After Vanessa Sunshine’s really not shocking at all exit on last night’s episode of The Bachelor, she’s become somewhat of a feminist hero.
Which, in case you were wondering, she’s “really flattered and humbled” by.
Between her blunt Instagram video post-elimination about “not giving a f*ck” about the ‘mean girls’ and basically telling Bachelor Nick Cummins she wasn’t that into him, the legal assistant from Melbourne was a character we hadn’t seen on the reality show before.
Early on, it was clear that Vanessa’s signature resting b*tch face, as she calls it, wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea.
Only, when asked about how fellow bachelorettes Romy, Cat and Aleisha affected her time in the mansion, she told Mamamia she really wishes we’d all just stop talking about them.
“I’m going to be really honest, I just think giving them the self-labelled title of ‘the trio’, ‘the mean girls’ or villains, it almost glorifies their behaviour,” the 27-year-old said.
"To me, Cat, Romy and Aleisha, the way they get their self-worth is by belittling, berating and bullying other people, and that's what it was, it was bullying. The way they justify their behaviour is by scapegoating other people, and they constantly hit below the belt.
"Even if I didn't like someone, I would never go out of my way to belittle or degrade someone or attack their physical appearance, I'm not interested in that."
Although she said she "never did anything directly to them", Vanessa thinks it was her decision not to engage with the three girls that prompted them to single her out.
"I might be quiet, but I'm very observant and I was very aware of what was going on. I knew they weren't saying those things to my face, so I distanced myself from them quite early," she said.
"For me, I find that really deceitful behaviour when you're going any saying all these things about me, but then when I don't interact with you in a certain way that you want... duh, of course I'm not going to give you the time of day, obviously.
"I don't think [Cat, Romy and Aleisha] are used to people not wanting them. I'm just grateful I made some friends in there."
Evidently, one of those friends was not Honey Badger himself, especially considering Vanessa said their conversation last night about whether she found him physically attractive was as brutal and awkward as it looked like.
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"There was more to it, but what you saw on TV, that was kind of the gist of it. I suspected Romy was going to tell Nick [that I'd said I wasn't attracted to him], and you know what, Nick asked me directly and so I answered," she said.
"I could've lied, I could've stroked his ego and told him what he wanted to hear, but he asked me point blank and so I answered. To be honest, I think I might've bruised his ego a bit, he's not quite used to people saying those things to his face, but poor guy, I shut down his Dad jokes and his hair."
Whether or not she'd go on the show if she had her time again and knew who the Bachelor would be is still a tad murky - "That's never how The Bachelor works though, is it," she said - but Vanessa doesn't have any regrets about how she was portrayed on the show.
"For me, I really was myself, I never had that preconceived idea that the Bachelor would be the one for me. I was willing to have an open mind, but I also knew when my time was up, and that's OK!"
"Nick wasn't the one for me and I wasn't the one for Nick, I don't have any hard feelings or hold any grudges about that. This is about his journey and him finding the right girl for him.
"For me, the top two will be Brittany and Sophie, maybe Brooke for top three."
Do you agree with Vanessa Sunshine's top three picks to win The Bachelor?
Top Comments
She has a point.