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 never, ever, ever saw anything romantic on his end towards her. I was truly shocked [they got back together],” the “Love Island USA” star told Page Six exclusively — just days before the “Summer House” couple announced their engagement.
“The way he had looked at her when we were together was not the way that I would want to be looked at,” she continued. “It was the most platonic look of all time. It was not romantic. But you know what? They seem incredibly happy and good on them.”
Though Dipman, 26, wishes the spouses-to-be nothing but the best, she admits her abrupt breakup from Radke, 37, left her blindsided. He claimed he had to focus on his sobriety as a single man, but got back together with Hubbard, 36, shortly after the split.
“The answer that I was given, I don’t know that it was honest because of the fact he quickly was in a relationship with Lindsay after,” the “Out of His League” podcast host recounted.
“He used that as a reason to end things right after I booked a plane ticket to go see him for [the] prom [party on ’Summer House’]. So, I got asked to prom and then I got broken up with over the phone with very spontaneously with very little explanation,” she elaborated. “Then I find out a few weeks later that he’s dating Lindsay, who we had spent a lot of time with.”
Dipman claimed Radke never gave her a heads-up about his reignited romance with Hubbard. (The Bravolebrities previously gave dating a shot during the summer of 2016.)
“I will say I was surprised that I never got any text message saying, ‘Hey, so Lindsay and I are together,’” the blond bombshell told us.
“I don’t get a single message like, ‘Hey, hope you’re doing OK,’ I think it says a lot about his feelings towards me and how genuine it may have been on his end. But I will say it was an amazing time while I was in it — even if the months following were very confusing for me.”
The model said her six-week relationship with Radke gave her a “new perspective” on love — and deterred her from dating for an entire year.
“I did a lot of soul searching after,” she said. “But I do feel like I am very ready for when I do find love again.”
Reinvigorated in her search for Mr. Right, she returned to “Love Island USA” for Season 4 and sought out a connection with Chad Robinson. Once Robinson made his feelings for fellow Islander Phoebe Siegel known, though, Dipman was happy to dip out on her own volition.
“I was happy to leave. I formed so many great friendships in such a short amount of time,” she said. “I didn’t find love, but I felt like I found myself.”
Part of Dipman’s self-discovery includes a more thorough approach to dating.
“I caution all my girlfriends about these false senses of intimacy of when you get really, really close with someone really quickly and just to be aware that it might be a flash in a [pan],” she explained. “It might not be sustainable. That’s why, moving forward, I’m definitely going to build that friendship and really get to know them.”
Dipman memorably spent the majority of her “Love Island USA” Season 2 run coupled up with Connor Trott.
After Trott’s exit from the Peacock (formerly CBS) reality series, the pair reunited and pursued an off-camera relationship in late 2020. However, they called it quits by March 2021.
Dipman told Page Six that much of her relationship with Radke mirrored the accelerated bliss she experienced during her first stint on the dating show.
“Our first date, we went to a Yankees game, then we walked all over [New York City], then we went to dinner, then we went and got ice cream and then we sat on a rooftop. So we did all of that in one date. But that was how our dates were,” she noted.
“It was just straight out of a movie. The length of time that we were together wasn’t very long. But I will say when we were in person together, it felt like it was going places.”
The “Love Island USA” Season 4 reunion premieres Thursday, Sept. 1, at 9 p.m. ET on Peacock.