Themba Khosa has become one of the most talked-about participants on Married at First Sight South Africa Season 2, but not for reasons of romance.
His ex-fiancé, Sponono Radebe, has come forward with explosive revelations that have thrown his on-screen marriage to Nelisa Ntabeni into chaos and left viewers reeling.
Blindsided by Khosa’s deception
Speaking on popular Engineer Your Life podcast, hosted by professional engineer and motivational speaker Lungelo KM, Radebe revealed that she was blindsided by her lover’s decision to join the show. She only discovered his application when she stumbled upon emails on his laptop.
“I didn’t know he applied. I only found out in December, maybe early January. When I saw emails from the show saying he was going to the next stage. He never consulted me. He just went ahead,” Radebe said.
The couple were staying together for 11 years and had two kids together. According to her, Khosa reassured her it was nothing serious.
“He told me it was like a six-week deployment. He said after the show he would come back home. And he made me believe nothing would happen. I trusted him.”
Changed after joining series
But within the first weeks of filming, things changed. Calls went unanswered, arguments erupted. And Khosa later admitted during counselling sessions on the show that he no longer saw a future with Radebe.
“I wrote to the show a week into the shooting because he wasn’t the same man anymore. Suddenly he was saying he had received counselling and that our relationship couldn’t continue. That broke me,” she recalled.
The biggest shock came when Radebe agreed to what she believed was a mediation meeting. Only to discover Khosa’s family had already accepted his new TV wife.
“That was never part of the agreement. I was blindsided. His mother denied he was in another relationship, but I can’t blame her. He’s the favourite child. Whatever he says, she follows,” Radebe explained.
No hard feelings towards new TV wife
Despite the betrayal, Radebe insists she holds no ill will towards Khosa’s on-screen partner. “She is innocent. She was lied to, just like me. We’re both victims of a man we loved dearly. We loved a version of him that doesn’t exist.”
Looking back, she says the man she was engaged to and the man on TV are unrecognisable.
“He’s living as if the show is his reality. I don’t know him anymore. He’s not the man I spent years with.”
Her shocking account adds yet another layer of drama to a season already overflowing with twists. And it raises tough questions about the blurred line between reality TV and real life.
