Booted Bachelor contestant Lisa Carlton knows exactly who wins Matty J’s heart, but she’s only prepared to hint which girls make up the top three.
“Of all the girls who are left—there’s six of them—I was honestly quite close to most,” she tells marie claire.
“Laura and Elise, they’re some of my besties. Tara, I wasn’t close to at the start because she was good friends with Jen, but that faded quite quickly. I would say those three—I think they’re the ones to watch.”
When she failed to score a rose on Thursday night’s episode, Lisa was a bit emotional. But the tears weren’t for Matty J.
“I wasn’t sad that there was nothing between me and Matty, it was more that I was upset because I was leaving the whole experience and it was all coming to an end. I was leaving the girls who I had literally spent two months with,” she says.
Unlike Simone, who admitted she prefers a more “rugged” man, Lisa says Matty J is actually her type.
“Matty is honestly a great guy, I can’t say a bad thing about him. It’s difficult that you’re trying to get to know someone while they’re trying to get to know 20 other girls as well. I felt as though I didn’t have much time with him.”
Lisa admits she wasn’t devastated that she didn’t find love on the show.
“I was never desperate going into the house, I purely applied because it came up on my Facebook profile and I was like, “F**k it, why not?'” she recounts.
“I didn’t think anything of it, and nek minute I got a call and I’m in The Bachelor house and it all fell into place.”
The Elora kissing controversy
On Thursday night’s episode, the contestants were put off by Elora’s eagerness to score a kiss with Matty—just metres away from his other ‘girlfriends’.
“I didn’t even know that it had happened and it wasn’t until [Elora] had come back from her chat with Matty when she was acting a bit weird,” Lisa reveals. “She seemed a bit embarrassed and stopped talking and had this weird look on her face.
“She finally told us and I don’t think anyone really felt sorry for her, it was like, ‘That sucks, that’s embarrassing.’”
Lisa also spoke out about the rumours that Matty and Elora spent the night together in the Blue Mountains.
“Of course it was speculated but of course nothing would have happened,” she says. “I think that’s just people gossiping, being like, ‘Did he sleep with someone?’ But no way.”
But would the contestants have actually known if it did happen?
“I think we would have known, but I know that it wouldn’t have happened,” Lisa says. “Whoever went on that date, I don’t think Matty’s the type of guy who would sleep with a girl who he hasn’t ended up with. He’s not an arsehole.”
Was Matty really like a brother?
“That comment was just totally blown into something bigger,” Lisa says about the drama stirred up by Jen. “I was in the car and someone said something like, ‘Are you excited to see Matty?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, I feel like I’m going to see my brother,’ or something. What I meant by it was that I felt comfortable around Matty and would speak to him as I would speak to my brother or any other male friend that I had.”
While she initially felt a “spark” with Matty, their connection eventually fizzled out.
“By the end, I was just kind of like, ‘Dude, why am I still here, I feel like I don’t really know you. There’s no point in you keeping me around because there are six other girls who really have feelings for you and I’m 10 steps behind them.’”
Dating since The Bachelor
Lisa knew many fans considered her a frontrunner during the early stages of the competition, so kept a low profile. And that included no dating.
“I haven’t even been out for coffee with any of my guy mates just because I don’t want anything to be speculated,” she explains.
Lisa says she’s open to finding love, but she won’t be downloading dating apps like Tinder anytime soon. She won’t accept an offer to be the Bachelorette, either.
“No from me,” she laughs. “Oh my God, no! I would be so boring!”
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