reality tv

Every Bachelor season has a villain. Here's where our favourite past 'villains' are now.

 

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There are a few things we can expect from every season of The Bachelor: Osher’s bizarre made-up games, unnecessarily extravagant dates and… a villain. Or two.

There’s always at least one woman typecast as the ‘villain’ and it usually becomes clear pretty quickly at the beginning of the season who she is. You know, she’s the one who “says what everybody is thinking” and “tells it like it is”.

She’s probably not as villain-esque as she comes across on screen, because producers are ~sneaky~ and it always prompts season-long complaints of “a bad cut” or “unfair editing”.

Get excited! Here’s the promo for The Bachelor Australia 2019. Post continues below video.

Video by Channel 10

Judging by the amount of drama we’ve already seen in the promo video for this year’s season, which starts tonight (hallelujah!), The Bachelor hasn’t changed its formula this time around.

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Will the villain be the woman accused of calling bachie Matt Agnew a “dog”? Maybe it’ll be the woman who tells him about the other woman calling him a dog. Or possibly the woman who dramatically announces that if she “punches him in the face”, it’ll be an accident.

We’ll have to wait to find out, but being a reality TV villain is nothing to aspire to. Sure, everyone knows your name… But that doesn’t trump the intense social media trolling and bullying you’re inevitably going to face.

The Bachelor Matt Agnew has confirmed he’s head over heels in love, so how has he been keeping this new relationship hidden? He spills all the gossip on the latest episode of The Spill, our daily entertainment podcast. Listen here:

As we prepare to see a new ‘villain’ on our screens, we got thinking. What are previous Bachelor villains up to these days? How did they move on from all the negativity? Here’s what we found:

Romy Poulier, season six.

 

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Ah, Romy. Part of the infamous ‘mean girls’ trio during Nick Cummins’ season of The Bachelor, and for a time, one of the most hated women in Australia.

During the season, she reduced a woman to tears after accusing her of being a hypocrite for kissing their shared boyfriend. Along with Cat Henesey-Smith, 24, she ridiculed the appearance of several women, mocking one for showing off her midriff when she didn’t even have abs, and laughing that they were relieved when they saw what the intruders looked like.

It was, without a doubt, mean.

And after the season aired, Romy made it clear that she struggled with the negative attention she received.

If we want an answer to the question, “How does it feel to have the whole nation hate you?” then we have it. Romy told Mamamia it was “harder than you could ever imagine”.

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These days, Romy has moved on from her Bachelor experience, but she’s still good friends with Cat and third trio member Alisha Aitken-Radburn, who she regularly posts photos with on Instagram.

Cat Henesey-Smith, season six.

 

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Like Romy, Cat received a lot of hate for her actions during last year’s Bachelor. In an interview with Mamamia in September, Cat recalled checking her phone after her elimination episode had aired only to be confronted by more than 500 direct messages on Instagram.

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She was kicked out of the mansion by the Honey Badger after he said her name kept coming up as the one involved in all the drama, and the explosive episode (which also saw Alisha eliminated and Romy walk out) went down as one of the craziest in Bach history.

According to Cat, the DMs she received were “telling me to go kill myself and that I’m a waste of space and I’m fat and I’m ugly. No one wants to hear that”.

After a (very) brief appearance on Bachelor in Paradise, Cat has settled down with Brisbane landscaper Todd Burguez.

“I’ve never been happier,” Cat told 10 Daily after leaving Paradise.

“I’ve actually met a guy who is incredible and I’ve moved on. It was so long ago now and I wasn’t in a good place and now I feel so differently about life,” she explained.

It also looks like she’s moved back to Australia from Bali: “I’ve settled back in, I’m near my friends and family, I’ve met an awesome dude and life’s good!” she said.

Oh, and yes, she still has her jewellery company.

Leah Costa, season five.

 

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In 2017 Leah was one of the women competing for Matty J’s heart.

Considered the season’s villain, Leah was sent home relatively early after it was revealed she had worked as a topless waitress, though Matty J said he sent her home because she was the instigator of all the drama in the house, and not because of her past job.

After an appearance on 2018’s Bachelor in Paradise, the 25-year-old appeared on Studio Ten wearing a very conspicuous ring on her left hand. When asked directly about her ‘engagement’, she lightheartedly changed the topic, and for the next 24 hours the media spent a (shameful) amount of time speculating on who her fiancé could possibly be.

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But, uh, it was all a stunt, with Leah writing on Instagram that she was trying to make a point about sensationalising things.

“In an era of fake news and ‘unreal’ TV we are all constantly left questioning what to believe. Editing and manipulation are often highlighted when we are discussing the media. But what about the power of suggestion?” she wrote in a since-deleted Instagram post.

“This is the most important, because without actually saying anything, you can position individuals to create and accept their own version of the truth. We have seen this done in countless political campaigns, wars, media and now reality TV.”

Leah has finished her degree in Construction Management and Architecture and is working as an architect.

Despite being in a relationship with musician Tom Evans, Leah has kept a close eye on the Bachelor franchise since leaving Paradise in 2018 and well, she’s not afraid to share her two cents on all things Bachie. 

There was the time she called out Ali Oetjen and earlier this year she got into a fight with Davey Lloyd on Instagram (for… not the first time). Most recently, she’s given her tick of approval to new Bachelor Matt Agnew, writing, “Ahhhh he’s adorable! I was on the wrong season,” when he was announced as the one looking for love this year.

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Keira Maguire, season four.

 

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Keira enjoying a mango daiquiri in Fiji is one of the most iconic images from the Bachelor franchise, do not @ us.

The former Bachelor star first appeared on Richie Strahan’s season and then got together with Jarrod Woodgate on Bachelor in Paradise. They broke up in August 2018, got back together early this year and broke up again in April.

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It’s a rollercoaster ride we haven’t wanted to get off of.

Lately Keira has been living her best life as an #influencer and as the host of entertainment podcast The Buzz with Big Brother star Mikkayla Mossop.

Laurina Fleure, season two.

 

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Who can forget Laurina Fleure from Blake Garvey’s season of The Bachelor? Laurina won a place in the reality TV hall of fame when she complained about her date with Blake at Harry’s Cafe de Wheels pie shop in Sydney.

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“Everyone else gets Ferraris, super yachts and private jets… and [I] get a dirty street pie,” she bemoaned.

Obviously, she didn’t end up with Blake – who clearly does like pies – but Laurina then managed to carve out a nice wee reality TV career by appearing on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! and Bachelor in Paradise.

Laurina never complained about being cast as her season’s villain, telling The Daily Telegraph last year the shows have a “recipe” they follow and she happened to fall into one specific role.

Laurina is a model and entrepreneur… and maybe also a hidden Bachelor recruiter. Cassandra Mamone, who will appear on the 2019 season of The Bachelor, told Confidential it was Laurina who initially put her name forward after the pair met in Melbourne last year.

“Laurina put my name forward, me and my girls there kind of laughed it off, and then someone came forward at the end of the last year,” Cassandra recalled about being headhunted.

Dani Sanby, season one.

dani sanby
Dani on the OG Bachelor Australia.
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In Australia's very first taste of The Bachelor, Dani was our original Bach villain. After making it into Tim Robards' final four only to be sent packing, Dani later described her villain-esque behaviour on the show as that of a "sexually-aggressive psycho". Her words.

In 2019, it's pretty hard to find a public trace of Dani on the internet (which is probably intentional, mind you). Her Instagram is locked down, but LinkedIn (yeah... we went there) says she's still working in event management, as she was during her reality TV stint.

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Who's your favourite Bachelor villain? Let us know in a comment.