Hello, and welcome back to the Maths Funny Podcast with Me Joshua Fox, and today, guys, we finally have the answer about why did Jack and Tory really split up?
Earlier this year. Everyone has been asking, speculating, hoping for a big drama and something messy, and the real reason is actually just a little bit sad if I'm being honest, And it's also quite relatable to a lot of people who I know will have found themselves in a similar situation before but maybe struggled to find that courage to say, actually, this isn't working, like we need to end this relationship.
Tory sat down to top things through with my friends and journalist Lachlan Gerton and Talia Pritchard, who I said in the previous episode of this podcast, I bring in their podcast Confessions of a Reality Start into the Maths Funny Feed and I kind of set them this first challenge of can they get to the bottom of you know, why did they split? Because everyone's asking, but no one knows. And yeah, instead of me rambling on, here is their full interview. Enjoy.
Thank you so much for coming on Confessions of a Reality Star.
Thank you.
I know it's been a pretty rough start to the year for you. So we just wanted to ask, how are you doing.
Yeah, look, I'm actually going pretty well. I think that's like a shock to some people. But you know, I won't speak for Jack, but we are going pretty pretty good. We're not the start to the year that everyone thought we would have, but yeah, we were actually in a good place.
Okay. I mean we're going to dive into that a little bit more because it's interesting. I think when couples break up and the couple says we're still friends, there's still a lot of love there and everyone's like, okay, but why did you break up then? And so I
think everyone has a lot of questions. But if we talk about the fact that it's been a year since you were on Maths, the last time people saw you was obviously when you were with I just want to know how you think the toy that was on Maths compares to the toy now.
Oh my god, the toy that was on Maths, or the toy that was shown on Maths to the toy that actually existed at that time was already so different. But then the toy that was on Mass to the toy that I am today again is so different. I think I've gone through a lot of growth and a
lot of self development since being on the show. I think you see life differently once you've been in that world and you're on camera and you're watching yourself back, and you're watching how you hold yourself in times of you know, spiciness, or and you're in the middle of an argument. Now, Lucky for me, most of my like offs at the dinner party weren't shown, but you know, I'm kind of glad that they weren't, because I think
I can be a very reactive, aggressive person. So to learn the art of just kind of letting it be, you know, not responding to those comments or just ignoring or pretending like it's not happening, just being at peace within yourself and not caring what anyone else thinks. I think that's probably the biggest thing that I've learned since being on Maths, is just to not care what people think. Your existence is going to piss someone off at every point,
and it's just being okay with that. And I think before Maths, I definitely didn't really care what people thought of me, but I did have that little bit of like, oh god, well, people think, and now I'm like, fuck it, it's going to piss someone off anyway, so I might just do it. It's going to make me happy, you know what I mean.
Yeah, it's a new type of like resilience. I imagine correct. It's probably coming in handy right now too, because I think the interesting thing for me was like, you guys didn't have a lot of people championing your relationship when you ended the show, and then you've proved all the haters wrong and you have broken up now obviously, but people are really sad about it. Has that been kind of confusing for you?
People are so affected by it, and it's it's not funny, but it's kind of like you're right, you know. We came off the show, and to be fair, when we got our social media back, we had nothing but love. You know. I think for myself, I was expecting the most vile messages, but we had nothing but an influx of love and support and it was so nice. And we never thought of like we needed to prove our relationship to anyone.
You know.
We were two people that met on a TV show who could kind of feel that there was something there and we were just going to give it a shot, and we're going to give it the best shot that we could possibly give it. And when we did end things, you know, we had ended it for just on a month before we had announced it. So when we did announce it, I think people thought that we'd woke up that morning and were like, you know what, let's break up, let's announce it to the world, and let's do it
right now. They're like, no, like, is there any way you guys can fix it? Like what's going on? Like surely not like and it's like, oh god, guys like bless and it's beautiful, but simmer down.
It must be really strange though, because you know, when you do break up with someone in usual life and you don't have this kind of following of people, You tell your friends and your family and then you're pretty much done and dusted. But now you've got hundreds and thousands of people kind of demanding to know why you guys broke up. Do you have anything you kind of want to say? Just to a general blanket statement.
