EXCLUSIVE: Rhi reveals whether she thinks producers knew she dated Jeff before the show.

MAFS’ Rhi Disljenkovic has revealed whether she thinks producers knew about her previous relationship with Jeff Gobbels. Photos: Channel Nine

Married At First Sight viewers have found it hard to believe that for the first time in 12 seasons of the reality show, there’s not one, but two couples this year who dated before being matched together. Not only had Paul Antoine and Carina Mirabile gone on a date roughly eight months before their TV wedding, but Rhi Disljenkovic and Jeff Gobbels were in a relationship for over a month towards the end of 2023.

Yahoo Lifestyle understands that Rhi and Jeff began seeing each other after being introduced by a mutual friend, Australian Survivor star and TV presenter Abbey Holmes. The pair “kept in touch” after parting ways and attended the same group classes at their shared gym in Melbourne, and also still followed each other on Instagram before being reunited on MAFS.

With the Channel Nine series being known for adding a new twist every season, many fans have taken to social media to question the likelihood of producers unknowingly pairing two exes together.

“The fact that they know each other prior to this, it’s so obvious this is producers working overtime,” one person wrote on social media, while another added, “The experts had no idea two couples knew each other? Okay”.

2023 bride Tahnee Cook also pointed out on her podcast Back To Reality that the application process requires participants to share the names of their recent exes.

“I know producers stalk. They would’ve seen that [they follow each other],” she added. “There’s no way producers do not know.”

Rhi and Jeff were shocked when they recognised each other on their wedding day. Photos: Matrix/Supplied

Rhi weighs in on social media theories

Rhi has now addressed the social media theories surrounding her and Jeff and revealed whether she thinks producers knew about their relationship before the show.

“Jeff and I followed each other on Instagram, but I don’t know if they went in and had a look to see if we followed each other,” she tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “I don’t think it was set up, I really do think it was a fluke.

“Going off the looks of all the producers’ faces, it looked like no one had any freaking idea. I could hear everyone go, ‘What the f**k?’. I think the producers were quite shocked as well, to be honest.”

Rhi also reveals that she never mentioned Jeff in her application process because they had only dated for a month.

“To be honest, I didn’t even mention who my actual ex was, like my long-term relationship,” she adds. “I saw people comment saying, ‘You had to put their Instagram accounts in, how did they not know?’. But I never even said the name of my ex.

“I can see how it could have happened, especially knowing that Jeff and I had no photos together and it was only a month. I definitely said nothing to them about Jeff at all.”

Rhi says she doesn’t think producers were aware she had dated Jeff before the show. Photos: Channel Nine

Are Rhi and Jeff still together?

Yahoo Lifestyle revealed during filming last year that this season of MAFS could possibly be one of the social experiment’s happiest endings to date as there was a “record-breaking” number of pairs still together at the Final Vows.

It’s understood that Rhi and Jeff are one of those couples that make it to the end of the filming experience, and there are plenty of hints that suggest they are still together today.

For starters, the pair liked each other’s Instagram posts between October and January, which is after they filmed Final Vows and before they handed over control of their social media accounts. Jeff also commented a series of fire and heart-eye emojis on Rhi’s selfies, while she left a red heart emoji on his post in December.

Unlike other couples this season, Jeff and Rhi have also been spotted together on numerous occasions.

Jeff was seen dropping Rhi off at her Valentine’s Day event with her female co-stars in Melbourne earlier this month, and they also recently enjoyed dinner together with Carina Mirabile and Dave Thomas.