taking to her Instagram stories in August 2024, Ellie revealed the couple had started a business together. “It’s a cosmetic company, so I am returning to work as an injector,” she explained.
The former MAFS bride quit her job as a cosmetic injector earlier this year after trolls targeted her workplace.
Although it’s still early days, Ellie did share a few details, telling fans she was also working on her first skincare product.
“I literally became the director of the company yesterday. We’ve found a really cool space for me to work out of, so watch this space,” she added before explaining that Jono, who owns a health business, would be in charge of “the whole business setup.”
The business plan came a few months after the couple admitted to some baby plans for the future.
During an Instagram Q&A Jono was asked where he sees himself in three years, and his answer proved he is in it for the long haul with Ellie.
“Living in Palm Beach, running a business (or two) with Ellie, in a house of our dreams, with maybe 2.5 children,” he wrote alongside a crying laughing emoji.
The reality stars are one of the few Married at First Sight couples from the most recent season who have stayed together, only, they weren’t married to each other.
With Ellie originally matched with ‘husband’ Ben Walters, while Jono ‘wed’ Lauren Dunn, the couple insist romance only blossomed between them “after we left the experiment”.
But when Cupid did strike, they fell hard and fast. The pair have been living together on the Gold Coast since mid-December.
“I came to visit Jono for a few days and just never left,” Ellie, 32, confessed with a laugh when chatting with WHO.
Having to keep their love under wrap swas “really difficult”, but the airing of the final dinner party offered the pair a chance to do what they’ve been longing for most – act like a normal couple.
“We haven’t really been able to go out for dinner and things like that so I’m looking forward to being able to take Ellie out on a date,” Jono explained. “We have a few overseas holidays planned too and just really want to take a year to enjoy ourselves before getting more serious.”
The couple let more details slip during an interview with Gina & Matty for Breakfast on Star104.5 the morning after the dramatic reunion episode aired, admitting that “it was rough watching.”
“It was really rough watching it last night. It’s definitely not how we remember it going,” Jono explained, before detailing how their relationship began.
“So after the experiment, I messaged Ellie about a week after the final vows and said ‘Hey, I need your number, I need to give you a call, we’re in big trouble’ so she sent me a number. I gave her a call and I told her that Lauren had made it look like our messages were cheating…I was packing my dacks and Ellie just laughed, she thought it was the funniest thing…so we chatted for about an hour on the phone, and next time I was down on the Gold Coast, we caught up and that was where it went.”
When Gina pointed out that she would be unimpressed if her husband was texting another woman as much as Jono was texting Ellie, the MAFS groom remained unapologetic.
“I would never message a woman at all if I was with someone but Lauren and I were never in a relationship.”
After adding that audiences didn’t get to see “any of the bad stuff” Lauren did, he also revealed the episode wasn’t as “real” as some fans may expect.
“They pick the people they want to make look good and they pick the people they want to not make look good and they run with it,” he continued. “It was really tough for me to watch because it’s just not how it happened at all.”
During the interview, Jono also revealed what the couple’s relationship looked like today, months after the season wrapped filming.
“We’ve lived together for about four months now. So we just really thought we’re going to find someone on the show…and we did, it just didn’t happen the way either of us thought and it was more of a rough road.”
In the months since the reunion aired the couple have continued to share tidbits of their strengthening relationship – from vacations together in Vanuatu and the Whitsundays to their new life together in the Gold Coast.
In May 2024, the couple shared with fans an exciting announcement – they were embarking on a trip around Australia.
“We have some exciting news,” Ellie wrote on Instagram. “We are doing a lap around Australia!
“On Monday, Jono & I picked up our home @luxury_caravan_hire and for the next couple of months we are making our way around Australia.”
“We met Tim in Casino NSW where he picked up a plane he purchased off Marketplace (along with a pair of RM Williams 😂) and we are both heading south, one towing a caravan and the other a plane, until Tim heads back to Melbourne to get his (legitimate) pilots licence.”
“So far we have visited Casino, Grafton and Glen Innes to see the Australian Standing Stones and last night we stayed in Tamworth.”
Friends and fans alike were quick to comment on the announcement, with fellow MAFS stars Lucinda and Richard wishing them all the best for their travels.
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