Erica Roberts rose to overnight fame this autumn as she took a leap of faith and said ‘I do’ to a complete stranger on E4’s relationship experiment show, Married At First Sight.
The Edinburgh-based dancer was matched with personal trainer Jordan Gayle, and the risk appears to have paid off, with the couple still going strong.
As we sit down for an exclusive chat, 25-year-old Erica tells that taking their newly long-distance relationship into the real world hasn’t been without its challenges.
“Things were easier in the experiment because we were living together. Now we have to make the effort to ensure we see each other, which we do,” she shares.
The last time we saw them on screen, the couple had been rocked by allegations that Jordan, 26, had cheated on Erica following the experiment. Here, she explains how they got through the rocky patch and where they’re at now…
Hi Erica! How has life been since MAFS ended?
It’s been so overwhelming, but the best kind of overwhelming. During the show, I thought, “Oh my God, me and Jordan are the most hated couple in the UK right now, this is hell, I hate it”. But, the response after has been incredible and the people that we meet have been so lovely and so supportive. Obviously, you’re going to get the keyboard warriors online who have to put their twopence in…
So how do you deal with those ‘keyboard warriors’?
At first, I thought, “I’m strong, I’ve got a thick skin and can deal with trolls”, but then when it actually happened I wasn’t prepared. People can say whatever they want about the way I look, and I don’t care. But when it comes to my family, or attacking my character without even knowing me, that’s when it gets to me and that’s what I really struggled with. I try not to be too defensive, they’re going to say what they want anyway.
How are you and Jordan doing now?
We’re really good. I’m in Edinburgh and he’s in Sheffield but I don’t know if I would call it long distance, because we’re always together! We visit each other a lot and have just been trying to navigate it. It’s a lot easier now that the show has aired because we had to hide being together to not spoil it before it all came out on the show. We wanted people to follow our story and not have it ruined.
You had a tough time at the reunion show. What was it like watching that back?
Watching it brought a lot back up for me, with the whole cheating scandal – that was frustrating to watch. It was hard to see myself screaming and shouting at Jordan on TV, it just wasn’t nice to see how upset I was. And to now have people messaging me things like “You’re with a cheat” isn’t nice. When people say things, it pisses you off again. It makes me think, “Jordan, why did you do that?” You have to stop yourself saying something to him. We have gotten over it, but it brings up the emotions again.
What was it between you and Jordan after the reunion?
It took us a while to get over it. Jordan was randomly living in Portsmouth at Laura’s [castmate Laura Vaughan] house looking after her dog. So, after the reunion, I was meant to be going there with him for the week. I went, then got really ill, so I couldn’t go home and ended up being there for around a month. That was one of the toughest points because we weren’t great, I didn’t want to be there but I couldn’t go home, so, it did really challenge us. We had to really work on our relationship. There was a point where I thought, “ I don’t know how we are going to get past this,” but thank God we did. It was really tough.
The show must be quite stressful. Have you and Jordan found it easier in the real world?
It was a good kind of stress! Jordan and I loved having our own apartment, filming and keeping ourselves to ourselves. So, to be honest, it’s probably harder now because we have to deal with the distance and don’t have a home under the same roof. But this distance has shown us that if we want to make it work, then it’ll work, we’ve put in the effort. Although Jordan is lucky that I never killed him – he is so messy! I’ll definitely have to get him on top form when we eventually live together again. I can’t have him leaving a trail of clothes throughout the house.
Ha! You’ve been busy working with beauty brand BPerfect since leaving the show. How has that been?
Amazing! I love the brand and have used their products for so long, so the fact that I get to work with them is wild. I’ve always loved beauty so it’s definitely something that I wanted to do. It’s therapeutic for me and is a way to express myself. I feel like when you put your makeup on or wear something that you wouldn’t normally wear, it is like an alter ego that you get.
What have you got coming up next?
Jordan and I are planning on moving to Manchester, It’s closer to me than London and isn’t far from Sheffield so it’s perfect. And I’d like to keep working with brands like BPerfect and exploring how I can express myself more – I love it!
Erica is thrilled to be an official Brand Ambassador for BPerfect Cosmetics
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