Ioulia Reynolds and Amanda Hansen both joined the second and final season of the Slice TV reality series. Ioulia Reynolds was known as the Russian bombshell and Hansen as the sober, single mother of three.
Their relationship was shaky on the hit reality series, but the two have revealed that ever since the cameras stopped rolling, the pair have become inseparable.
"We really didn't get along during filming. We had some good fights but we just got to be really good friends...like sisters," Amanda told ET Canada's reporter Erin Cebula. While Ioulia took things up a notch, adding, "I don't know where I would be without her. I owe her."
Since appearing on the show, Ioulia's life did a complete 180 — after divorcing her then husband, she made the decision to give up alcohol, a path to sobriety that Amanda helped her discover.
"I never knew that I had a problem," said Reynolds. "I thought this is how people live...upon me leaving my ex and my life falling apart a little but, I realized it comes down to me not being sober. Through Amanda putting the light to it, I was able to find it in myself [to get sober] and it's been the best decision I've ever made."
On the season 2 finale, we learned she left her husband. Since then, she's worked hard to pick up the pieces. She's gone back to school for graphic design and just completed her fitness training certificate and hopes to one day open her own fitness centre. In the process of rebuilding, Ioulia says she found herself, a new boyfriend, and God.
"Seeing myself as that persona made me want to change," she confessed. "I do not have the luxury or the things I did before. Of course it was a big change and it was difficult but I find myself happy because I actually found what's important on the inside, things I overlooked before."
During her time on the show, Amanda was open and honest about her road to recovery, but now she admits that the show fostered an environment was anything but conducive to her sober lifestyle and it caused some speed bumps in her sobriety .
"You put a bunch of women in this shark tank and people who have alcohol there as a coping mechanism — you [to Ioulia] drank your way through it, Ronnie drank her way through it — Lord knows I wanted to drink my way through it too. I ended up having issues afterwards with pills. It opened Pandora's box."
Amanda is now fully embracing her biker-chic persona. She spends her days riding her motorcycles, hanging out with her kids and girlfriends while she figures out her next move.
"I found the show was just something that wasn't me...I'm trying to figure out what I want from life," she said. "I'm single now. That's been interesting. It's been a series of dating disasters. There's not enough men in the city!"
The two say they don't really keep in touch with the other women , other than Ronnie, who they count amongst their best friends. The three are very close and attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings together. "It's like a sisterhood. We stick together," added.
As for the rest of their co-stars?
"There's lots of bad blood'" Amanda laughed. "Do I wish any of them bad? No, not at all. Would I ever want to hang out with them? Hell no!"
Source/Photo: ET Canada