STOP. EVERYTHING. (Except breathing – don’t stop that. Just… look.)
The most recent TV appearance from newly crowned Bachie lovers Sophie Monk and Stu Laundry has all of Australia asking, ‘Are they, or aren’t they?’ (Absolutely everybody in this country watches The Bachelorette, right?)
That’s because when the new couple appeared on The Project last night, things looked a little… uhhh… awkward.
Fans were quick to point out that the couple’s ‘lack of physical contact’, and snide jokes and looks at each other throughout may be evidence that the pair are not together or in love at all.
Hmmmm.
It’s a question panelist Meshel Laurie was quick to ask within seconds of the pair taking their seats.
“Are you two still together?” she prodded, prompting Sophie and Stu to exchange an uncomfortable glance.
“I’d like to think so…” began Sophie, as Stu joked, “Well… it’s been a rough afternoon”.
The pair quickly clarified that “of course” they were still an item, with Stu adding they were “very happy”.
But it wasn’t quite enough to convince the die-hard Bach fans (oh, and radio star Kate Langbroek, who had interviewed the pair just hours earlier) playing along at home.
Okay. Let’s get ~scientific~ about this.
A bit of digging shows that Stu and Sophie’s body language throughout the interview was very different from what we’ve seen from past Bachelor and Bachelorette couples in the past.
This is Matty J and Laura earlier this year:
And Georgia Love and Lee in 2016:
By contrast, Sophie and Stu were barely touching each other during their TV appearance:
What? Us, reading way too much into the outcome of a reality TV show? NEVER.
Whatever the pair's current relationship status, Laurie pressed Monk on the very thing that has frustrated some fans about her final choice.
"You said in the beginning, 'I want a down-to-Earth, normal guy who wants to get married and have kids," Laurie said.
"What you've chosen is a millionaire who's already married and has had a vasectomy."
With Stu joking that the statement made him firmly "team Jarrod", Sophie clarified that by "normal guy" she meant someone outside of her own industry.
"I don't want actors, I don't want models, I don't want ego, I don't want narcissism," the 37-year-old said.
"I've got my own money, I've earned my own money my whole life... I like to think I've earned as much as [Stu], actually."
And that's the Sophie we know and love.
Watch the interview in full below...