Exclusive Interview
‘Temptation Island’s Sydney Breaks Down Mikey Split & Their Final Bonfire Drama
What To Know
- Sydney McGregor ended her relationship with Mikey Bivens at the final Temptation Island bonfire in Season 2.
- She left with tempter Xzavier Odom.
- Sydney reveals whether she had any lingering feelings for Mikey and how she felt about his claims that she “tricked” him into going on the show.
Sydney McGregor and Mikey Bivens were one of the couples to leave Temptation Island separately. Sydney suggested they go on the show for Mikey to prove that he could handle emotionally mature conversations — and that he was no longer a “player” like he was in the early days of their relationship. When Mikey eventually said he wanted to “shoot his shot” with a temptress, which Sydney saw at a bonfire, Sydney decided that their relationship was over.
At the final Season 2 bonfire, Sydney officially ended things with Mikey and left with tempter Xzavier Odom. Though she knew going into the conversation that she wouldn’t choose her boyfriend of a year and a half, Sydney told Swooon what she was feeling when she came face-to-face with him after weeks apart.
“The whole experience was actually crazy, and it was very shocking for me to walk into that moment knowing that I wasn’t going to leave with Mikey,” she said. “I won’t say that I was fully over him because there were still a lot of feelings there, but I knew the choice that I had to make for myself, and I knew that the person that I ultimately wanted to be with was Xzavier, regardless of any feelings I still had towards Mikey.”
Netflix
After Mikey said that he would pursue temptress India Kelly, Sydney started dating Xzavier, and some of the footage was shown to Mikey throughout the process. Mikey didn’t cross any physical lines with India or any other temptresses, though he watched Sydney kiss Xzavier in Episode 6’s bonfire. An episode later, after watching one of Sydney and Xzavier’s dates, Mikey said he felt like Sydney “tricked” him into going on the show.
“I feel like at some points [Mikey’s reaction] wasn’t real,” Sydney said, having already binged the entire season. “I think a lot of it was performative, but I think some of it, some of the different times, you can tell he was truly hurt. But Mikey was never like that when we were in a relationship. So, seeing the show was very shocking to me.”
She continued, “When he said that [I tricked him into going on the show], I was like, now you’re kind of attacking my character. And it’s like, we dated for a long time, and for you to be able to say that to me was kind of crazy because you know me as a person. You know how real I am, you know how genuine I am. So I really felt disrespected, and my feelings were hurt because of that.”
Sydney felt hurt when she watched Mikey share that sentiment with the girls in the villa. “The girls were like, ‘Oh, she makes you insecure as a man. She’s not a good person.’ And I’m like, ‘Whoa,'” she recalled. “That kind of really threw me off. Because I’m like, you know me. I’ve never been like that, so it really just… it did not make me feel good.”
Temptation Island, Season 2, Streaming Now, Netflix
