We interviewed Richie from The Bachelorette because, why not?

#TEAMRICHIE4EVA

Last night Australia’s collective heart was broken when Richie the Rope Access Technician failed to receive a rose on The Bachelorette.

We’re very much Team Richie here at Mamamia and there were more than a few OMFGs sent out on our internal communications system last night.

If you missed the episode? Read Rosie’s recap here.

We’ve loved Richie since he first spouted one too many (actually one is too many) ‘cool bananas’ in the first episode of the season.

Let’s just take a moment to remember one of our earliest encounters with Australia’s Most Awkward Bachelorette Contestant:

We had a chat with Richie this morning and asked him how he’s been feeling and what he’s been upto since filming finished.

He was completely lovely, obviously, and filled us in on who’s actually the funniest, who he thinks will win and whether or not he’s found The One yet. (I mean he has had two whole months, geez.)

You can read the whole thing below:

How are you feeling today? Heartbroken?

Pretty cool, I’m okay. Doing lots of radio interviews. It’s pretty full on.

Look, last night’s rose ceremony. I didn’t see it coming… had Sam tipped you off?

No. I mean not really. You don’t really know that your time’s up or anything like that. You’re just all sharing these special moments with the same girl and she has a really difficult decision to make … I didn’t see it coming.

What do you think you could have done differently?

I probably would have relaxed a little bit more, you just don’t know how it will be edited and how you’ll be portrayed. I really could have relaxed a bit more around Sam but the cameras and the audio people made it hard.

Yeah exactly. Not only is it hard to talk to a girl in general and then you have to do in front of a camera and audio people and Sam and you know all of Australia is going to be watching. It was certainly daunting.

Seriously though, what is a Rope Access Technician?

An industrial rope access technician. It’s an industry where we access areas that are hard to reach. Predominantly oil and gas. I do NDT, non-destructive testing, on like pipelines and wells and rigging etc., while hanging from a rope in the middle of an ocean, 75m above sea level. Cool stuff.

It sounds like a made up job.

It does, doesn’t it.

What’s with the ‘cool bananas’ thing? Is that like a verbal tick?

I do say cool bananas a little bit. Not as much as I said it in front of Sam though. I think when I met Sam I just hit the panic button and it was just verbal diarrhoea.  I think everyone could see how nervous I was.

She is ridiculously good looking.

Isn’t she? Now try and sit in front of her and talk about your feelings.

Who is going to win? Really, Michael making the top two is a total curve ball.

I back Mikey for the win. I can’t confirm or deny if I know or not — it’s not like I talk to the guys on a daily basis, but I can’t obviously reveal the winner either.

Is this misdirection? Are you f**king with me?

Some reverse psychology maybe.

Actually though, what is Sasha like? 

Sasha’s a legend. He is the funniest guy I have ever met. He has the best one liners and just says how it is and sometime how it is, is just really funny.

Did he make any particularly memorable gags?

It’s just when I was working out with him. He named his shoulders the Rocky Balboas and his chest the Eagle’s Nest. He’d call his abs the Ned Kellys. You’ve gotta be around him. It’s just how he is and how he goes about himself.

What about Michael, is Michael funny?

He’s just a really humble and sweet gentleman. Really engaged. Really talks to you. Absolute sweetheart.

How did you end up on the show, I hear you applied for Sam Wood’s job on The Bachelor?

Shine and Channel 10 called me about doing The Bachelor and asked me to put in an application so I did. I knew they’d be looking at a lot of people but they called me quite a few months later and said I’d done quite well and if I wanted to do The Bachelorette it was available to me. I thought about it for a very long time, talked to friends and family. When they called me up and told me it was Sam that was going to be the girl I thought ‘it’s Sam!’, who was a beautiful person and I figured why not?

You guys seemed to have such a connection and have so much fun! What happened?

I know! You’re supposed to make the girl laugh and then you’re supposed to walk away as the winner! Turns out nice guys do finish last.

One thing I noticed on the home dates was how rich everyone was. How do you compete with Sasha’s effing vineyard?

I know! We ended up going to my place — I live in the Bronx, which is basically Hell’s Kitchen — and I’m telling Sam to wear a flak jacket so she doesn’t get stabbed and thinking, ‘I hope she likes laughing lot cause she’s not going to be covered in diamonds.’

How was it with your family and friends they made it look pretty uncomfortable?

Yeah definitely and think they made it look a little worse than it was too. My mum and my sister absolutely adored Sam and thought she was a breath of fresh air. I walked away from the home date chuffed actually, it was like a fist pump moment.

What was the highlight for you?

I had quite a few highlights, I thought the whole thing was a really fun ride. I’d have to say the old person date though. Getting dressed up as an old person and cutting sick on the d-floor, you can’t pay for that kind of experience.

What now? How are you coping? Have been just eating ice-cream, playing PlayStation and smoking bongs?

You basically just described my last two months. Nah, I’ve been going down south or up north on fishing trips… Having a lot of ‘me’ time.

Are you looking for love?

Absolutely.

Dating any special ladies?

No, I’ve sort of kept a low profile because I didn’t want to spoil the ending of the show.

How has it been becoming Australia’s most eligible bachelor overnight?

Honesty the support and the very sweet comments has been absolutely out of control. I am blown away by how nice everyone is to me.

Any gossip you’ve been dying to talk about, do you hate anyone? You can tell me.

Hate anyone? No! Gosh I just had such an incredible time. Everyone was just so nice I can’t express how nice everyone was to me.

What about Davey though?

Davey’s awesome! We shared a room, actually. I cried myself to sleep most night’s laughing at Davey. Funniest guys in the house. Legend.

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Forever in our hearts, Richie Strahan. We will always have our memories.

And, like, if you want to hang out, you can DM me on Twitter.