When Mackenzie Dipman dated Carl Radke in the summer of 2021, she had no idea his feelings for now-fiancée Lindsay Hubbard would return.
“I’ve never, never, ever seen anything romantic on his part to her. I was really shocked [they got back together]’, the ‘Love Island USA’ star told Vidak For Congress exclusively – just days before the ‘Summer House’ couple announced their engagement.
“The way he looked at her when we were together wasn’t the way I would like me to be looked at,” she continued. “It was the most platonic look of all time. It wasn’t romantic. But you know what? They seem incredibly happy and good to them.”
While Dipman, 26, wishes the husband-to-be nothing but the best, she admits her abrupt breakup with Radke, 37, has taken her by surprise. He claimed he needed to focus on his sobriety as a single man, but got back together with Hubbard, 36, shortly after the split.
“The answer I got, I don’t know if it was fair, because he was in a relationship with Lindsay quickly after that,” the podcast host told “Out of His League”.
“He used that as a reason to end business right after I booked a plane ticket to go see him… [the] ball [party on ’Summer House’]. So I was asked to the prom and then it was very spontaneously broken up over the phone with very little explanation,” she explained. “And then a few weeks later I find out that he’s in a relationship with Lindsay, who we had spent a lot of time with.”
Dipman claimed Radke never gave her any warning about his renewed romance with Hubbard. (The Bravolebrities previously gave a chance to date in the summer of 2016.)
“I’ll say I was surprised I never got a text saying ‘Hey, so Lindsay and I are together,'” the blonde bombshell told us.
“I don’t get any message like, ‘Hey, I hope you’re okay’. I think it says a lot about his feelings for me and how sincere it may have been on his part. But I’ll say it’s a great time was when I was in it – even if the months that followed were very confusing for me.”
The model said her six-week relationship with Radke gave her a “new perspective” on love — and kept her from dating for an entire year.
“I’ve done a lot of soul research,” she said. “But I feel like I’m all set when I find love again.”
Revived in her search for Mr. Right, she returned to “Love Island USA” for season 4 and sought a connection with Chad Robinson. Once Robinson made known his feelings for fellow islander Phoebe Siegel, Dipman was happy to leave of his own accord.
“I was happy to leave. I’ve built so many great friendships in such a short time,” she says. “I didn’t find love, but it felt like I found myself.”
Part of Dipman’s self-discovery involves a more thorough approach to dating.
“I warn all my girlfriends about these false feelings of intimacy of when you interact with someone very, very quickly and just to realize that it can be a flash in an instant. [pan],” she explained. “Maybe it won’t last. That’s why I’m definitely going to build that friendship in the future and really get to know them.”
Dipman memorably spent most of her “Love Island USA” Season 2 in tandem with Connor Trott.
Following Trott’s departure from the Peacock (formerly CBS) reality series, the couple reunited and pursued an off-camera relationship in late 2020. However, they stopped in March 2021.
Dipman told Vidak For Congress that much of her relationship with Radke reflected the accelerated bliss she experienced during her first stint on the dating show.
“Our first date, we went to a Yankees game, and then we walked everywhere [New York City]Then we went to eat, then we went to get ice cream and then we sat on a roof. So we all did that in one date. But that was how our dates were,” she noted.
“It was just straight out of a movie. The time we were together was not very long. But I will say that when we were together in person, it felt like it was going somewhere.”
The Season 4 reunion of “Love Island USA” will premiere Thursday, September 1, at 9 p.m. ET on Peacock.