WHO: Tonight’s rose ceremony is huge, with Eden picking Elora and Michael picking Lisa out of the blew. How was the atmosphere that night?
NINA: Look it was pretty intense, it’s definitely the most intense situation that I’ve been in in Paradise and you could just sort of see on everyone’s faces… the guys’ faces were thinking ‘What the hell is going on?’ and the girls’ faces are just thinking ‘Far out we’re on the receiving end of this. What’s going to happen next?’ It’s a bizarre thing to even explain but no one actually knew what was going to happen.
WHO: Were you shocked by Eden’s decision?
NINA: Of course I was. I was completely blindsided, I was heartbroken, I was shattered, I was upset, I was just completely thrown by the whole thing.
WHO: Have you spoken to him since leaving Paradise?
NINA: We’ve had limited contact. We certainly didn’t speak to each other for quite a few months after returning back to Australia and when we do, I guess for me it still hurts quite a lot so it’s hard for me to have a conversation with him and not bring back emotions.
WHO: The way the show has been playing out on air makes Daniel seem like a puppet master who was playing you, Keira and Laurina. Did it feel like that at the time?
NINA: It definitely didn’t. I think I spent probably the most time with Daniel out of anybody because we got to have that single date and in that single date, we got to spend a lot of time off camera due to the situation that we weren’t able to cross the river and go to where the date was actually planned to go, so in all of that came a lot of time that we got to spend together and he’s really not that person. He’s such a deep, intellectual person and we connected on so many levels so it is really such a shame that Australia didn’t get to see the real Daniel.
WHO: You told Grant that you were looking forward to contacting Daniel when you left the island. Have you been in contact with him?
NINA: Yeah, so I did. I reached out to Daniel and let him know that I had been eliminated from the show and we have stayed in constant contact pretty much every day since then.
WHO: From the outside, it seems like everyone is waiting for the next person to arrive before they commit and there’s a bit of game playing going on. Did you find that to be true?
It’s really hard because it’s sort of the first time Bachelor In Paradise has happened in Australia and no one really knew what to expect and I think at the beginning it really was this ‘Let’s find someone to connect with and let’s be really open to it’ and then you do start making genuine connections and then all of a sudden the game playing kind of started midway and so I think no one really knew what was going on or what they were meant to do because it’s such a new concept that when you weren’t making genuine connections I think that’s when you sort of turn to a game plan.
WHO: How did you find your overall experience in Paradise?
NINA: It was incredible. It was the most amazing experience that I’ve probably ever had. It was a beautiful location, a beautiful cast, like I’ve made some incredible, incredible friendships. It does open you up to the possibilities of meeting someone who is likeminded and has shared this really unique experience. I think it’s definitely more genuine than a Bachelor or Bachelorette because you have choice, you get to decide who you want to spend your day with and who you want to have dinner with, or breakfast or go paddle boarding with. You’ve got that choice and it was an incredible experience.
WHO: We were going to ask if you made any new friends during filming…
NINA: A hundred percent! I was the only one from my season of The Bachelor who was there so I actually didn’t know really anybody. I knew Michael; we were on the same year of Bachelor and Bachelorette and both from Brisbane so we had met back in 2015 at events and things like that and Lisa and I actually go way back; we both grew up on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland but I literally did not… had never met anybody that was there so for me I’ve made some long-lasting friendships.
WHO: Are you happy that you stuck to your guns in Paradise and didn’t force yourself to kiss anyone before you were ready?
NINA: Absolutely! In that situation I think it’s really easy to get caught up in the hype of it and the moment and you know, it’s a really beautiful, romantic setting and there are definitely opportunities that intimacy can happen very easily but for me, it was really important that I shared that first kiss with the person that I could really see myself continuing a relationship outside of Paradise and I established that on day one, it was spoken about quite heavily, a lot of people were asking me if I was going to break my Guinness World Record for the world’s longest kiss and that’s where I really thought about it and decided that you know what, that first kiss is so important to me and I want that moment to be really special with who I choose to share that with so that’s sort of where those values came from.
WHO: If you had your time on the island again, would you do anything differently?
NINA: I think my feelings for Eden were so true and so genuine and I think even if I did it all again and you know, potentially could have had something with Daniel, I still think that maybe I would have stuck to Eden. He is someone that I could have seen a relationship outside of Paradise with and that was something I really wanted to explore with him.
WHO: Are you currently dating anyone?
NINA: I’m not, I’m very much single and I’m looking forward to my first weekend as a single woman (laughs).