Australian reality TV couple join Ex on the Beach spin-off: 'Nervous'

They had quite a memorable stint on last year’s season of The Amazing Race Australia when they were sent home early due to a devastating time penalty, and now Jake O’Brien and Holly MacAlpine are returning to reality TV in a major way.

The self-proclaimed ‘model couple’ has been cast in the first-ever season of MTV’s Ex on the Beach: Couples, a spin-off of the popular global franchise. The show follows six pairs in Gran Canaria, Spain as they undergo a series of intense relationship challenges and decide if they can finally move on from their ex and achieve their happily ever after.

Speaking with Yahoo Lifestyle ahead of the show’s premiere this week, Holly explains why she and Jake decided to be a part of the new series.

“I would say we've been through a lot and I feel like in the past four years, we really haven't had a chance to just step back and focus on the relationship,” she says. “And I personally cannot think of any other environment that is quite like this that really just removes all television, phones, and any capacity to distract yourself.

“We’re in a really great place and this for us was just a way of taking that next step into some more serious decisions about our future and what we want our relationship to look like.”

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Holly went on to say that their “short but sweet” experience on The Amazing Race is what helped bring her and Jake closer together - regardless of how “traumatic” their elimination was.

“We are such a good team when it comes to overcoming things due to everything we've been through that if anything, it just made us stronger,” she adds. “I think despite all the small arguments and the stresses of going on the race, just being able to have the capacity to support each other through that and just go for it says a lot.”

'So different than any other reality television'

Holly admits she’s both “extremely excited and extremely nervous” for viewers to watch herself and Jake on Ex on the Beach: Couples, and teases that they “left everything on the table”.

“This is going to be some of the realest rawest reality TV that you have ever seen,” she remarks. “When it's couples and long-term couples at that, I don't think there's any capacity to fake it, truly.

“I'm definitely my most vulnerable self on there. You will see me crying and weeping and working through it. So I just hope people move with kindness as they watch it and just really acknowledge that this is so different than any other reality television. This isn't singles coming on and playing around and it's not light-hearted. It's real, long-term relationships.

“So I hope people view it and give us a little bit of grace because obviously, we're going to act a little bit crazy under the circumstances!”

Ex on the Beach: Couples premieres Thursday, 16 February on MTV.

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