Bachelor In Paradise Australia is set to be the most dramatic Bachie season so far thanks to the return of The Bachelor’s Richie Strahan and ex-girlfriend Alex Nation.
Their reunion has already been teased the longest unedited segment in Australian reality television history and now Alex is giving us the backstory opening up about her split with Richie. For the uninitiated, the pair met in 2016 on The Bachelor and quickly fell in love in front of millions of viewers. However, their love was left under heavy public scrutiny earlier this year following a strained appearance at the 2017 Logies in April and they were reported to have split up sometime around June. Then, Alex stepped out with her new love, Maegan Luxa, in August
Speaking to 90.9 Sea FM’s Heather, Dan & Ben show, Alex was holding nothing back.
“They actually told me that Richie declined three times,” Alex said when asked if she knew her former love was likely to appear.
Speaking of the moment she is shown reacting with surprise about the presence of her ex, Alex was asked if it was all a big “stich up”.
“That is the moment I clocked him,” she recalled. “They said I was in the clear”
The 31-year-old continued: “I said I didn’t want to see him again on those terms and in that kind of environment, and they said he’s declined, we don’t think he’s interested.
“But, apparently, 48 hours before flying out to Fiji he [changed his mind].”
Watch Alex explain her split with Richie below:
So what does Richie have to say about the break-up? That it was incredibly hard on him, though he doesn’t regret his appearance on the hit dating show.
According to reports, Strahan was devastated when Nation was photographed kissing Meghan Luxa, the star opened up for the first time in a new interview with New Idea, revealing: “The months leading up to it were the most difficult, crazy and confusing times I’ve been put through. Having something wonderful dissolve the way it did was heartbreaking, but at the same time, there was a lot of relief that the emotional roller-coaster was finally over.”
When asked why the relationship broke down, Richie said this was a “tough question” and revealed “I guess the brightest spark can fizzle fast. We made some bad choices back in June and our relationship really struggled to recover for months after. It didn’t matter how much effort I put into it – sometimes these things are destined to fail.”
This article originally appeared on InStyle Australia.