People, I think we're expecting this really juicy tea. Someone did something really nasty to the other person, and it's just vile and it's just not the case. Effectively, Jack and I just never got to that point of falling deeply in love with one another. We have a lot of love for one another, and we are the very best of friends, but it never eventuated into anything that would have us spend the rest of our lives together. So nothing, nothing happened, no one, you know, did anyone dirty.
We're just two people that are essentially the best of friends.
And is that And I imagine you have to have a lot of conversations too to get to that point and get to that understanding. So it's kind of funny how you touched on earlier, Like it's like you just woke up one morning and you're like, let's just announce to everyone that it's over and we haven't tried it whatever.
Correct, Like, there's a lot of conversation, there's a lot of you know, putting in the hard work. There's a lot of I guess, getting in those trenches and seeing is this something that can be? And we did. We put in the hard work, were put in the hard yards, the hours, in the conversations and all the rest of it. And at the end of the day, that was that, you know, it wasn't from lack of trying. We just figured out that we're just really great friends.
Was part of that time when you guys work together for over a year and when you're trying to kind of make it work and you're thinking is this going to keep going or you're making those decisions. Is there a part of you thinking, but everyone wanted us to break up, let's stay together because of that? Or were you thinking about the pressure of the public or the fact that there are no success stories from the show
and you're like, come on, we can do this. Did you ever think about the public perception in terms of your relationship? Look?
I did. It was definitely something that I had in the back of my mind, and it was more of like, oh, God, like, you know, all of those nasty, vile people that wished us ill and had all those nasty things to say about us, and the naysayer is like, we've effectively validated their shitty comments and those really evil words, and so in the back of my mind, I was like, oh, like, I hate that I'm giving these nasty, nasty people this satisfaction.
But at the end of the day, like you know, they don't know us, and they don't know what we have been through effectively. And like I said earlier, you're any decision we make or that I make will piss someone off. You just can't think about it. So Yeah, for a split moment, I was like, oh, I don't want to give these people, you know, like that feeling of like oh God, like I told you so well, like oh here we are look at them now, like we knew this was going to happen. I didn't want
to give those people the satisfaction. But I have bigger fish to fry. I cannot be worried about that. Yeah.
Absolutely, you uprooted your life from Melbourne to the Gold Coast. Do you see sel staining in the Gold Coast?
Now?
I will probably make my way back home. I miss so much about Melbourne. I have loved my time up here on the Gold Coast, but I think I'm a Melbourne girly through and through. I went back home last weekend and it just reminded me how much I miss. You know, my people are there, my circle, my friends, my family, and I think what I need right now is to be completely immersed in that.
You've said online that you and Jack still have a lot of love for each other and you still care for one another, how would you describe that relationship now?
The relationship now is, Zach, we're like the best of mates. We obviously still live in the same apartment, still go to the gym together. Not not much has changed other than we are no longer boyfriend and girlfriend. It's probably very confusing to some people, but not much has changed. You know, we still hang out all the time. Like
it's strange. I've never been this amicable and this friendly with an e. But I guess when you grow up, and you know, you get older, when you're when the feelings just aren't there and no one's done anything wrong, it's.
Easy, Yeah, for sure. And I guess given everything you guys went through as well on the show and whatever. Like, there's so many different pressures being on a show like Maths, so like, even when you are trying to forge a romantic connection, like you said, with a virtual stranger, you're just thrown into so many different challenges and of course you go into the outside world and then it's about seeing if you can make it work in that world without all that kind of echo chamber of experts and
other people getting involved. So and that stuff takes time. Takes time as.
Well, absolutely, and like you know, like I said earlier, we didn't we didn't choose one another, but we could see that there was something there worth trying for, and we did. You know, if that spark or that little niggle wasn't there and I didn't move up to the Gold Coast, it would the right I would have been on the wall. But you know, I did uproot my life because we wanted to give it the best shot. And that's exactly what we did.
To switch things up a bit. We thought it would be fun to get you to react to one of your most iconic scenes on the show. You basically had reached your limit with the contestants grilling you about your relationship, and you kind of shut them down and put them in their place at the dinner party. Let's play the clip.
