He’s known for his perpetually sunny disposition, infectious laugh and furious brushing of his teeth.
But behind the smiles, MAFS Grand Reunion star Troy Delmege tells Woman’s Day that he’s been fighting a secret battle – one which left him fearing for his health and wondering if he’d ever recover.
“It was a real tough 2020,” says the 38-year-old, who appears in the reunion special alongside his series five “wife”, Ashley Irvin.
“I had this health issue – a parasite [Blastocystis hominis] which went diagnosed for about five months and wreaked so much havoc.”
Troy saw several doctors, but none managed to get to the bottom of his drastic weight loss, upset stomach and malaise.
MAFS Grand Reunion star Troy Delmege tells Woman’s Day that he’s been fighting a secret battle – one which left him fearing for his health and wondering if he’d ever recover.
(Instagram)“I had read a lot about parasites over the years, and I had always sort of vaguely heard that weight loss was one of the symptoms. I experienced that full-blown in my case – I lost about 10kg. I am a slender guy – I don’t have much weight to play with – so there were some really tough times.”
Troy stayed quiet about his health issues, refraining from posting on social media during his months of hardship.
“I kept it to myself,” he says.
“Everyone was going through a very tough 2020 for very different reasons, so for me to throw it out there that I wasn’t well, it just felt unnecessary.”
Thankfully, just before Christmas, Troy saw a gastroenterologist who ran tests and made a diagnosis, before prescribing antibiotics.
“You always take your health for granted until you don’t have it any more,” says Troy, who has made a full recovery.
“[I had some] really anxious months, where I wasn’t sure what was going to come next, and what the underlying condition was.”
“I experienced that full-blown in my case – I lost about 10kg. I am a slender guy – I don’t have much weight to play with – so there were some really tough times,” the star reveals.
(Credit: Supplied)As Troy spent most of last year hibernating, dating was off the agenda.
“What really bothered me was the loss of time,” he says.
“I wanted to go out and meet people, and I wasn’t able to do that at all. I was wondering, ‘Am I going to find anyone?’ But thankfully 2020 came to an end and there are brighter times right now.”
Indeed, Troy tells Woman’s Day that he has met someone – and in a different move for him, that special someone is not from MAFS!
“There are some nice girls on MAFS, but some of [them] are so different from me, we would never have much of a connection,” says Troy, who dated MAFS bride Carly Bowyer after his split from Ashley.
“But I am pleased to say that I have met someone outside in the real world. So that’s good! We will see where it goes.”
Ashley’s New Job: ‘I had to find a Plan B’
We all had a tough 2020, but for Virgin Australia flight attendant Ashley Irvin, it was particularly hard.
“I was out of work for, I think, about eight months,” she tells Woman’s Day.
“I only started back in December. At least I got to keep my job, whereas all the international flight crew, and cabin crew, are fully out of a job now.
“It’s been a pretty depressing year.”
After COVID-19 put her flight attendant career on hold, Ashley decided to enrol in a nursing course to enable job security.
(Credit: Instagram)The job uncertainty made the 32-year-old rethink her direction in life, so she decided to enrol in a nursing course fulltime.
“I never thought I would be out of work, because I thought people would always need to travel everywhere,” she says.
“Then the pandemic came along and I was like ‘Holy sh*t, I need a Plan B.'”
Ashley, who is single after taking a year-long break from dating, will attempt to juggle fulltime study with fulltime flying, adding, “Maybe I’ll meet a hot doctor in my placement?! Dreams are free, right?”
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