“Sommerhytta” Eli breaks up with Benjamin: A look into their relationship and life on the show

This spring, Eli Rebekka Haugen (24) and Benjamin Martinsen (25) impressed greatly with their creative sense and eye for detail during the intensive renovation work in the “Sommerhytta”.

In the first week, the handy couple did a near clean slate, and early on got the favorite stamp hanging over them. They still cannot boast that they knew what they were getting into.

– We hadn’t seen a single episode before we signed up! It was Benjamin’s sister who first tagged us in a post where they were looking for participants, because she knew that Benjamin had been buying a cabin with some friends just a few months earlier, Eli laughs heartily.

Nothing came of the cabin purchase, but now a golden opportunity appeared for the cabin dream to come true. One by one, the pieces fell into place, and all at once the young graphic designers were left as one of four couples who were going to challenge themselves on a “Summer cabin” adventure that is rare.

Also read: These are the participants in “Sommerhytta” 2023

Participating in “Sommerhytta”

We meet Eli and Benjamin at home in the apartment in the urban center of Oslo. Here they have created their own little green oasis in the middle of the city’s smörøye.

Large, green plants, classic details, clean lines and high ceilings give the immediate feeling of a modern home.

The fact that there is also a high ceiling between the creative couple came in handy when the relationship underwent the ultimate test of strength during intensive renovation days on the cabin field in Nordmarka.

– We actually never argue! I argue more with those at work than I argue with Eli. After four years as lovers, we know each other very well and are confident in each other.

– We have studied together, been colleagues, worked on group assignments, built a cabin together and lived together. But it cannot be avoided that in such a stressful and time-pressed situation as you are in during the “Sommerhytta”, disagreements also arise. It is the period we have discussed the most in our relationship, Benjamin admits.

It was in the idyllic Vestlandsbygden Volda that the love story of Eli and Benjamin began. Benjamin had actually applied from his hometown of Drøbak to a community college outside Ålesund, because he had fallen a little in love with another girl. It was not quite according to plan.

Instead, he fell for the beautiful area and showed up free and frank on the first day of school at Volda University College two years later. There the girl of my dreams appeared in the classroom on the first day of school.

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Meet in Volda

Eli allows himself to be fascinated by the coincidences that made it exactly the two of them.

– Fate is strange in that way. I dropped out of psychology studies in Trondheim to pursue my graphic design dream in Volda. There I met Benjamin, and at first we were just friends. We became part of the same group of friends and that was one of the reasons why I wanted to step forward a little cautiously. The height of the fall was so great that it wouldn’t work, explains Eli.

– I was the one who was most involved at the start. But it worked and we tried for a while to make it work. Then, just before Christmas, Eli said we couldn’t spend any more time together. Then it was a real heartbreak for me, Benjamin recalls.

It was a crazy Christmas that year. Eli traveled back to his family in Trondheim and Benjamin celebrated Christmas in Drøbak. There they sat and missed each other on opposite sides of the country.

– I panicked a bit. I was afraid of the consequences if it didn’t work. But during Christmas I missed him very much. I felt that he would never hurt me – he is as kind as a lamb. I’m probably very rational by nature, that’s what made it difficult. It felt more logical not to and meet. But after the New Year, I crawled to the cross…, Eli grins.

The girlfriend describes Benjamin as a family-oriented “Happy go lucky” type – in contrast to herself.

– I probably grew up in a more independent family, where you figure things out yourself and get home in the evening yourself. It has probably been very defining for who I am today. I figure things out on my own, perform – and don’t ask for help, explains the 24-year-old.

Read also: (+) He was the man of my dreams, but he was married. I wanted children, so I made a plan…

Cut out alcohol

Benjamin reveals that an unconventional choice such as participating in a reality project such as “Sommerhytta” is completely in line with his philosophy of life.

– I have always been a person who chooses to go a different way than most people. Whether it was the choice of folk college, the fact that I have started my own business, the “Sommerhytta” participation or that I chose to cut out alcohol three years ago, says Benjamin.

It was after a damp May 17 celebration that Benjamin made the choice to abstain from alcohol. It began as a social experiment and evolved into a personal journey.

– I had a desire to work with myself. Among other things, I wanted to become more comfortable talking and socializing with people without alcohol needing to be involved. It’s nice to think that today I don’t need alcohol to let me loose – it’s a mastery in that!

– I don’t need to drink even if everyone else does, points out Benjamin, and adds that he has tasted a few glasses of wine with his food in the last six months, but then he also stops with one.

Also read: Espen PA Lervaag: – I’ve been scolded a lot because I still drink alcohol

Was exhausted

Where Eli often needs to withdraw a little to process impressions, Benjamin is very extroverted. Even during the “Sommerhytta” recordings, where they were recommended by the programme’s psychologist to lie down horizontally during their free weekends, the body of the youngster from Drøbak tingled.

There were hours of frisbee golf, which in retrospect he sees he should have steered clear of.

– I trained hard five times a week in advance of the recordings, in order to be in shape to withstand the stresses of intensive renovation for ten weeks. It was probably crucial for the body to withstand the drive. At the start, I felt that I had more energy to give, and therefore also went on weekends. But I would regret that later, Benjamin shakes his head in despair.

– The body has never creaked as much as during that period. We had chronically swollen hands and I had a little finger that almost stopped working. We got fairly exhausted eventually, but that obviously applied to everyone, says Eli.

Wear and tear and hard roofs notwithstanding, the couple had done it again. The spontaneous “Sommerhytta” experience has given them friends for life and precious experiences to take with them into adulthood.

– We have been on both a cabin trip and a Christmas party together with the rest of the gang after “Sommerhytta”, and we are in regular contact. We are all quite similar as people, and eventually became a close-knit group, who wish each other all the best.

– It has been good to have someone to lean on, who has had many of the same experiences as us. It was undoubtedly a unique bubble to be in, the down-to-earth couple admits.

This case was first published 05/06 2023, and last updated 06/06 2023