The Bachelorette Australia - Richie Strahan *Sleuthing Spoilers*

Sundy wrote:

AllAboutLove wrote:

Sundy wrote:Richie hasn't surfaced yet has he?  I know Dave is in Carlton Melbourne but where's Richie???

Not sure... in Melbourne somewhere?

I thought Dave is with Sasha this weekend/week?

He flew to Melbourne yesterday afternoon. There's an IG picture of him and I'm sure it's Carlton

Sundy wrote:Not from Melbourne. Perhaps he is doing hybpa?  I agree with Richie being happy. I am definitely not watching live. He would be great as The Bachelor. Just needs to be in control of the situation and I think he will be a lot more comfortable

Sundy wrote:hopefully he is in discussions now

The Bachelorette's Richie on Meeting Sam: "My Chest Was Absolutely Pounding!"
by Genevieve Rota 19/10/15



Handsome West Australian Richie Strahan is a fan favourite with viewers of The Bachelorette — and it's easy to understand why. He's got the prerequisite good looks and charm, but he's totally different to the two other finalists in that he's just the teeniest bit awkward about it all. He gets flustered and says funny things when he's around Bachelorette Sam Frost and it gives him the sweetest edge up on the other guys.

When we chatted to him on the phone, he was exactly as he seems on TV — funny, gracious, humble . . . And when talk turned to his feelings, he got a little shy. Adorable? Understatement. Scroll to read what Richie had to say about the experience.


POPSUGAR Australia: Congratulations on getting to the top three! Did you see yourself getting this far when you first applied to the show?

Richie: Not at all, I thought I was going home the first night.

PS: Really? Did you get a good vibe when you met Sam?

Richie: We had a great vibe. The first time I met Sam, I did say "cool bananas" a thousand times . . . Oh my gosh, how bad was that?! And then when I sat down with her, I talked about [inaudible] a virgin, a robot vacuum cleaner and dog poo, so I had her in absolute stitches, but you walk away from that going, "Good chat, Rich! That was great mate, good topic." [Laughs] Yeah, it was pretty funny.

PS: Were you nervous?

Richie: Absolutely, getting out of that limo, my chest was absolutely pounding. Walking across that tennis court area, there’s Sam in a beautiful red dress looking absolutely amazing . . . You can’t help and gulp and think, "Gosh, here we go."

PS: Have you been on camera much before?

Richie: No, nothing like this!

PS: It'd be kind of scary because you don’t know what it’s going to look like and how you’re going to be portrayed. You don’t know what she’s thinking . . . It’s just a whole big mess.

Richie: Definitely. I had a thousand things going through my mind. Walking down and seeing Sam, I felt like I was walking so goofily, it was just a trainwreck! When I met Sam, it was absolutely hilarious.

PS: You didn’t look too anxious, so that's good.

Richie: [Laughs]I’ve got to thank the editors for that.

PS: What made you apply in the first place?

Richie: Network Ten and Shine Australia called me up about doing so, and I thought it’d be a good experience. To be able to have that opportunity to meet Sam and win her affection, I thought would be a really nice thing to do.

PS: Were you ready to find big love? Or was it more that it fell into your lap and you decided to go with it?

Richie: I think I’m at that stage in my life where I’m ready to meet someone. I found it quite hard given the industry I’m in. Sam’s a pretty amazing woman.

PS: What did you know about her before you went into the show? Some of the other guys told me when they found out it was Sam they were more inclined to say yes to doing it.

Richie: I don’t watch a lot of TV, I don’t really read a lot of media stuff . . . When Shine said, "Do you want to do The Bachelorette?" I downloaded the last season of The Bachelor with a friend of mine and sat down with a bottle of wine to watch it and try and figure out what it’s about. It was pretty funny watching Sam come out, I was like, 'This chick’s amazing, she’s going to have to win it." She ended up winning obviously and all that stuff went down, so when Shine told me the girl was going to be Sam Frost, I was just blown away because I thought she was amazing watching her on The Bachelor.

PS: So you liked her out of everyone in the show?

Richie: Yeah!

PS: Is she someone you’d typically be attracted to then?

Richie: Yeah definitely, she has all the traits I look for in a girl. She’s fun, she’s really interesting, she’s very articulate in the way she talks, she’s great and you found yourself getting lost in conversation with her. You just want to spend as much time as you can with her.

PS: When did your feelings begin to develop into something more than physical for her?

Richie: Definitely after that growing old date! [Laughs] How did you find that?

PS: It was our favourite episode! We talked about it for an entire week. Was it as fun as it looked?

