'Ex on the Beach' star Marie Roda discusses her experience on the show and her current relation with Devin
So, how did you get on 'Ex on the Beach'?
I have been on a couple of MTV shows. I started off on the ‘Real World’ and then I did a couple of challenges. And obviously MTV is a very small little bubble. I was actually reached out to because they had originally spoken to Anthony, who is one of my exes. And that's how I got involved.
How was your experience on the show?
It's tough to say because there's always those moments that you really really enjoy. And you can look back and you can laugh about and all that other stuff. But towards the end, it was actually one of the more difficult reality shows that I had ever filmed. I had the most exes in the house out of everybody, but I was the ex. I went through a lot more craziness and obviously, I could be a little bit crazy myself. But when all is said and done looking back, I always enjoy the experiences and am grateful for them, especially for MTV.
You went on the show hoping to rekindle things with your ex, Devin Walker, and things appeared to be going well until he brought out his infamous relationship scale. On the reunion episode, you mentioned that you felt 'disrespected' by it, can you tell us a little bit more about it?
For me, before anything else, I considered Devin as a very very good friend. I did have feelings for him more than that. But at the end of the day, I wanted to leave, regardless of whatever happened with having a friendship, which unfortunately didn't happen and it makes me upset.
But with the (relationship) scale, it was really about the fact that you know, we're on national television. You're supposed to be one of my really good friends. You know, it's not like we're on a secret date or one-on-one. There're cameras around us and all that other stuff and like even on his scale last night that he had drew out, I was at a six or seven. I was thinking about a relationship, which essentially he told me that I could potentially move up to which was a dig in itself. But don't ever call anyone a six, especially someone that you're very close to. I felt really embarrassed.
I knew that a lot of trolls and the people online would take it a certain type of way and they did. And I had to deal with a lot of shit after because he called me a six and it's not a very nice number. A six is basically right after a five and a five means basically nothing so you might as well give me a one.
Many fans felt that Shannon hooked up with Devin as a rebound from Anthony M, while Devin went out of his way to spite you or hurt you, and that’s why he hooked up with Shannon. Do you agree with that fan theory?
I don't believe that he went out of his way to spite me. I do believe that Devin is a showman. And there was a reason why you didn't see us for three episodes because we were on really good terms and then all of a sudden he switched. I honestly had the hope that the reason why he was so afraid to get close to me was because he did care about me.
I don't know, Shannon's not a girl's girl. You know, she's not someone that I would ever trust to be around my boyfriend. Before all that happened, we were very close in the house. I had even asked her if she was into Devin because I saw them starting to flirt and she told me no, so there was just a lot of things going on.
I felt disrespected by her. I definitely felt disrespected by him because, you know, if at the end of the day, if you want to be friends with someone, the end goal is to continue to be friends. And what I went through towards the end of that show, wasn't something that sits well with me as a friend.
Do you talk to Shannon now or are you ladies keeping your distance?
I tried to talk to Shannon after the show cause I really did want to be like a bigger person. 'Cause honestly, she goes around and she said I was bullying her in the house and all this stuff which is a complete lie because there're multiple scenes after all that happens that we're in the same room together.
Then at the end whenever you watch these shows again, all those feelings kind of come back to you. And it's one of the reasons why I'm no longer speaking to Devin. It hurts me, you know, I do miss him as a friend. I do think he's a hilarious person, but even watching the reunions again, it just hurts that someone I considered a friend is still going out of their way to make me look like an idiot.
What was your key takeaway from the show?
My takeaway from the show was that not everybody has the same heart as you. You know, often I'm very, very loyal. I protect my friends whether they're in front of me or they're not around at all. I stick up for my friends and too often, I expect people to return that kind of friendships, but they don't. So, my biggest takeaway is just to be more protective of my heart. I don't want to distrust people because I do like to be optimistic about humanity. But, sometimes when people show you who they are, you have to see who they are.
Will Devin and you rekindle your friendship, or has that door closed forever?
I don’t think any door has shut forever, that being said I'm not the one that's going to be making any type of effort to become good friends with him again. He's someone that I feel indifferent about at this point, but at the same time I do care about him. I like him as a person, so if we were in a room together, I wouldn't speak to him per se. But as a friend I don't trust him and I can't keep people that I don't trust in my circle. So it would be on him to say something.
And that's why I was so upset from the start because I figured that looking back on the show and all this other stuff that he would be empathetic to the way I felt. We had multiple conversations about it even the day before we went on stage. We went to a bar and we sat down, we had our own conversation. And, you know, we get on stage and all of a sudden, it's Marie, you're crazy kind of stuff. Again, that's not the type of people that anyone should have in their lives.