‘Bachy’ Fan Fave Elly Says She Narrowly Escaped Heartbreak By Getting Booted Before Hometowns
Instead of sending home the last remaining brunette, Emma, Dr. Matt brutally dumped fan fave Elly, just before hometowns on The Bachelor last night.
Elly seemed to have the contest in the bag since day dot, winning the Golden Ticket to Matt’s hometown, Melbourne, for her extremely sweet marshmallow campfire gimmick.
She wound up cashing that in on episode three, where they hung out at Flemington Racecourse and the pair seemed to form a v. cute connection. Dr. Matt told her he wanted to be a cowboy!
Elly was also the first woman to score a second solo date, and things got heated as she and Matt went fire-twirling together. Other contestants often described the whole season as “The Elly and Matt Show“, with many evicted women dubbing her a likely winner. And she was even the favourite of Dr. Matt’s BFF, Kate.
But when she dared to bring up her misgivings about possibly The Greatest Aussie Bachy Villain Of All Time™, Abbie, Dr. Matt booted her out of the mansion, because he loves Abbie and hates drama.
Punkee spoke to Elly about having the hots for the Honey Badger, the fact that she and Dr. Matt might have been too different in the end, and how Abbie could win this thing.
Here’s what Elly had to say about her bittersweet time on The Bachelor:
On why she chose to tell the Bachelor what she really though about Abbie – and how she’s changed her mind on her rival
“There’s no doubt that I was definitely protective over Matt. I had really strong feelings for him at the time. And I really wanted just the best for him. I guess that’s why I did express those concerns to him. Looking back, I can see that Matt and Abbie do have a really strong connection – it’s pretty clear. At the end of the day, it could be any one of those four girls. At the moment I’m sort of scratching my head as to who it could be. The heart wants what it wants at the end of the day. He’s obviously got something special with Abbie, so it could be Abbie [who wins].”
On what she really thinks about the Bachelor – even though she usually goes for more of a country bloke
“He’s great. He’s a catch. Honestly. He’s not like someone I’ve dated previously, so that was really refreshing going into the experience. I can’t fault him in any way. He was lovely. He was very considerate of all of us throughout the entire experience. Very considerate and really nice. I hope he finds love at the end of it, for sure.
“I just went in there completely open to the experience. And it was really refreshing that Matt was unlike anyone I’ve ever dated before. I really liked that and valued that in him. Because it hadn’t worked out in the past, so maybe I was doing something wrong… I wanted to see where it actually would go after getting to know him.”
On the possibly “too friendly” truth of her connection with Dr. Matt
“I think with Matt and I there was a lot of humour there. There was I think a really great friendship and a lot of trust and just appreciation for each other. But I’m not sure whether everything would’ve worked out long-term anyway. Like in hindsight, coming out of the show, I don’t know whether we would have had—I think maybe we might have been just a little bit too different at the end of the day.”
On how her final one-on-one with Dr. Matt ended with a pash, not Abbie drama – so she didn’t know she’d be going home
“Yeah, it did. Of course it did. Are you kidding [laughs]. We had such a nice night. I was completely blown away [to go home]. I had no idea.”
On the real reason why she was sent home by the Bachelor
“I’ve obviously had a lot of time to think about it and I could be completely off, only Matt knows for sure why I was sent home. It could have something to do with Abbie, it could not. On TV, I know it looks like it’s got everything to do with the situation that unfolded.
“There was a conversation Matt and I had earlier on, when I gave him that flannelette shirt after our second single date, where we had a pretty intense conversation. I basically opened up and just said – I was a bit upset too – I basically said I’m just scared that I’m gonna get to the end of all of this and it’s not gonna be me because we’re too different. I guess I was just scared that he’d take me along for the ride – because we did have a great connection, we had such a wonderful time together and whatnot. I was scared I was essentially gonna get to the end and he’d be like, ‘No, not gonna happen, we’re too different.’ From that point, I noticed him pulling back a bit.”
“[When he walked me out] he also said something about how he’s had to really think about who he can really picture a future with. That’s another reason why I was like, I think at the end of the day we’re probably just a bit too different.”
On basically being relieved she was sent home before hometowns
“I remember saying to the girls, actually, in the rose ceremony before Osher came and everything. I was like, ‘Honestly, if there’s a time to go to avoid heartbreak, it’s now.’ It would have been awful because I was so upset, as seen on telly. I think I narrowly missed out on heartbreak. If I had’ve brought him into my life with my family and my friends and really seeing him in that setting, I think I would’ve been so devastated.”
On being dubbed the frontrunner by the other women
“It made me a bit uncomfortable when people would be like, ‘Oh, you’ve got this Elly,’ or blahblahblah, ‘We should just pack our bags.’ Because I didn’t feel like that for a long time. You can’t say that – only Matt knows what’s going through his head and how he’s picturing his connection with all of us girls. It was tough, but I certainly kept my head out of the clouds. I didn’t let it get to me and get too big for my boots.”
On never even finishing her The Bachelor application
“I was sorta just laying in bed one night with my dog, on my laptop, and scrolling through Facebook and an ad came up. I was very single at the time and I was like, ‘Oh yeah, let’s see what this is about…’ I half-filled out the application – it was quite an extensive application, so I just gave up and got out of it. And then I started seeing someone for like six weeks, and that didn’t work out. And then I get a phone call or email, I forget, basically saying, ‘We’d love to meet you!’ And I’m like ‘Hang on, I didn’t even finish the application.’ It just sort of snowballed from there. I thought, why not? Give it a crack.”
On the huge outpouring of support she’s received from the public
“It’s so surreal to have so many kind messages and people coming up to you in the street that you’ve never met before, but feel like they know you and have only nice things to say about you, people that you don’t know just proud of you. It’s hard to put into words because it’s such a surreal thing, but it makes me so happy.”
On her pick of all the Aussie Bachelors
“I loved Matty J, because he’s just lovely. But I think he’s a little bit too—would you describe Matt as indie? Maybe? I don’t know. He’s funky though, he’s not like weird indie or anything. I really liked Matty J. Obviously Nick Cummins appealed to me because he’s a bit of a country bloke… There’d be a slang-off [between us].”
On who she thinks could win The Bachelor
“Something’s telling me Abbie. I feel like after seeing that there could be a bit of a rocky situation going on with Helena and Matt, I don’t know if it’ll be Helena now. Chelsie and Matt, obviously they’d be great together. I can see their kids doing little science experiments. But it could be Abbie. I think it’s out of Chelsie and Abbie.”
