The Bachelorette’s Mack Dishes On The Mansion’s Secret ‘Zen Den’

The 35-year-old small business owner says he knew his time was nigh, and was shocked at every rose ceremony when Sophie called his name. “I could see from the beginning she had a real spark in her eyes with some of the other guys, and it felt as if we weren’t that compatible,” he admits. “I think she held me there for our friendship.”

The strongest friendships, however, were forged in the Zen Den. “I’m really close to Jimmy, Luke and Apollo – we were all in the same room at one stage and we called it the Zen Den,” he says. “We meditated, we were the ones who weren’t afraid to express our love for one another. We were the spiritual crew.”

Mack also names Brett, Sam, Blake and Ryan as his close mates on the show. “They’re all friends for life,” he says. And while he’d love to see Jimmy win (who wouldn’t?), he’s with the rest of us on Stu: “You could tell as soon as he jumped out of the chopper.”

On what first sparked his crush

Probably since I saw her movie, I think it’s called Date Movie, she was in a little itty bitty bikini and I just thought, wow. I was smitten. And that crush is rather embarrassing, it makes me look like a little school boy, but how could you not be smitten by her? She’s got some great characteristics, she’s got great banter and she’s incredibly good-looking.

On what we didn’t see

What was not shown last night is when she takes me out of the rose ceremony, she gave me heaps of compliments, she said, ‘I’ve got a friend in you now, Mack,’ and I was very touched by that. I’m the luckiest guy alive – I can call Sophie Monk one of my good friends.

On that awkward fan-girl moment:

In that last episode I’m a blubbering mess, I come across as the awkward nervous guy, but I would like to consider myself a gentleman and I’ve got a lot to give. In that one-on-one, they didn’t show me talking about my past, Sophie asked if I’d ever been cheated on because she said she felt that I’d been hurt before. They didn’t show me taking about family at all, I’m a very family-oriented man, and they didn’t show me giving her a crystal that my sister had given me to give to her. There was lots that didn’t make it to air.

On lessons learned

I’d definitely do it again, the only regrets I have is not really coming out of my shell. The first two weeks I had a lot of anxiety, a lot of nervous energy, I’d like to think that I don’t suffer anxiety but I really did in the house. For the first two weeks I think I had four sleepless nights and it completely screwed with my mental state.

I learnt two massive things in my time on the mansion – I need to be near the ocean and I need to communicate with females – nothing to do with sex, more about just being able to communicate with females on a daily basis. I’ve realised that I need to have that communication.

On Jarrod

He’s unique obviously, he didn’t gel with everyone in the house, and I was probably one of them. I had a lot of respect for Jarrod in the first couple of weeks and then a few things made me question his personality. I don’t think they were bullying him, I think he maybe brought that on himself somewhat, because of his aggressive nature. But in his defence, he doesn’t hold a grudge, and he was obviously there for the right reasons.