reality tv

Rochelle, Dani and Sarah-Mae: What the women of The Bachelor season one are doing now.

 

It’s been six whole years since The Bachelor first hit Aussie small screens, which makes us feel about a hundred years old.

It feels like just yesterday Tim Robards did the first ever topless slow run down the beach, before meeting 25 hopeful single women willing to take their hunt for love to national television.

Of course, the 2013 season had a very happy ending, with Tim choosing Anna Heinrich in the finale. The two are still together to this day, having tied the knot in 2018.

Despite the dramas of seasons to follow (Blake Garvey and the Honey Badger, we’re looking at you) the couple are a beacon of hope proving that love is, in fact, not dead.

… But what about the women Tim sent home throughout the final weeks of the season?

Here, we track down the season one top five to find out just what they’ve been up to since they farewelled Osher and the mansion, and trudged back to their normal lives.

Anna Heinrich.

 

 
 
 
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The best thing about this trip….. spending time with you ???? @mrtimrobards Final stop @karmabeachclubs #Bali #KarmaBeachBali #beachsession

A post shared by ❤️ANNA HEINRICH❤️ (@annaheinrich1) on

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Prior to The Bachelor, Anna worked as a criminal lawyer.

Now, Anna, 32, runs her own fashion and lifestyle website; Love Always Anna, and has appeared as legal advisor to Kyle Sandilands on his Channel 10 show Trial By Kyle.

She and Tim tied the knot at the Masseria Potenti Hotel in Puglia, Italy, on June 8, 2018, and the two share a home in Sydney.

Now that he’s a regular on Neighbours, however, Tim lives in Melbourne during the week while Anna remains in Sydney.

Rochelle Emanuel-Smith.

 

 
 
 
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Just want to do a shout out to my pals at @earthandsociety bringing some serious good into 2019. Its not easy creating fashionably competitive items with the low amount of ethically sourced fabrics available in todays world, there is a lot of work and dedication involved in staying ethical. Buyers are loving eco friendly and I see the market thankfully exploding in that direction. But in order to really get this environmently concious fashion world to really kick off, we need to support the sellers. This crop featured is part of their Asana range. Check it out on their site and read more about sustainable bamboo cotton. ????????????????✌???? ???? – @painted.in.pixels

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Rochelle Emanuel-Smith, 33, was the runner-up in Tim Robard’s season, but in the end, as most had predicted, he chose Anna.

Speaking to News.com.au after the finale, Rochelle admitted she was “crushed”.

“I was heartbroken about Tim, but I was like ‘it’s a guy, I can get over that’. But I was heartbroken about the situation that I got myself into and how harsh the reality of a reality show can really be,” she said.

She also opened up about how being on the show made her feel like “she wasn’t good enough”.

“The way the show works, it always makes you feel like you can change [how he feels] – go over there and change it! It’s really sad how I started to believe that,” she says. “I don’t want to be in a relationship where I’m crying or stressed-out or feeling like I’m not good enough all the time.”

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She said that by the finale, the crew had convinced her she was Tim’s choice, which made the public break-up all the more difficult. “I thought maybe they were my friends, maybe they do care about me,” she said. “You can’t blame a girl who has no friends for two-and-a-half months for having a bit of faith in the people around her. It hurt a lot.”

Following the show, she moved in with fellow Bach contestant Dani Sanby for a while, and now keeps busy as a model and yoga guru, with an Instagram page full of vegan recipes.

Ali Oetjen.

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We don’t have to look far to find Ali, who of course went on to appear on Bachelor in Paradise and The Bachelorette (third time’s a charm!).

If you cast your minds back to Ali’s original season, you’ll remember she was the first woman to attempt to kiss OG Bachie… at the first cocktail party. He rejected her advances, and it was awkward as hell.

She also injured her knee jumping off a cruise boat, which could explain why there’s been a severe lack of yachts on seasons since. The incident left the 33-year-old with a fractured left tibia and ruptured ligaments in her knee.

A pretty rough run for poor Ali, she left sans-rose as the second runner-up ON CRUTCHES, as if getting dumped on national television could get any worse

Of course, after her tumultuous relationship with Grant Kemp, who she met on Bachelor in Paradise, she appeared on The Bachelorette, choosing Tate Radley over Todd King in the emotional finale.

The two fit-fluencers appear to be going strong, recently telling Who they now live together in Melbourne. Ali is training to be a personal trainer and yoga instructor.

Dani Sanby. 

Dani Sanby. Image: Facebook.
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Dani was our original Bach villain, even though now, compared to some of the villains we've seen since, she looks pretty innocent.

After making it into Tim Robards' final four only to be sent packing, the then-event manager described herself as a "sexually-aggressive psycho". Yes – her own words.

These days, it's pretty hard to find a trace of Dani on the internet, but according to her LinkedIn profile (yeah... we went there) the 30-year-old is still working in event management as she was during her reality TV stint. We also had a sneaky look over on her Facebook page, and it looks as though she has a new boyfriend.

Katherine Schmidhofer.

 

 
 
 
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Happy 1st birthday to my little angel. We love you beyond words ????????????

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Katherine found love soon after finishing up on The Bachelor in 2013.

The child and adolescent psychologist was married in 2016, and is now the mother of two kids – a son and daughter.

The 39-year-old is still good friends with some of the girls from the show, including Anna.

According to her Instagram, they appear to catch up quite regularly, and many of the former contestants were guests at her wedding.

Sarah-Mae Amey.

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Sarah, 28, went on to live with Sam Frost for over a year when Sam moved from Melbourne to Sydney. But that wasn't her only connection to the franchise following season one.

A few years later, she dated Dave Billsborrow from Sam’s season of The Bachelorette for a few months. After Dave, she briefly dated Daniel Small — who you may recognise as the former Big Brother contestant Saxon.

Now, the Gold Coast florist appears to be dating a guy named Matt Flugge.