As Australia’s hottest couple, Duncan and Evelyn don’t even need surnames. Peninsula Living was invited to get up close and personal with the MAFS stars. For the record, that’s Northern Beaches born and bred Duncan James Simpson, and Evelyn Ellis.
It’s been a wild ride since Australia’s hottest couple announced they were in a relationship just two months ago. Global views of the news that the former Married at First Sight (MAFS) contestants had gotten together after this year’s series ended hit 90 million.
As the 2 million viewers who watched MAFS weekly know, Duncan and Evelyn were not paired together during Channel 9’s 10th series of the ‘social experiment’. Which made their public announcement on 10 May all the more spicier.
For our interview, I am sitting with the couple who are curled up on the lounge in Duncan’s living room in Manly. Evelyn is wearing Ugg boots and Duncan is barefoot. They must be human, after all. We start with discussing how their lives have changed since MAFS finished screening in April.
“I knew it was going to change a fair bit because as you go through the process, Channel 9 does give you a bit of an insight into how much it can change – for the better or worse,” Duncan, 37, says. But he was not quite prepared for the intensity. “I knew there would be a lot of people coming up to me in the street,” he explains. “But I probably didn’t really understand how they would approach me and the level of detail in which they wanted to discuss parts of the show.”
Evelyn, 27, says life has not changed that dramatically. “I think I’ve just made lots of new friends and that’s how I look at it. We get stopped for a few selfies here and there, but I don’t take this experience as negative. I think it’s been so positive and I’m so grateful with the outcome – I actually found someone.”
For the uninitiated, MAFS pairs 24 people – out of 24,000 applicants – based on personality and interests in an attempt to find true love. But the first time they meet is at the altar. That’s right, they get ‘married’ before ever setting eyes on each other. It’s not a legally binding contract, but at the end of spending almost every day over three months together, they must decide if they will stay together. Couples go through a lot of ‘work’ to get there, including counselling sessions with relationship experts. Which was all televised for the salivating viewers who watched it every week to make it Australia’s highest rating show.
Neither Duncan nor Evelyn chose to stay ‘married’ to their partner at the end of the series. But Duncan is philosophical: “We signed up for an experiment. We knew there were going to be some really good times and some great things can come out of it. And you can meet an amazing person.
“You’ve also got to realise there’s going to be some hard times on there and there’s going to be some things that you don’t like in the edits. I think the audience is addicted to seeing how people react in those scenarios and how people can work through those hard times.
Evelyn is getting to know Duncan’s hood. From Manly (above), to deep sea fishing with a group of his Northern Beaches friends on a day out with Short Marine, based at the Spit.
“But that’s part of the story, that’s what you signed up for.”
How did the couple end up getting together after the show? It all started with a few friendly texts earlier this year some three months after filming had finished. “It wasn’t until we hung out after the show that I knew that there was something special with Evelyn,” says Duncan.
But once they started ‘dating’ behind closed doors, they quickly had to have ‘some pretty serious discussions’ about how they felt about each other.
Duncan explains: “So it feels weird, right? To have discussions that you wouldn’t (normally) have for six months, like: ‘Hey, I know this is super early, but what’s your gut telling you? How do you feel? Do you see this as something more than a bit of fun?’
“Because it’s going to be in the public and a lot of people are invested in it and they want to know what is happening.”
Evelyn adds the stakes were high: “It’s not worth a fling or the noise that comes with such a public relationship, unless it’s the real deal.”
As they are talking, one of Evelyn’s dachshunds, Pickles, falls asleep on Duncan’s lap. She is cuddling the other one, Mustard. The hounds are used to staying in Manly, because the couple spend time evenly at each other’s apartments, with Evelyn in the city. They really come across as being ordinary people who have been thrust into the limelight and are navigating their way through instant stardom.
Evelyn reflects on their new lives: “Every night before I go to sleep, I have this joke with Duncan. We go ‘goodnight, babe. Another day in the Big Brother house!’ And that’s because we don’t know what every day is going to bring right now because it’s like beautiful, organised chaos. It’s an adventure we are doing together.”
Raised in Curl Curl, Duncan says he has vivid memories of doing Nippers at Freshwater, where he grew up, and Christmas days down at the beach for a swim. He competed for Freshwater Surf Life Saving Club at national championships on the Gold Coast and even played rugby union with the Manly Marlins. Oh, did I mention Duncan swam at national junior swimming championships?
“I’ve always had this dream of being able to have kids and have them experience the Beaches lifestyle that I got,” Duncan says.
“I just loved growing up around here. I’m still very good friends with people I went to primary school with whom I have known for over 30 years.”
Evelyn, who grew up in Hurstville, in Sydney’s south-west, has come to love the Northern Beaches where she and Duncan spend a lot of time. Evelyn admits she had not crossed the Spit Bridge much until she met Duncan.
“It’s gorgeous. I see why Duncan and everyone else loves it so much,” she says. “There’s a real sense of community and Duncan knows every third person when we are going out for a stroll.
