Abbie Chatfield On Friendzoning Ciarran, The Cass Drama, And Whether She’d Do ‘The Bachelorette’
Abbie Chatfield’s time on Bachelor In Paradise was far too short for most of us, but for the Gemini queen herself, she was happy to admit paradise wasn’t the right environment for her.
In the two episodes she was on, Abbie tried to form a connection with Ciarran, but it was portrayed that he then ditched her to go after her friend Jess Brody. Amongst this, was the underlying current of drama with former castmates Cassandra Mamone and Mary Viturino but it was a drama Abbie wasn’t aware of nor part of – it was Cass and Mary’s commentary on the side that has drawn criticism from fans of the show.
cass and mary say they dont care about abbie but spend majority of the episode shit talking her, focus on yourselves and your so called love journey lmfao #BachelorInParadiseAU
— ruby²⁸ ? (@_foolforlou) July 15, 2020
We spoke to Abbie after her journey on Paradise came to an end, to delve through the Ciarran saga, where she stands with Cass and Mary, and whether she’d be willing to accept our rose and become the next Bachelorette.
On being the next Bachelorette:
“I’d give it a year or two. I think I need a bit of a break! I’ve been a bit traumatised the past two times, the emotional exhaustion of having to go through it, then watch it again. I think Bachelor actually works, but Paradise just isn’t for me. I would even do The Bachelor again over Bachelor In Paradise!”
On who she wanted to see in Paradise:
“The only person I wanted to see other than Ciarran was Nathan Favro, but Nathan and I are friends who hang out now. It probably would’ve been the same situation too where we go on a date, we kiss, and then we’re like ‘oh we’re just mates’. I don’t think anyone in the franchise is really for me and I’ve already dated Todd King so he was probably the only one who had any hope.”
On friendzoning Ciarran:
“Ciarran and I actually had a conversation and I messaged him last night to confirm I hadn’t imagined this! We had a chat when we got back, I was like ‘just to be clear, I don’t want there to be any confusion. It was a good date, but we don’t really vibe romantically but there’s sexual chemistry and I’m sure we’d sleep together if we weren’t on a TV show.'”
“I said to the girls, Ciarran’s that friend you sleep with once every six weeks when you’re drunk and you can’t find anyone else in the club. Like a friend you like and you know the chemistry is there, but nothing more. And we had that conversation together at the start of the cocktail party! It’s very interesting to me that it was portrayed that I still had feelings for him when Jess Brody and I are very, very close friends. I told her to go for it [Ciarran].”
On Cass and Mary’s commentary:
“I think this is the sides of them that weren’t shown last year. The thing is, the tension last year wasn’t even with them, if it was someone who I had –quote-on-quote ‘beef’ – with last year like Monique, it would’ve made sense. But I had no issues with Cass and Mary, I thought Mary and I were really good friends.
“Cass’ shaming of Jess being a stripper was interesting, because you have Ciarran who is also a tatted stripper but Jess can’t be? I think they thought it was going to play out the same way for me again, and it would be Abbie bashing.”
On not knowing Cass and Mary were commenting on her, and Mary’s apology:
“I didn’t feel any tension when I was there, everyone was very nice to me and polite to me, and now I’m seeing them have this bitchy commentary on the side. I thought they’d be more considerate, considering how vocal I’ve been about my mental health and the suicidal ideation I had after the show last year because of the bullying that happened on the show, so it’s disappointing.
“Mary sent me a lovely voice note apologising, Mary’s lovely. I think Mary.. she just gets excited in front of the cameras. Cass I think is a bit more… like, the fact I’ve never spoken poorly about someone in an interview in my entire time on the show except for her, says a lot. Her behaviour on the show is really appalling.”
On what she hopes for the Bachy franchise:
“I feel like my edit wasn’t fantastic but I had a lot of support [this time around]. It gives me hope for the girls that are going to be in Locky’s season and hopefully there’ll be less slut-shaming. I saw some people defending Mary too, being like, remember that Abbie was hated last year because of a certain quote or a certain edit. I am hoping that we’ll learn next season and we can have a fun time rather than enjoying it for hating a woman. “