Mark Estes admits he felt butterflies in his stomach before his first date with Kristin Cavallari.
“I feel like any first date, I was definitely a little nervous,” the athlete, who makes up one-third of the popular TikTok group Montana Boyz, only told Page Six in a new interview. “But yeah, it was great, and yeah, I would say there was instant chemistry right away.”
Estes formally invited the “Laguna Seashore” alum for the first time on Feb. 13, just before Valentine’s Day. The two haven’t been shy about showing their love for each other since then – whether in public or otherwise, on social media or in countless interviews.
“She’s super confident,” the content creator said of Cavallari, who shares children Camden, 11, Jaxon, 9, and Saylor, 8, with ex-husband Jay Cutler. “Clearly she is beautiful. She is also an amazing person and a great mother. So yeah, pretty much the complete package.”
Estes was joined in the interview by Montana Boyz bandmates Kaleb Winterburn and Kade “Cutter” Wilcox. Winterburn told us she also felt “instant” chemistry between Estes and Cavallari when they met in real life for the first time during a group date in Nashville, Tennessee, in January.
“At first, walking around her, I was like, ‘Damn, this is crazy,’” he recalled, with Wilcox adding, “She’s super cool in person.”
Estes and Cavallari first connected through Instagram last fall after the “Hills” alum found the Montana Boyz on his “For You” TikTok page in September 2023.
The Unusual James founder acquired a DM from the trio’s IG account that said “I like you,” which Cavallari later discovered was from his “favorite,” Estes.
Winterburn told Page Six that he remembers his friend being elated to see Cavallari’s response.
“He was just excited,” Winterburn said of Estes. “He mustered up the courage to do it and then did it by mistake (instead of on his own). Then she noticed and he was quite ecstatic the next day.”
Estes, 24, and Cavallari, 37, finally began their relationship in February while vacationing together in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
While many followers praised the reality star for showing off her new boyfriend at the time, others took to the comments section to weigh in on their 13-year age difference.
“You definitely have to block it out, just have tunnel vision; have a vision of where we’re going and what we want to do in the future,” said Estes in response to any kind of criticism he and the Montana Boyz receive online. “So we don’t let that basically get in the way.”
As for Winterburn and Wilcox? They told us they’re enjoying life until the “right” person comes along — noting that they’ve also had a few celebrities slide through their DMs.
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“I mean, yeah, we’ve definitely been taking some photos,” Winterburn confessed, bursting into laughter.
“We got a few DMs,” Wilcox added. “But we can’t go any further in any name… we’re definitely single.”
Before finding fame on TikTok, the three boys were athletes who played high school football together at Montana Technical College. They also told us they enjoyed hunting, fishing, and participating in “basic Montana issues” that were emerging.
“I definitely don’t think we were thinking about ‘surely being famous on TikTok’ at all,” joked Wilcox, when asked about what they were like in high school and if they earned any superlatives.
“We’re idiots, that’s for sure,” Winterburn added.
Estes, Winterburn and Wilcox told Page Six that the creation of the Montana Boyz — who now have nearly 750,000 followers on TikTok and 238,000 on Instagram — actually occurred by “accident” when they were participating in a consumer game called Beer Die. at school.
“Cutter got his cell phone out and said, ‘Hey guys, let’s do a TiKTok.’ It got a bunch of views and we were like, ‘Alright, let’s put more of these out,’ and it kind of turned into what it is now,” Winterburn recalled of her first lip-sync clips.
“It was actually pure happiness,” he added of their response to finding out their first video had gone viral. “It was the first time all our phones exploded. We thought, ‘Oh, this is addictive.’”
The Montana Boyz have since moved to Nashville, a short drive from where Cavallari lives in Franklin, Tennessee. Winterburn admitted that the move was “a cultural surprise, for sure,” but told us that they are “having fun” together as a group and meeting new individuals.
“Nashville was the closest thing to the Montana lifestyle and clearly to country music,” explained Estes. “It kind of fits our whole vibe of what’s on our platform and why we’re taking photos.”
As far as the future goes, the Montana Boyz hope to expand their TikTok by showcasing “more personality and humor” in their videos while also selling Belmont Acres, their new clothing brand that provides a portion of profits to farmers in Montana.
They told us they would also be interested in getting into reality TV someday — perhaps something specializing in search season — and wouldn’t be against joining a competition show like “Dancing With the Stars.”
“I don’t know how long we would last! (But) yes, we would try. I hope to try all those kinds of things,” Winterburn said, with Wilcox adding, “I think if we had the right, we could get there.”
