We reckon every woman in Australia related to Laura O’Loughlin when she went in for a kiss and was shut down by Jimmy Nicholson.
But the most recent Bachelor eliminee reveals she was more upset about the prospect of telling her fellow contestants about not getting a kiss rather than Jimmy’s action.
In an exclusive chat with WHO, the speech pathologist shares what really went through her head on that single date, what she makes of the whole Jay “runner-up” scandal and how she’s gone on to find a new man outside the mansion.
Congrats on making it through the Bachelor experience! How does it feel now it’s all over?
I’m definitely relieved! As bad as that sounds, I’m so glad it’s over because obviously it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster having to watch it back knowing I don’t come out at the end of it. I don’t do well on the rollercoaster, let’s put it that way so there’s definitely a sense of relief there and excitement to watch the rest of it and see who actually comes out at the end. I’m so excited to be able to keep watching and not deal with my face anymore!
You were particularly close with Jay and Ash. Are you backing one of them for the win?
I think my money was on Jay for sure when I left but watching back I don’t know as it’s all going in different directions. I really have no idea who it’s going to be but I definitely saw him and Jay as the most compatible. She deserves it.
As a close friend of Jay’s, what did you make of the claim that she said she’d rather be the runner-up to further her career?
Didn’t buy it for a second! I think there may have been something that Tahnee thinks she heard that’s been misconstrued quite heavily. I don’t know if you’ve seen Jay’s Instagram but she’s not the influencer type – she’s really dorky, she’s like that aunty who posts lame cute posts and she doesn’t have that aesthetic grid. That’s my opinion, knowing Jay and knowing the kind of person she is. I’m just trying to be impartial here – maybe Tahnee did hear something but I genuinely don’t believe Jay said ‘I’m here for the followers’.
You said how putting yourself out there was really hard. What was the toughest part of your Bachelor experience?
Definitely the single date, that was really tough. I think I was very vulnerable on that date and there was a lot you didn’t see and a lot I talked about with him that was quite full on. The part about me talking about my past relationships made the cut and that was really hard to hear back, I didn’t realise how sad it sounded! I think Australia found the whole thing very relatable and I really appreciated all of that support online after that horrible crap. I did open up a lot to him about my ex, my nonna and my nonno and my brother who has autism who was the reason I did speech pathology.
Obviously not everything is going to make the cut but I got very vulnerable with him about all of these sorts of things. He did give me a rose and it was really nice but I did feel a lot of pressure to go for a kiss because that’s just what had been done and every other girl did it. I was like ‘There’s only a couple of us left, I kind of have to kiss him, don’t I?’ You could see how awkward I was, I was looking around at the cameras and the producers for help so when I went for it he could sense that pressure I was feeling and he didn’t want me to feel that. He was really reassuring and said ‘I do want to kiss you but not like this’. He did back himself a fair bit with what he was saying, it made a lot of sense and he wanted to take the experience a little more seriously. I think he knew he was coming off a bit frivolous because he was kissing everybody. Even though watching back it looks like he was just not interested in me, he was so reassuring in that moment and I was fine about it.
I got more upset at the thought of going home to a bunch of gals and telling them that we didn’t kiss and deal with their judgement. When you saw that little snippet of me going off into a room, that was what I was really upset about so the hardest moment was that night. But I bounced back, I always do!
We’ve had some interesting group dates this season. Which was your favourite?
Obviously my favourite was the school day. You could see the excitement in my face because up until this point all the dates had been so physical. I loved that date – I was frantically writing rebuttals as they were happening, I was so into it and you could see I’d done this before. I actually wrote all three of our arguments and had a game plan so it was really funny, you could see how serious I was about it. And it paid off because I won! The water park was actually really fun too, I thought I’d have a terrible time and was freaking out that my foot would touch a fish but it was actually really fun.
There’s been a lot of buzz about what Holly was like in the mansion. What was your relationship with her like?
Holly definitely had her friends in the house and I had my friends in the house and they were not the same group. It’s a very unique experience and naturally you’re going to form really close friendships and you might also meet people that you don’t vibe with and that you steer clear of, that’s all you can really do. I was really lucky that I met some really amazing friends that will remain really close friends.
WATCH BELOW: Jimmy Nicholson meets Holly Kingston on The Bachelor. Post continues after video…
Would you ever do reality TV again?
I think maybe The Bachelor wasn’t the best experience for me – it was a very spontaneous decision and I was single at the time so it just made sense. I’m also renovating a house and love renos so I’m like ‘Why didn’t you go on The Block Laura, you fool!’ I think if I were to do reality TV again it wouldn’t be a love competition – it was way too many feels and way too much emotional investment. If it was offered to me on a silver platter I’d go for it, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to do it.
So does this mean you’re not single anymore?
I have found myself a man, it’s obviously early stages as I only got out of the mansion four months ago but it’s going really well. He’s a carpenter which is really handy with the house renovation – much more useful than a pilot, sorry Jimmy!
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