We love a double elimination and on Monday night, that’s exactly what we got, when Vanessa Sierra and Maurice Salib were voted off Love Island Australia.
And while he seemed to be hitting it off with Cynthia Taylu, Maurice was at the centre of a scandal when it was revealed that he had a secret girlfriend out in the real world who had no idea that he was going on the show.
We chatted to Maurice to get to the bottom of all the drama and now we finally have his side of the story.
Now To Love: It was a double whammy with you and Vanessa leaving the villa, were you surprised to be voted off?
Maurice: I was so surprised, I was really enjoying my time with Cynthia. We had such a fantastic time yesterday, we had some very cute chats, we were vibing so much, and we even made out- more than once. We were making some head way in the relationship so yeah I was surprised.
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There were a few whispers that your connection with Cynthia was fake seeing as you took a while to kiss, which is interesting.
Cynthia’s such a beautiful girl inside and out. She hasn’t had a boyfriend before so for me to kiss her straight off the cuff, it was very important for both of us to take things slow and really search for that spark before we really made that commitment. I don’t want to mislead her, she doesn’t want to mislead me, we want to be respectful of one another’s feelings.
I learnt a lot about myself and creating solid foundations. As I took it slow with Cynthia, I learned that I was establishing a foundation for us, in fact both of us were. It just felt like this was a lot stronger than racing into it.
Maurice says he was surprised that he was voted out of the Villa.
(Image: Nine Network)You were pretty taken with Jessie when everyone first coupled up, are there any lingering feelings for her?
In the last episode, Jessie and I had mad conversations and one last thing she said was ‘I can’t wait to go out and have brunch with you.’ We both vibed really hard with each other, even more once we were uncoupled but no lingering feelings. She’s a top girl, different values maybe but definitely vibed with her real hard as a cool friend.
READ MORE: Who are all the Love Island Australia 2019 couples?
So you’re keen to pursue things with Cynthia on the outside?
Hands down. It was real tough saying goodbye, because it broke her, it really really broke her. Irrespective of circumstances, it doesn’t excuse the fact that I want to link up with you and I want us to still meet up after the villa. She’s in Brisbane, we had chats as things grew more and more and was considering coming to Sydney so that’s definitely on the table.
Could Cynthia be moving to Sydney for Maurice?
(Image: Nine Network)Ok we’ve got to ask, what is the deal with your secret girlfriend?
The amazing beautiful Christie Swadling! I love her to bits and I’m so excited to get back to Australia so I can have a conversation with her. We’re not allowed our phones so we can’t really make contact.
For like two months, Christie and I were chatting and were seeing each other. It wasn’t official, neither one of us labelled it or made it official, it wasn’t Facebook official if you like. We were seeing each other for a period of time but after two months I called things off, it just wasn’t panning out to how we saw it.
A week, maybe a week and a half afterwards, the amazing team at ITV reached out to me to invite me to come onto Love Island so from there I said ‘You know what, I’m going to take on this opportunity to truly continue exploring what opportunities lie before me to find love.’
Maurice says he and Christie were seeing each other for two months before he was approached for Love Island.
(Image: Instagram @christieswadling)When that newspaper article was dropped off at the Villa that detailed your secret girlfriend, how did you react?
I was in bed asleep when Cynthia came in and woke me up and I go straight into the kitchen for a chat. She asked me a handful of questions to literally qualify my answers before she shows me the Love Island Times. I just found her questions a bit weird and I thought that she may have heard a rumour or something.
I felt fine actually, because I knew what I did was all above board. I was not in a relationship, I was seeing a person for a period of time and it’s perfectly normal. I’m here to find love, that’s the whole concept of the show and in saying that I was exploring friendships with people and trying to find that exact spark and love and other Islanders were doing the exact same.
I was seeing Christie for approximately two months and I called things off with her because I didn’t see things unfolding to how I saw it unfolding. Cynthia is a darling, she’s so pure of heart, a lovely beautiful girl. By no means would I ever want to put anyone through that, it’s not within me to do that.
WATCH: Cynthia chooses Maurice over Sam. Post continues after video…
Have you seen any of the video Christie posted about you?
I saw snippets, the publicist showed me clips of it and man Christie is incredible at what she does. I’m a real eager beaver to get back to Sydney and have some cheeky chats with her and some mad banter about the whole situation.
A lot of the boys were saying Vanessa is fake and wasn’t on the show for the right reasons. Do you agree?
When you’re no longer scrutinised by the countless cameras in the Villa, you’re able to have some full-on conversations and I saw layers of Vanessa that I wasn’t really able to see in the Villa. I’m telling you now from my understanding of what I’ve learned about this beautiful lady, she had intentions to find love. People are more than welcome to have their own opinions and if that’s their story and what they want to go with, that’s fine but I see Vanessa as a beautiful girl, truly and authentically looking for love.
Maurice says he’s keen to get back to Sydney and “have some cheeky chats with [Christie] and some mad banter about the whole situation.”
(Image: Instagram @christieswadling)Who do you reckon are the couple to watch who could win?
It will have to be Josh and Anna. Both of them are people that I love to bits, I think they have awesome energy, they have incredible synergy with one another, they just vibe with one another so easily, it’s not put on. I see that they’re real and warm with one another, their intentions are real.
Adam and Cartier are an incredible couple, I didn’t really get a chance to vibe with them a great deal. Obviously it’s very fast-paced in the villa but I think they’re awesome but the conversations I had with Josh and Anna were so real. But I think there are going to be some very interesting things happening in the next week and I think I’ll be able to confidently put my money on it after a week.
Maurice says Josh and Anna are the ones to watch.
(Image: Nine Network)What’s next for you now that you’re out of the Villa?
I’m going to keep my eyes peeled for that special lady. I learned so much about myself throughout this journey I had, I was able to learn where I can literally bring that into a relationship and have better qualities to bring that into a relationship so that’s where I’m at with that. I think I’ll let that flow, I’d love to see where things are after Cynthia comes out of the villa and take things as they come, really not forcing anything.
But besides that I have an incredible support network of people around me, they and myself are very excited about a new project I’m working on for myself within film and music so those who are eager beavers to follow me on that journey, they can always follow me on Instagram and see me have some fun with that journey that I’m on.
“I’d love to see where things are after Cynthia comes out of the Villa and take things as they come.”
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