In 2011, Troy and Mackenzie got engaged on Beauty and the Geek. This what they're doing now.

Beauty And The Geek was never really meant to be a dating show. But in 2011, while filming season 3, Troy Thompson and Mackenzie Smits fell for each other and got engaged during filming. It was a relationship that lasted for years.

“She was pretty much my first love,” Thompson tells Mamamia.

Side note… listen to ex Bachelorette Sophie Monk, talk to Mamamia about love. Post continues below.

Thompson was the first male “beauty” to be paired with a female “geek” on the show, while all the other teams were male “geeks” and female “beauties”. He was asked to audition after being spotted in a swimwear ad on a bus.

At the time, he was working as a mail boy and also taking jobs as a model and topless waiter.

He says he bonded with the male “geeks” on his season.

“I was putting them through little gym sessions outside and they were teaching me how to play the guitar and telling me about Warcraft and chess and those sort of things,” he remembers. “Those guys were amazing. I’m still in touch with a few of them now.”

Thompson says he had romances with two “beauties” on the show, first Sarah and then Mackenzie.

“It’s so embarrassing when you look back at it,” he admits. “I liked hanging out with Sarah. Then Mackenzie came into the picture. You’re so young, your hormones are crazy and there are all these beautiful girls. So you don’t know what you want. Mackenzie was always more my type.”

Thompson and Smits got engaged while their season was still filming.

“She was pretty much my first love,” he explains. “I was crazy about her and just rushed into it, as you do when you’re young.”

Smits moved from her hometown of Perth to Sydney to be with Thompson. Later, she moved back to Perth and Thompson went with her. They both ended up living in Melbourne.

“That was my first real serious relationship,” he says. “We were together for a couple of years and then we had a break and then we were back on for another two years.

“She wanted to do the whole ‘settle down’ thing when we were, like, 24. Neither of us had travelled the world and that was always a goal of mine. We went our separate paths.”

After his season of Beauty And The Geek aired, Thompson says he was approached about possible roles on Home And Away and Underbelly. But he wasn’t looking for an acting career.

“I sort of shied away from it,” he says. “My mum hates me for it!”

Currently, he works as an online coach and is sponsored by a supplement company. He spends between two and four hours a day on the treadmill and doing weights. In fact, he’s on the treadmill while doing the interview with Mamamia.

 

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“I’ve got a shoot coming up,” he explains.

People still recognise him from Beauty And The Geek, which surprises him.

“I look so different now.”

Thompson hasn’t done any more reality TV, although he was approached to be on the most recent season of Love Island. Before making a decision, he went on a date with a girl he met through social media. He didn’t know that she’d been approached to go on Love Island too. The two of them hit it off straight away, and both decided they’d rather keep seeing each other than go on the show.

 

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“I told her when we were out on the third date, ‘I’ve been asked to do it but I’m not going to do it,’ and then she told me that she was meant to do it as well.

“So it sort of happened again, but I didn’t meet her on the show.”

Thompson says he and his girlfriend – whose name he wants to keep private – are “more than happy” together. “I have a really big personality and she’s really relaxed and keeps everything going smoothly and on a more mature level. So she’s really good for me.”

As for Smits, Thompson says she and he stay in touch.

“Mackenzie messaged me for my birthday. She has a kid now. We’re still friends.”