Oh, let's the problem is that you don't feel anything towards the shop. How I feel? Just trust what I'm doing is right and if it's not, you can all laugh. Oh no, if you can all laugh, everyone's probably laughing now. It's so you know what, I'm going to be real with you all. After you are wanted this table, maybe you at the beginning, I would want to spend time after this experiment. None of you have none none. Hmm, well, I've stayed true to that.
We were going to ask, have you spoken to anyone on that table?
You know what, I actually I stayed true to the never seeing Oh I haven't even stayed true to that. No, because I've seen them. I've seen them and I've spoken to them. I think at that time, like you're right, I was at the end of my tether. I was like, fuck these guys, these guys are shit. I'm going to get out. But look, since then, most of them have
reached out. This was before the breakup, you know, most of them had reached out and said some really nice things, bumped into a few of them, and then post breakup, I've heard from or we've heard from most of them. I think the ones that we haven't heard from who cares like they're showing their true colors, whereas you know, the rest are more than happy to let bygones be bygones. And at the end of the day, we were filming
a reality TV show. It needed to be entertaining. So yeah, and apologies have been made where apologies were needed, and I think that's the that's the best thing, like, you know, yeah, Okay, during filming, we were all very we all had a job to do, and that was to make entertaining TV. Post filming, where wrong doings and really shitty things have been said, they've been apologized for, and you cannot ask for any more than that.
Were there any surprise apologies you weren't expecting?
Yeah, yeah there was one and I'm not here to like name, but there was one that I probably or that we were not expecting that we got. And yeah, it's it's it's big of them to do what they did and apologize for for their part in you know, what was effectively a shoot show for us.
Have you had to think about Obviously it's very early, but how navigating the dating world being a reality TV star that was public as a public figure, how is that going to work out?
I have got no idea. I cannot even entertain the thought of dating right now. I Oh, I don't know, I don't know. I feel like everyone is going to want to know everything, and i'd yeah, honestly, I've not thought about it, and it makes me a little bit nauseous to think about it. I think for me. I'm just ignorance, is bliss? I am not thinking about it.
I think that's fair. One thing at a time, right, like move back to Melbourne, maybe settle vagoon, see what happens.
Say is full? It's full, cannot fit another thing on it.
We've actually been sent a question from a little surprise guest, someone that was on your season. Okay, very interested to see your answer on this one.
Hey, Tory, it's Eden. Lachlan and Talia have tasked me with asking you a question today. So every year Maths has its so called villains, and unfortunately there's a bit of a stigma that comes with that label, often unfairly by being by Jack's side through all of that, did you feel it all let down by the rest of the cast, whether people you considered friends that let you down, like they fed into that narrative or didn't support you
when you really needed it. Me personally, looking back, as much as I don't support everything that happened, I think there's times where I could have been a better friend, And I just wonder what it was like on the receiving end of the position that you guys were in.
God bless her. I love that girl. Yeah, I one dinner party sticks out for me the most, and it was probably the first in a party where everything pops off with Jack and Lauren. I can't even remember. It was a message or a photo at the gym or whatever it was, I can't remember. And they waited, they held onto this information and then they let it all
out at the dinner party. And I remember saying, like I thought we were fucking friends, Like I understand you're allowed to text me, but shit, like, if you cared about me as much as what you say, and you're my friend as much as what you say, why didn't you bring this to me away from the dinner party and then we could have spoken about how we were going to deal with it at the dinner party, because I'm sure when there were other situations that happened behind
closed doors or on a Saturday or Friday night, that there would have been like a little crisis meeting howld to make sure the people that were in the wrong didn't look like, fuck, we're to the dinner party. And I felt like I was never given that opportunity to have that Okay, girl, we got you, like, what are we going to do? Like what would you like is to say, how do you want this to be played?
I was never a part of that little clique, And when I look back at it, I am glad that I was never a part of that little clique because I had no choice, and the same as Jack, we had no choice but to stay true to who we were and what we were doing, because we didn't have that group that was having these little side meetings like Okay, this happened on the weekend. How are we going to package this up and make it so fluffy and it
will just be like it never happened. If I had cheated or if Jack had cheated, do you think it would have been played out the way that a certain cheating scandal played out. Absolutely not. It would have been health for the stake, feet on fire like, it would have been absolute warm. So yeah, I do think I
was let down by the cast. I think whatever now, like I really am unfazed by now, But back then, I was like, yeah, wow, there are really no there's no one here that's going to back me but me and Jack.