“I gotta be looking semi cute. Cause with this one you never know!” she laughs. “He’s a very popular man down at the Beaches.”
The couple had some of their first dates around Manly’s secluded beaches, like Collins Flat Beach, the site of North Shore Living’s photoshoot. At a time when the couple were just trying to get to know each other out of the public eye, it was perfect.
“It was pretty secluded and away from everyone,” Duncan says. “So we just jumped on the back of my motorbike downstairs and rode to Collins for a little picnic.”
And it may be hard to believe, but Duncan actually asked Evelyn to be his girlfriend before they got serious.
“I didn’t know you officially had to ask!” laughs Duncan. “Evelyn said to me, ‘Are you going to ask me to be your girlfriend?’ I was like, ‘I thought we’d been going out for weeks!” he laughs again. “And then she says, ‘No, you haven’t actually asked me’.”
Evelyn clarifies: “I think I needed to hear it in black and white. When it comes to relationships, nothing should be assumed because I feel like that gives an area of miscommunication. So I like to just be fully transparent and (I made) Duncan ask me out.”
Are they relationship experts now that they have been through MAFS?
“I don’t think I’m an expert,” Evelyn says. “I think where my advice should be most respected is the fact that I’ve made so many mistakes.”
Duncan with Mustard at a Manly restaurant. Evelyn says the couple has a ‘safe bubble’ to block ‘outside noise’.
“I’m just really attracted to this guy. I don’t know what else to tell you besides that. It bloody works.” Evelyn
Duncan agrees. “I think that what I realised on the show was that there’s a lot of people, and probably more so men than women, that find it hard to be vulnerable, be able to talk about their emotions, talk about why they feel something. And be able to understand their partner.
“Sometimes I won’t understand Ev the right way, but we’ll keep at it in a conversation and we’ll get there.”
Evelyn adds: “I think we always walk into discussions trying to walk out understanding each other more and having a solution and resolution to things, as opposed to being combative and win at all costs.”
And why do the couple think they make a good pairing?
Evelyn pipes up first to answer. “I think our relationship works because we are really good at communicating and extracting the actual meaning of what we’re trying to say (to each other).
“I think we’re both little kids at heart and we have this really dorky, goofy side to us that works really well. I’m just really attracted to this guy. I don’t know what else to tell you besides that. It bloody works.”
Duncan says that on the show, people saw one side of Evelyn, ‘the power woman and the strong woman’ who was not afraid to ‘say it as it is’.
“I’m really attracted to someone who’s got ambition and drive and knows what they want and is not too scared to say it,” he says.
“I’ve got a pretty strong personality (and) I don’t get that hurt if somebody has an opposite view to me. What I really love about Ev is that she won’t sugar coat. It’s to the point, and you know where you stand. She’ll just say it as it is.
“And I think that’s what a lot of people resonated with (on MAFS).
“So I’m very attracted to that part, but I also like the goofbally side of Ev that not everyone gets to see.”
The duo manage their ‘everyday’ jobs – Duncan works full time in cyber security as a regional manager for CSO Group, and Evelyn is a model who also works in marketing – on top of their ongoing publicity work with Channel 9. As well as constant requests to feature in magazines, on podcasts, and at events like Sydney Fashion Week. How do they protect their growing relationship amidst all of this?
Evelyn explains: “I think we definitely have our safe bubble and that’s needed with all the outside noise that we’ve been receiving.
“So whatever the next day brings, we are going to be okay because we have each other. And when we have our bad days, we’ll always pick each other up at the end.”
And there has been a lot of pressure. Before the couple ‘came out,’ they were being stalked by many media outlets as speculation mounted that they were in a relationship. And then once they announced their status, some detractors said it was all a ‘sham’.
“There’s been a lot of pressure situations in the last four months,’” Duncan says. “And some unusual circumstances that pop up for both me and Ev,” Duncan says.
“But through all of that, our relationship has been really easy and fun, and it should be, right? The person you’re going out with, your partner, should be your safe space. The place you go to get away from all the other stresses of the world.”
Adds Evelyn: “What does blow my mind is that sometimes I’ll just be thinking that I signed up for an experiment to marry a stranger. We both married different strangers and then we later walked away with a serious relationship. We actually met someone and for me that’s the weirdest concept ever. I can’t wrap my head around it. How many people can say that that’s happened to them?”
Apparently, the odds on MAFS are that applicants have around a 10 per cent chance of finding true love. Which are great odds, the couple says, encouraging people to apply for the show.
“If you’re going in for the right reasons, which means you’re going to sit there and really try to work on yourself and on the relationship, then you’ll have a great time and you’ll learn a hell of a lot about yourself,” Duncan says. “You’ll go through some hard times, but you come out the other end pretty good.”
Applications for the MAFS 2023/4 season are now open. For more details and to watch the last season, go to the 9Now website.
