TV

MAFS bride Cyrell Jimenez reveals why her brother Ivan is so overprotective

He's had to interfere on more than one occasion...
Married at First Sight MAFS Cyrell Jimenez

For Cyrell Jimenez and her new husband Nic Jovanovic, the road to their wedding on Married at First Sight has been far from smooth.

From Nic’s heartbreaking cancer diagnosis and treatment, to Cyrell’s broken engagement, the pair joined the experiment looking for someone to love.

During the first episode, we met a third person in their new marriage – Cyrell’s straight-shooting, over-protective and somewhat overbearing brother Ivan.

WATCH: Married at First Sight’s Nic comes face-to-face with his new wife’s brother at the wedding.

Loading the player...

After initially refusing to come to the wedding, Ivan reluctantly turned up to “support” his sister. But he was far from supportive, trying to talk her out of the marriage on the car ride to the venue, and interrupting loudly during the ceremony.

Coupled with an extremely awkward and confronting one-one-one between Ivan and his new “brother-in-law” during the wedding reception, which you can watch in the player above, fans of the hit show were left feeling a little angsty towards the older Jimenez brother.

But according to Cyrell herself, Ivan has good reason for his behaviour.

Cyrell and Ivan have a fiery relationship.

Sitting down with Now to Love, Cyrell talked about her brother and where this particular “protective” trait comes from.

“He’s that way because of my past dating life,” Cyrell revealed. “I’ve dated some real jerks and there have been instances where I’ve had boyfriends and my brother has had to interfere.

“Let’s just say I definitely know how to pick em!” she admitted.

WATCH NEXT: Ivan tells Cyrell that her marriage will fail!

Loading the player...

According to the health fund consultant, there was one particular boyfriend that Ivan “just could not stand”.

“There was a bit of drama with that one,” she said. “He’s a lot like me, he has a fire in him and you don’t want to mess with that!”

“We’re very headstrong people with strong hearts,” the 29-year-old admitted. “I look up to him for a reason, especially for his bravery. He’s been through some really tough times.”

Ivan confronts Nic outside in one of the most awkward encounters on MAFS ever.

Cyrell knows that Ivan’s actions will probably rub people up the wrong way, but also thinks that she and her brother are quite similar.

“He has a fire in him and you don’t want to mess with that!” she said. “We used to joke that he was “Parramatta’s most wanted” and now he’s going to be “Australia’s most wanted!”

All jokes aside, Cyrell really does care what her brother thinks, especially after her dating track record.

“I did always say from the very beginning of the experiment that I’m not a woman who has struggled finding men, just keeping them,” she said.

Despite the drama brought by Ivan, Cyrell and Nic seem to be off to a good start.

In fact, Cyrell was engaged for two years before her fiancé began cheating on her and then two months after her engagement ended, she fell head-over-heels with another man.

“The guy that I started dating two months after my engagement, I would say that he was the one that really owned my heart and broke it,” she revealed.

“I’m more the alpha female and domineering in a relationship and there’s never been a guy that can control that, and he was someone that my own family saw change me.

“I stopped speaking to people and acted differently. No one else has been able to do that and while I’m not saying that’s a good thing, no one else had ever had that type of control over me. At the time, he pretty much owned me.”

Cyrell, pictured here with her mum, Rosanna, is looking for “mr right.”

After a string of terrible relationships, Cyrell decided to apply for the show.

“Both these exes were the reason I applied for the show. Being cheated on and not getting the man I wanted, made me want to join the experiment.

“I was very lost as an individual. I’m the type of woman that knows what I want and for a few months there, I had no idea who I was. I was such a lost case, like a rolling stone with no direction,” she admitted.

“My friend tagged me on Facebook and said, ‘given your track record, I think this is your best chance’, and I remember completing the application and thinking that I had done everything from the heart.

“Everything was absolutely meant from the heart.”

Related stories