EXCLUSIVE: In real life, MAFS fan favourites Jamie Marinos and Dave Thomas Hand have a very different relationship to what we currently see on screen.

MAFS’ Jamie and Dave are currently ‘at war’ while the show airs, with the groom believing Jamie is ‘stirring fans against him’. Photo: Nine

MAFS couple Jamie Marinos and Dave Thomas Hand turned a corner during the show’s final commitment ceremony on Sunday after a tough two weeks where it felt like the end of their marriage. While sitting in front of the experts, they seemingly got their relationship back on track, but what’s happening between them in the present day is a very different story.

Following multiple unconfirmed reports that the pair are no longer together, several sources have now told Yahoo Lifestyle that Jamie and Dave are currently “at war” and there’s no chance of reconciliation between them. One show source says: “Dave has felt disappointed at how Jamie has failed to defend him in all the press interviews she’s been getting lately. He thinks she has been making the backlash he’s had even worse and just stirring fans against him.”

Meanwhile, a second source tells us: “Jamie has been embarrassed by how Dave has been hanging out with all the has-been reality stars in Melbourne, posing for the paps and selling video messages. It just makes her think more than ever that he wasn’t on MAFS for the right reasons and she wants to distance herself completely.”

In recent weeks, Jamie has been labelled Channel Nine’s “golden girl” and given more media opportunities than any other participant, including a VIP trip to New Zealand to promote the show. Meanwhile, Dave has been spotted at influencer events with Love Island stars while selling custom video messages on Cameo for $79.

Jamie and Dave during a happier time in their relationship. Photo: Nine

A third source says: “Dave and Jamie said they’d always have each other’s backs but lately it feels like they don’t want anything to do with each other and a resentment has set in.”

It comes after Jamie told Yahoo Lifestyle that she and Dave promised to have each other’s backs at the beginning of the show, she told us, “A lot of people don’t realise that your partner is your ride or die, like it’s actually you two against the world on MAFS. People easily turn against each other, but if you actually form that alliance and go, ‘Let’s try and make this work and let’s have each other’s back’, it can work.”

“I feel like that’s what we established on the honeymoon and it really worked for us. Dave was very much like, ‘I’ve got your back’ and I was like, ‘I’ve got yours too. Let’s communicate and let’s be respectful. So when things came up, we handled things respectfully, we didn’t blame each other, we took accountability, and that’s something you don’t really see too often on MAFS.”

MAFS’ Jamie reveals she doesn’t think Dave was ‘there for the right reasons’

Dave shocked everyone when he told the cameras, “I don’t hate the girl,” when asked how he felt about Jamie. Photo: Nine
Speaking to Yahoo Lifestyle last week, Jamie responded to viewers saying Dave might not have stayed on the show for the right reasons, and, surprisingly, she agreed.

“I don’t believe he was there for the right reasons, because of what was shown to me,” she tells us of the week before Homestays. “That’s how I felt in that moment because I didn’t understand how you could flip the script. And it just felt like to me, in that moment, his mask had fallen off and I was essentially just his meal ticket or something.

“I couldn’t understand, because I was like, how do you go from warm, fuzzy feelings to, ‘I don’t hate the girl’,” Jamie says referencing Dave’s infamous mean comment to producers and the other grooms about his feelings. “I felt like that was really hard to watch back as well, and seeing the full scope of what was going through his mind.

“I do understand that there’s clearly avoidant attachment, but I was really surprised in that moment, and even re-watching it, just the complete change up, so, of course, I questioned his intentions.”

Speaking about the moment Dave said, “I don’t hate the girl,” Jamie adds, “It was awful to watch back because this is someone I’ve professed love to in front of the world essentially, I’ve spoken so highly of, and you know, when I needed to be validated and reassured, he essentially let me down massively and humiliated me.”