“Maybe I’ll come back to Temptation Island Season 2 with Bontle” – MJ

Before Temptation Island South Africa began, MJ and Bontle were just strangers. They might have briefly caught eyes during that dramatic first episode, where all the singles met all the couples before declaring their intentions, but little did either of them know that they would be leaving the island together. As an item.

Everything may or may not have changed by the reunion, but here’s what the new lovebirds had to say just after the final bonfire: 

How do you feel after your time on Temptation Island South Africa?

MJ: I feel great. I think she feels great after the bonfire night that she’s been waiting for. She kind of knew I was going to come back home with her, but she didn’t trust it.

Bontle: I also feel great. It’s been such a great journey, for sure.

MJ: I’m excited, and I just can’t hide it!

After everything that has been said and done, you’re going into a relationship with someone who left his partner. Can MJ be trusted?

MJ: I don’t know. Can I be trusted? 

Bontle: [Giggles] Can he? 

MJ: Maybe I’ll come back to Temptation Island Season 2 with Bontle, so you never know what could happen! It was my plan to come here, but the experience turned out otherwise by meeting someone else and now I’m in a relationship with the beautiful Bontle. It’s fun and it’s a shift of heart and a shift of feelings. It had to happen, and it happened with me and her.

How do you think Nthabi [MJ’s ex] feels about how everything went down?

MJ: She’s heartbroken. Yeah, she’s heartbroken for sure. When I saw her at the bonfire and when she talked about it, I could see. But she decided to leave single, which meant that I am single. So I decided to leave with Bontle. She made her choice, and I made my choice to leave with Bontle.

Did your relationship with Nthabi end because of what happened in the villa?

MJ: Yeah, that’s the reason why she left. But that was my own experience. I had to open up myself to the experience inside the villa. When you go there, you don’t go there as someone in a relationship, you go there as a single who gets to meet beautiful singles like Bontle! You guys are putting me on the spot!

Okay, onto you Bontle. With everything that has happened, do you feel as if you can trust MJ in this new relationship?

Bontle: I think I’m going to give MJ the benefit of the doubt because I feel like, as people, we are different people towards other people. We don’t treat everyone the same. I wouldn’t experience MJ the same way which Nthabiseng experiences him. You become a different person according to the person who you are with. I really feel like I’m confident that MJ wouldn’t cheat on me because, well, you know! I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt.

What did you learn during your time on Temptation Island?

Bontle: I learned that I have major trust issues! I’m such a “seeing is believing” type of person. I also learned plenty about myself. There’s a lot I have to change in my relationships and in my friendships and everything all around me. I’ve learned that people are different, and we don’t always have to see eye to eye to be correct. We just have to respect each other’s journeys and try to make that work.

MJ: I’ve learned how to open-up more to new adventures and new people. I have also learned how to allow myself to love. Before I was a man of lust; now I’m a man of love. When I first came to the villa, the old MJ would have wanted to sleep with everyone and now I just went for one person and stuck to her all the way until now. It was all about love and not lust. That’s all growth. I want to get to where I get engaged, where I get married, and that’s got all to do with love and not lust. For me it’s all growth and being a better person.

So, is it safe to say you caught feelings?

MJ: Of course. You can’t control those feelings, you know? I spent the whole time with her, seeing her before I slept, seeing her the moment I woke up. We spent so much time together and it’s impossible not to develop feelings. So yes, I caught feelings. Thankfully I caught feelings, not flu. [Both laugh]]

Do you have any final words for Nthabi following your split?

MJ: No, I don’t have any final words. I mean she’s a great person, but she decided how she’s going to handle it and I decided who I want to be with, and we moved from there. I don’t have any final words but good luck to her and her endeavours.

What attracted you and Bontle to each other?

MJ: Definitely our dates. From the first date, we knew we had a connection. I mean obviously she’s beautiful, I love beautiful women, and she is for sure. Not just on the outside, but on the inside too. Once I saw that she’s so beautiful and so calm, she turned out to be one person who I could count on for sure in the villa. She’s been making me calm and when she talks, she’s just so sweet that I just calm down so naturally.

Bontle: What attracted me to MJ was his character. Who he is behind what people see. I don’t go for looks at all, I go for what’s in the heart and who a person is. The person who he was trying to get people to see, he didn’t get the chance and the opportunity to be seen that way. I was able to give that person a chance and see what he’s all about so that’s what attracted me to him. And he’s an Aries! I love me some Aries men, and I feel like I always connect with them.

Do you think you’re going to be together for the long term? 

Bontle: I’m the kind of person who just doesn’t like to jinx things, you know? I don’t want to say that “We’ll be together forever” and then MJ cheats on me, and then I have to pull a Nthabi, so – let’s just wait and see.

MJ: You never know hey because it’s a relationship. Some work, some don’t work, but hey [looks at Bontle] I hope we work! I hope for the best, I hope we get to share our love with everyone.

Watch MJ and Bontle talk about their relationship:

Find out if anything’s changed since they watched Temptation Island South Africa together at the reunion, now streaming on Showmax.