Richie: Oh absolutely, I had Sam in stitches the whole date, we were just laughing, laughing, laughing! It was certainly as fun as it looked.

PS: Did it feel romantic or did it feel more friendly? Do you feel like your bond grew after that date?

Richie: Yeah, going into that day, I just wanted to have as much fun as possible with Sam. After we took off the old person get-up and sat down and had that beautiful little movie with my family, we had a really good chat . . . And then Sam obviously kissed me and I kept talking. How are my moves? [Laughs]

PS: How was the kiss?

Richie: Yeah, it was awesome. When Sam kissed me, I had so many things running through my mind and I just thought, "This chick’s certainly special"

PS: It was the best date, and everyone fell in love with you after that.

Richie: Oh really?

PS: We did a post on your Instagram and it went nuts! Do you notice things like that? Like how your Instagram goes up massively after an episode airs?

Richie: Look, I’m not really big with social media, but I certainly noticed my Instagram going into meltdown. I can’t even use my phone at the moment, it’s crazy! It’s so surreal I don’t even know what to do. Normally, someone messages me on Facebook and Instagram and I can reply to those, but now it’s just, I can’t even see the messages from my friends!

PS: So, what does your job entail day-to-day?

Richie: My job’s so unique, no day is similar. The last project I went on, I went to a drillship, which was a 45-minute chopper ride out of Karratha [Western Australia]. We went to the North Sea Shelf, where there was this huge drillship that was getting ready for transit from Karratha to Korea. We had to climb the derrick, a huge triangle metal frame, abseil down and remove a huge metal . . . like a guide frame or umbilical cord. We were just hanging there 100 metres in the air, while this ship was on a head wind. We were swinging around, the whole ship’s rocking, it was a pretty full-on job. That was one particular contract. My job varies so much with what we do and how we go about things — it’s very unique, I love it.

PS: Is it quite remote all the time?

Richie: We generally work in a team of three. We could go out and work in a team of five to 10 guys, but generally if you’re going to do the rope access side of things, it’s three or more. I spend most of my days just laughing and cracking jokes, trying to make the day as cruisy and fun as possible.

PS: It sounds scary being out in the ocean like that — it must be so far removed from the whole Bachelorette experience for you. Was it weird to go between the two?

Richie: Oh, 100 percent. I work with some very blokey men, our jokes are . . . You can’t repeat them on camera. It was a really surreal experience. I’ve got a bit of a potty mouth and I try not to swear. It’s so hard on camera! I find myself constantly biting my tongue.

PS: What was the home visit like? Did your family warm to Sam?

Richie: Everyone thought Sam was an absolutely sweetheart. A few people had their presumptions of what she was going to be like, and I guess of Sam and the things she’s done.

PS: People have preconceived ideas.

Richie: Yeah, and it was a really nice and warm feeling that everyone had such nice things to say about Sam. She really is an incredible girl, but to walk away from my home visit with my whole family and friends speaking the world of her, it was beautiful.

PS: What are your feelings for Sam at this stage of the show? Do you feel quite strongly about her?

Richie: Definitely, I’ve got nothing but good things to say about Sam. She’s an incredible girl and at this point I . . . I’m the worst with this stuff! [Laughs] These questions are so hard. Obviously I've got really strong feelings for Sam.

PS: She’s an easy girl to love!

Richie: 100 percent, there’s nothing wrong with Sam, she’s an incredible girl.

PS: If you do win, would your job have to change for you to be in a relationship?

Richie: I don’t think my job would have to change. I try to get my life to a point where I have a lot more time more often, I’m only working three to four months at the moment, so it’s pretty handy.

PS: Is it a fly in, fly out kind of setup?

Richie: It is, it’s contract based though. So I might fly out for a two-week job, and have a month or a month-and-a-half off, and go out for another two-week job. I’m trying to balance it so I have a lot of time off. I’d like to try to spend as much time as I can with Sam when I’m back in Sydney or Melbourne with her family, or in Perth with my family, so it comes down to how we want to spend our time together.

PS: If you didn’t win, would you consider being the next Bachelor? There's a #RichieforBachelor hashtag on Twitter, so you’ve got quite the fanbase!

Richie: [Laughs] It hasn’t really crossed my mind, to be honest. I don’t know!

PS: A few weeks ago there were rumours that you previously dated Snez from The Bachelor. Is that true?

Richie: No, I think the only thing that connected me and Snez was the fact that she lives in Perth. I’ve never met the girl.

http://www.popsugar.com.au/celebrity/Interview-Richie-From-Bachelorette-Australia-38807445#opening-slide