Alisha & Glenn Talk About Overcoming Their Issues After ‘Bachelor In Paradise’
Alisha Aitken-Radburn and Glenn Smith did the near-impossible on this season of Bachelor In Paradise – they made us all believe in love again.
Watching the two meet early on in Paradise and develop a strong, unshakeable connection was one of the show’s highlights. From standing up for each other during the hectic Bula Banquets, to their cute AF dates where they opened up to one another, we all simply just loved watching their love.
In last night’s commitment ceremony, the two exchanged rings and after the finale aired, they uploaded a video confirming Alisha had moved to Perth to be with Glenn. However, last week an episode of the So Dramatic! podcast revealed some explosive news, stating that our fave couple had hit some hurdles after Paradise, exposing two cheating scandals.
Regardless of the rocky road out of Paradise, Alisha and Glenn are still together today and their love for each other is stronger than ever.
We spoke to Bachelor In Paradise‘s favourite couple, and here’s what they had to say:
On moving past the cheating allegations:
Glenn: “Post Paradise, we definitely hit a few bumps, and mistakes were made. I think people see the perfect relationship that can be formed in Paradise, and people think that’s what reflects into real life. We’re both real people, we’re both human, and mistakes were made. As adults who really love each other, we communicated and really worked through it and that’s why we’re here nine months later.”
Alisha: “This may sound a bit strange, but I was hurt at the time and my hurt manifested in a way that wasn’t healthy either and in a way I wasn’t proud of. But when we were working through what happened, the way Glenn approached the whole situation… he rang my mum to tell her, because I was pretty mortified.
“We had some really deep conversations, possibly conversations a lot of people in relationships don’t have. I think it’s really been the reason why we’re so strong today, we’ve covered everything: we had drama in Paradise and after Paradise, and moving to Perth because of coronavirus… we’ve really been through a lot of stuff in nine months and I think we’re stronger for it.”
On Glenn (and his twin, Neil’s) newfound popularity:
Glenn: “It’s been overwhelming. Watching yourself back for the first time on a show, and getting the lovely comments and messages and being able to share that with Alisha as well has been amazing. Neil has been copping a lot of interest and messages, and people wondering if he’s single. I think once people deep-dive on his Instagram they work out that 1) he’s gay and 2) he has a partner.”
Alisha: “Disappointment across the nation!”
Glenn: “He’s broken a lot of girls’ hearts!”
On whether they knew each other before Paradise:
Show more cute Glenn #BacheloretteAU
— Alisha Aitken-Radburn (@aaitkenradburn) October 24, 2019
Glenn: “People thought we had met before Paradise, and I can tell you I didn’t know who Alisha was.”
Alisha: “Offended!”
Glenn: “I had watched one episode of the previous BIP to get my head around it before I went in. So I recognised her but didn’t really know anything about her, so she had to fill me in on everything that happened when we met.”
Alisha: “So we’re lying in this single bed and I’m like, ‘just so you know, all this really fucked up shit happened to me last year’ so had to run quickly through that.”
Glenn: “When we first met, it was that instant connection and we were like two people meeting for the first time. Then Alisha filled me in on what happened, so I was just learning, and watching her, and workshopping with her as we went.”
Alisha: “And when we came home from Paradise, he watched my season of BIP and he was like sending me the drama as he watched it, you know when someone hasn’t seen something you’ve seen before?”
Glenn: “I was like, oh my God I can’t believe this happened!”
Alisha: “He was like, I can’t believe American Alex is leaving!”
On the best and worst things about Paradise:
Alisha: “The best thing for me was that we knew we had this instantaneous connection, we knew we were spending proper time in Paradise building upon that. But we were also really independent in Paradise. We didn’t let ourselves go sit in the corner and make out all the time… though there was some of that. My favourite part of Paradise was being involved and getting to know people and workshopping relationships with new girlfriends. The fact that Glenn and I could go off and do that stuff independently then come back together to debrief, I loved that.”
Glenn: “I think that’s where we built such a strong connection. It wasn’t just physical and our one-on-one time. We got to see each other interact socially and in some pretty testing times where there was a lot of conflict, and I think that’s where we connected as well. That social setting we just thrived together.”
Alisha: “It’s one of those experiences that has ups and downs, but there’s nothing… it’s incomparable to anything else I’ve experienced in life.”
Glenn: “It’s not bad, you can’t complain, drinking cocktails by the beach.”
On WA life:
Alisha: “I am loving it! I’ve been a Sydney girl for 27 years, and I have been looking for a change of pace. Moving over to Perth has been so nice, I’m obsessed.”
Glenn: “We came to lockdown in Perth, and everything is all normal. We cook together, we’ve built a veggie patch together, we’re just doing normal relationship things.”