It’s official, Irena has won the final rose on Locky Gilbert’s eighth season of The Bachelor Australia.
Taking place in the gorgeous landscape of the Hunter Valley, the 31-year-old nurse and Locky declared their love for one another surrounded by an array of floral bouquets fit for any fairy tale.
Despite Locky’s inability to choose between both Irena and Bella looking to spell trouble, he went on to not only choose Irena, but he also professed his love for her in a very sweet speech.
“Irena, every time I’m with you, you just grab my hand,” he said. “When I’m with you, I feel so calm and comfortable, it’s a pretty new feeling for me.”
“I know you’re going to make a beautiful girlfriend wife and package, however, my biggest fear is you won’t be able to tell me no… but I think you’ve got that in spades. Irena, I’m so in love with you… I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”
Dressed in a stunning floor-length animal print gown, Irena also professed her love to Locky in a heartfelt speech, saying, “I love you, you make me so happy”.
Shortly after the finale aired, Locky took to Instagram to confirm he and Irena are still together.
“I have always listened to my heart and it has lead me to this point. As hard as it was to say good bye. I was also saying hello to my future wife, baby mumma and best friend,” he wrote in a post featuring a photo of them from the episode.
“I cannot wait to spend the rest of my life with you. Here is to one crazy adventure and so so many more with you babe.”
Spending the entire season as the betting favourite, Irena’s win came as no surprise to fans who had been predicted that she would take out the top spot.
Midway through the series, Irena seemingly hinted at their happy ending, which reality TV podcast So Dramatic! saw when she responded to a fan comment on Instagram.
“I hope we get some more love story and less of the drama—I have stopped watching for now,” a fan commented on a post.
In response, Irena wrote: “The love story is coming I promise,” which was accompanied by a smiling face with love-heart emoji.
Earlier on finale night, suspicions that Irena was the surefire winner also arose when it was pointed out that Locky’s pocket square matched her leopard-print dress, and not Bella’s purple gown.
Well, we got there in the end! Congratulations to Irena and Locky!
