HER Married At First Sight experience ended in tears after she broke things off with her TV husband in the final commitment ceremony.
But just over a year later, florist Rozz Darlington, 28, is flourishing in a new relationship with her aviation mad boyfriend Jordan Morris.
The couple have been smitten since meeting through Rozz’s neighbours earlier this year and went public at a restaurant launch in Manchester earlier this week.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun, Rozz revealed she can see them falling in love and has hopes for a long and happy future together.
However, she admitted to needing time after the reality show to get into the right headspace to date again.
She said: “When I came off the show I was not looking for a relationship, I was just like ‘God, that was traumatic’.”
Jordan, who is the cousin of her friend and neighbour, and Rozz swapped some flirty messages before arranging their first date.
“It seemed to go really well,” she said. “He’s just like me which is good because we smiled and laughed the whole way through.
“So many people message when you’ve been on telly and stuff like that it’s like ‘oh, it’s like dubious’ and I think it’s nice that he was known through someone I know.”
Rozz was initially concerned that Jordan might have the wrong preconceived idea of who she is after watching her on Mafs, but that was quickly put to bed.
She said: “I knew he’d watched the show and, at the end, obviously I got so much hate for my decision and I feel like that affected my confidence when it came to him because I didn’t want him to think randomly out the blue I’m just going to be like ‘this isn’t for me’.
“When you go on the show you have negative opinions of yourself from people, so it’s like ‘well, what’s his opinion on me?’ And even though he’s meeting up with me for a date it’s like ‘does he actually like me? Does he think I’m a nasty person?’ Is he basing me off the edit?; And it’s mad how like your brain like goes wild.”
Rozz decided to end her relationship with Thomas Kriaras while at her family home.
She realised the depth of the trust issues stemming from her past relationship and it made her feel unworthy of love.
It all got too much for her and she decided time alone was the best thing.
They remain friends and Rozz even supported Thomas when he graduated from Loughborough University with a Finance and Investment Masters in December.
She said: “When it comes to Thomas and I, we are friends. Obviously it’s hard to sometimes maintain friendships after a show, sometimes you come out and you do drift apart, don’t you?
“But if we were to see each other it’s totally friendly. All I wish for is Thomas to find the most beautiful person.”
“I just want everyone to be happy and all to get on. I feel like we did learn a lot from each other. I know the public hated the decision but Thomas grew so much as a person and I also grew, you know, and I wish people could actually see what we actually gave each other.
“Yeah we didn’t end up being together forever but we did both grow within that relationship and experiment and I’d never change it.
“I’d never marry a stranger again, but what I’m saying is I don’t regret doing it because you know we’re both different people at the end of the day, we grew from the people we began as to the people we ended as. I know it was sad but we’ve grown.”
I know the public hated the decision but Thomas grew so much as a person and I also grew, you know, and I wish people could actually see what we actually gave each other.
Rozz Darlington
Rozz admitted to having an aversion to confrontation and she really struggled in the build up to the final commitment ceremony where she had to be true to herself in front of a group and end the relationship.
She still has one therapy session a month to “clear my brain”.
When the show initially ended, Rozz was subjected to a barrage of abuse online that made her feel overwhelmed.
“I feel like in the moment I was overwhelmed with the amount of hate,” she said. “I couldn’t read it obviously because it was that much, but now like you get dribs and drabs and sometimes you’re like ‘God’ and then realise that you don’t know these people, it really doesn’t matter what they think and everyone around me, all my customers and people that come see me generally think I’m a beautiful person so that’s all that matters.”
The future is much brighter now and she and Jordan are planning a summer holiday together.
While marriage isn’t on the horizon yet, they are close to saying the all important L word.
Rozz laughed: “We say it in a roundabout way, yeah. All my friends are like ‘oh, you are you are’, and I can definitely see myself on in love with him.”