After weeks of drama, shady live stream digs, and the confirmation of his split from Em Miguel-Leigh, ‘Love Island AU’ 2024 winner Mercedes Knox has shared his side of their fallout.
Joining Edge Afternoons’ Sean and Steph, Mercedes insisted that his relationship with Em was just as authentic as it appeared on-screen.
He explained that his decision to ask Em to be his girlfriend was genuine and not a calculated move for television or to secure their win.
“I wanted to do it, but it wasn’t for TV. I kinda wanted to just do it alone, just me and her. But it is a TV show, and production got involved. They were like, ‘We know you want to do this so we’re gonna have to make it a big thing’.”
Sean, however, wasn’t entirely convinced, pointing out that ‘Love Island’ marks the third reality dating series Mercedes has won.
He’s previously been on ‘FBoy Island USA’ TWICE before…snagging the prize money both times.
“I truly, genuinely didn’t think I had a chance to win,” he said, adding that he was thinking: “Australia isn’t going to vote for an American guy who was on two TV shows already.”
“Nothing I was thinking in there was like, ‘Oh, this is going to make me win’. Em happened to be a very popular person, and I just happened to be lucky with that.”
The pair left the villa loved-up, but since the season was pre-recorded nearly a year before airing in NZ, fans were shocked to learn the couple had split—and not on great terms.
Things took a turn when the two blocked each other on social media and started slamming each other on TikTok and livestreams. Fans have even nicknamed the reality star “Mer-shady” due to his online disses.
So, where did it all go wrong?
Mercedes shared his side of the fallout, saying: “Em and I were really cool. After the show, she said she kinda needed some time to figure out things herself, and I was like that’s totally fine.”
While things were amicable the pair were doing interviews promoting the show, on one occasion, Mercedes recalls an incident where he showed up late to an interview that Em had already started.
“She was talking a lot of shit about me that she never said in any of the other interviews before,” he claims. “So I was like ‘why are you doing this when you don’t think I can hear you?’”.
That’s why I don’t talk to her and that’s why I think that she is fake.
Mercedes said he followed up with a text to Em asking why she had spoken negatively about him but never received a reply.
Eek, that’s some piping tea. While Mercedes says he “wishes her the best,” he made it clear that she’s out of his life.
Now we just need Em to spill her side of the breakup, because, as the saying goes, there are always three sides to every story. Period.