And have you been watching the latest season of Math or was it like looking back triggering at all to watch it?
I was obsessed and the worst part was I was so like I just took what I saw for value, like I'd never been on the shoble, and I was so vocal and like I think I said to a post on Instagram, like, guys, I'll do you know, like episode reactions. And then I found myself like just being so like aggressive and like involved, and I was like, I can't put this on my social media, like I'll be freaking canceled.
Well, you recently clapped back at Jackie on social media, I mean to fill people in. She had basically did a Q and A. She was asked about your breakup with jack and she said I never liked jack so very glad she deserves more than him. And then you and a few other MATH stars basically called her out. What are your thoughts on this year's cast and have you spoken with Jackie or had any more interaction since then?
No, I haven't spoken to Jackie, And honestly, like a day doesn't go past where I'm like, oh God, I want to speak to Jackie, but I don't. I like this year was just a nightmare, Like I just felt like there was little spotfires everywhere, and like, I don't know, I felt like there was a lot of double standards. I think it was it was messy. One way to put it. It was messy. I feel like with our season, it was consistent that it was kind of you know,
all there was always something new happening. There was always something new being said or someone did something shitty every week. It wasn't the same thing harped on each and every week other than Jack and I are sex Life. But apart from that, there was something new this season. I just felt like it was very manufactured. Not a lot was going on. They had little to work with, so they just rinsed everything that they called over and over again.
I think the only other thing that I really spoke on my social media about was Tim and that was another thing I was like, yeah, like someone like tell me he's a good guy and I'll share the responses. Could not share the responses.
There's been a lot of talk recently, especially this year, with Maths and looking at the production and the ethics of the show. Do you think from your experience, Maths should be investigated or doing anything more to protect the cast.
Look, at the end of the day, it's a workplace, right, they pay us, We do a job. It's a workplace. We need to be respected and cared for as any one who goes to work should be. And I think probably the biggest thing for them that they really push the boundary on is probably that duty of care, because you know, at the end of the day, Yeah, sure, we sign a contract. I get that. Does anyone read the one hundred and seventy seven pages of the contract. No, but it is very clearly stated to you at the
front in a nutshell We're gonna fuck with you. That's what you're signing up for. And we're all like, so what line we not even We're just like yeap, sign, date, scan, send it back, because you don't know at that time, you don't know what they're going to do and the severity of what they're going to do to you. So I think, yeah, there needs to be probably a little bit more regulation around let's understand what the term defamation is,
understand what the term bullying means. You know, like, let's just rain it in a little bit, because sure it's entertaining, that's great, and the viewers are seeing, you know, sixty minutes of footage that you know has been taken over you know, fifty hours or sixty hours in that week they're watching dinner parties and bless them, they think the dinner parties start at five and go to eight. Like those guys have been awake since six am. It's now
four am, you know what I mean? So I think they just need to tighten tighten the reins a little bit and just understand that. Yeah, entertaining making new millions love that, but come on, like, we're human.
Exactly do you think, given the long filming days, the fact that the show is so huge, would make so much money for the network? Do you think participants are financially compensated enough for everything they go through?
No? Absolutely not.
Everyone needs a pay rise to pay rise.
Everyone needs a pay rise.
Would you be open to going on reality TV again? Have you thought about what show you might want to appear on next Reality TV?
Yes? You wouldn't catch me dead on another dating show?
Applications?
Why not? Don't bother we've going off? Yeah, I would do I would do TV again. I genuinely enjoyed it. I had a great time, but I just wouldn't put myself out there in that dating space ever.
Again, what kind of show do you think like if you had to pick from the Australian kind of line up right now? Of other reality shows, does anything call out to you?
I think my top two would be like the blow and I say, I'm a celebrity, get me out of here. But the minute you ask me to eat anything other than chicken, fish, beef, poorhol lamb, I'm a celebrity.
Do you think you and Jack could go on the Block and just confuse like the absolute shit out of everyone who like still think you know something dramatic went down, but you're just like no, I'll just go and build a house now.
