Fresh from their first official date together (they spent it in a hotel room watching the Bachie finale and getting through “a couple of bottles of wine”), the happy couple sat down for a chat (read: grilling) on the truth behind the rumours swirling about their relationship – and their not-so-secret past.
First up, those pre-show meeting rumours. Did they or didn’t they? Laura jumps in to answer the question – “Not true!” – before Matty offers up his slightly more accurate response. “We had bumped into each other at the sauna in Icebergs – we were at the sauna at the same time. But we never spoke.”
Laura then comes clean: “I noticed him and I was like, ‘who’s that guy?’ and my friend, who is Bachelor obsessed, told me who he was,” she admits. “I’d never actually watched the show before, so I had no idea who he was.”
“Because we live so close to each other, we’d had so many sliding doors moments where we should have met but didn’t,” she adds.
Before our interview, Matty told the Daily Telegraph he wished he could have ditched the 20 other girls on that very first episode and chosen Laura right away. When asked how he thinks Elise and Tara might react to that statement, he’s quick to clarify that he means “in hindsight.”
That said, he admits he made no attempt at contacting Elise after they filmed her rejection. “The last time I spoke to Elise was when I said goodbye to her in Thailand,” he tells me. Laura, on the other hand, has been in touch with her one-time rival over text.
While Laura says it wasn’t enjoyable watching Matty date the other girls on the show, she saw nothing that upset or surprised her. “Part of the process is that Matty has to package up his feelings and put them aside,” she says. “I wasn’t ignorant of what was going on, but I knew what we had was really great.”
As for the ongoing Georgia Love comparisons, neither Laura or Matty J can see it. “I really don’t see the similarities,” Matty tells me. “What’s important is that what Matty and I have is special and it’s our own,” Laura adds.
Whatevs – we’re ready to pack up our emotions and move on to Sophie Monk. Bring on The Bachelorette!