I'd love to. And you know what, you would probably see more of who we are on the Block because I'm a control freak. He's a control freak. I want to do things a certain way. He wants to do things a certain way. I'm he's impatient. I'm patient. I'm a morning person, he's not. It would be more entertaining for them to have us on the Block than what it was to have us on Mass And I've said that for so long, for so so long.
Block twenty twenty six maybe or for the call out.
Get me to Melbourne?
What else is on Tori vision Board? Like one year on from maths.
My god, what do.
I look like? I've got no idea. I think my biggest focus for me right now is probably starting that process of moving back home, which is going to be huge because I did sell everything to move up here, so I'm essentially starting from scratch back home. And then I think, once I'm there, I don't know what will come from that. You know, I don't know what life
looks like as a single person. I came out of the show in a relationship, and my priority at that time was to build and grow and connect with this person, and that's what we focused on. So what my life looks like now, I have no idea other than getting myself back home and just seeing where the universe takes me, I guess. And I'm so open, like I am not closed off to anything. I'm just what is meant for me will will come to me, and I'm excited to see what that is.
I was gonna say, that's an exciting feeling too, just to kind of like and especially like I feel like I'm a bit of a control freak too. And then sometimes when those circumstances happen and you just kind of like, Okay, now I just have to roll with it and just see what is out there.
That's the thing I think, like, when I want something, I can be quite i guess aggressive in getting it, but I think I need to learn the art of if it's not meant for me, it won't stick to me, and if it's meant to me, meant for me, it'll stick with me. So instead of trying like hold onto things for dear life like don't leave me, what will be will be? And I think, you know, that's something that I really need to just focus on this year, is what's meant for me will stay. What's not we'll.
Simply go absolutely. It's like I feel like TikTok has taught me all of that over the last year or so. I don't know if you're on TikTok for there's so many like TikTok girlies that are just like, you know, just like send it back out into the universe. And I'm like, yes, at.
The moment, is just like heartbroken, don't heartbroken?
Wee did you get the Taro hard ones? Have seen the Taro card ones. I'm like, this is meant for me.
If you're seeing this on the fifth of Mark and I'm.
Like right now where it's like, don't skip this otherwise you'll get bad, And I'm like, no, don't do it.
Is there anything you want maths viewers or fans of the show to keep in mind as the show keeps continuing over the next however, lon it goes or.
I just think like at some point we have to come to terms with the fact that reality TV, as the years go on, is so far from real, like even you know, just seeing some comments and reactions to this year's season and this year's cast, and you just think, how how are people so stupid? Like it's fucking no one wants to sit back and watch twenty four people fall in love Like I don't. I don't want to watch. I don't want to watch you to be happy. I want to see, like, you know, drama and war and
crisis don't give me happiness. So yeah, I think just online bullying is so prevalent right now, and it comes from all these like sad, lonely people that sit at home and slam their like greasy keyboards and they think that they're not doing any harm. But actually I saw something that Jackie posted the other day. She was doing a Q and a and she'd been asked if she'd gone back to work, and she said, no, like, I'm
going through therapy right now. I'm getting myself better and I'm building myself back up to go out into the world. And I really can sympathize with that. People think that we're robots. We are humans, and we have feelings and we have families that have to read that shit, and I think that's what's the most heartbreaking.
So appreciate you just coming on chatting about all of this. Best of luck with the move. Is that happening in the next few weeks, So what does that timeline look like?
I don't know what that timeline looks like. I would love to be home in time for winter. I think I'm due for like a really crispy Melbourne winter. But I've got it pretty good up here, so there is really no rush. But if an opportunity presents itself, I'll probably just jump at it.
If you did enjoy the interview there, you can search Confessions of a Reality start on whatever podcast that you're listening to this on right now. Because Lachlan and Tarley I have a bow mini ep with a bit more with Tori in their feed and you can also listen to their former interviews with some of Australia's biggest names
in the reality TV world. I will link their podcast and their socials in the notes of this pod, so please do jump over, get involved, follow them, support them because as you could probably tell from their approach in that interview, they are actually two of the nicest people in the showbiz journal world, which is why I'm very happy with Joined Forces. Have a great day everyone, Goodbye,