The Season Two Bachelor villain has come face to face (or lip to lip) with another dirty street pie…
After dating multiple dirty street pies – ahem, we’re looking at you, Blake Garvey – Laurina Fleure giving love on the screen another crack!
Yep, the beauty is headed into Paradise where she’s rumoured to ride off in the sunset with Sophie Monk’s bad boy ex Blake Colman… or will she?
“Oh look, I think there are definitely going to be some cringey moments, but we’ll just see what happens,” Laurina says, explaining she’s nervous to watch it all back. “I might be a little bit embarrassed about someone I may have pashed…” Eeeek!
We check in with the beauty to chat about what really went down in Paradise!
OK, the series hasn’t even aired yet and you’ve already got regrets. Did one too many cocktails send you down a naughty path?
No, I was actually sober while I was there! I let everybody else drink all day, every day and I kept my system pretty clean. I was going through quite a strong, detoxing space in my life and I wanted to hold onto that. I did have one drink in there, but I didn’t drink every day just for the sake of it.
Weren’t you tempted to drink?
Well I was a little bit. I went on a little bit of a healing exploration, where I quit drinking and smoking and any type of partying for six months. I went on a bit of a spiritual journey, finding myself and realigning myself with life, so I actually got to a place where I felt so amazing not drinking because I was in a place where I felt like, if you need to get your spirit from without, then you’re not really aligned within yourself and in the best space you can be in.
So if you really work on yourself a lot, you’re drunk on life all the time and you don’t need a drink to get up. I was sort of in that space for quite some time before I went in and it was wonderful.
So you got to sit back and watch everyone else make drunken fools of themselves?
Not really – everyone was pretty well behaved. I didn’t see too much drunken behaviour. Occasionally, some of the girls would burst into tears but I think that was just the pressure of the environment, mixed with the alcohol.
Were there any tears from you?
Yeah, quite a few! It’s like a love pressure cooker in there. I know all the girls at some point felt like it was too much pressure feeling like you’ve got to please somebody who’s attached to you and you’re not as attached to them. You don’t want to hurt them, but at the same time you’ve got to let them down gently and you don’t how you feel and it’s a lot of pressure. It all adds to it!
God, that is full-on!
Yeah, you might have someone who likes you a lot more than you like them and they want more commitment from you, or they’re not as invested in you as you are in them, or you’re keeping your options open for who else walks through the door. And then that person who likes you is getting pissed off with you talking to someone else and creating a funny vibe. And then you’ve got production asking you all these questions about how you feel and what you’re going to do. Every girl in there burst into tears at some point!
BiP is a lot racier than The Bachelor. How’d you feel about that?
I guess it just made me a little bit nervous that “I hope I don’t let my guard down too much” because once you get in an experience like this, you become immersed in it. You don’t want to start just getting too loose and too comfortable in this sort of sensual environment and do something that you’ll be slapping yourself for later.
Did that happen?
Maybe a tiny little bit. I got a little bit comfortable and then afterwards I was thinking, “Oh God, I would have preferred if I’d just been a little bit more of a prude.”
Everyone remembers you as the OG Bachelor villain; do you think that’s a fair label?
I don’t know… I did rub up all the girls the wrong way at first, so they did all turn on me for a bit there, so I guess that could be the villain. It is up to the editing, so they could have taken one of those bitches who was being a bitch and causing a fight and made her the villain. Every person’s got that side where they might say something a little out of line, but they’ve also got their good qualities, too. The villain will never be edited in a way that shows their flattering characteristics.
Are you hoping you’re portrayed in a better light this time?
Well, I’ve gone to a different space. I think when I was younger I was a bit more defensive, I didn’t know myself well and I had a bit more to prove, so when anybody tried to dismiss me or judge me I became very defensive. I’ve grown a lot and I probably wouldn’t be as defensive now or even attract those sort of behaviours. I did say to [the producers], “You’re not going to get the villain from me this time. I’m on a different page now.”
Were they disappointed?
Maybe! [Laughs] But there’s always someone to fill that spot.
Keira Maguire was also slapped with the villain title – was there any competitiveness between you two?
To be honest, I expected it. I had my guard up a little bit because I know that Keira has been renowned for creating drama. But no, we hit it off immediately.
Will we see a different side of you on BIP?
I hope so. I mean, I was going through a lot in my life at the time so I was really finding myself again after having lots of life events that really shook me up. I’m even curious to see how I was. I was going through something different in my life and I don’t even know who I was really.
What were you going through?
Look, it was a lot of nasty stuff. It was two really horrific breakups and I lost my dad and I lost my brother and my dog and I lost my business and I lost my apartment and all this stuff just happened in a year. Life pulled the rug out from underneath me. I lost myself, you know. I think when you have some really dark times like that, my friend who’s a psychic said it’s called the dark night of the soul, and it’s when you experience a lot of darkness right before you find yourself and find God and find light. You know, all these things happen and they seem traumatic at the time but they strengthen you and they strengthen your connection to life. You come out a lot more grown and whole and healed.
Those bad break-ups didn’t turn you off trying to find love again?
No, I don’t think I could ever get turned off finding love. I’m a big believer in love and it certainly fulfils my life a lot when I have it. It shapes my life a lot.
Did you have high hopes going in?
Well, I sort of did have high hopes because production had told me they were getting some new boys in, some we’d never met before and that there was one that would be absolutely perfect for me so I was curious.
What would you have done if you’d turned up and Blake Garvey was in Paradise?
Um, it would have been pretty awkward, as he and I have had some subtle mud-slinging at each other in the media over the years after the show, so that would have been a little bit awkward. But it would have been kudos to him if he did come back as he wasn’t very well received so it would have taken a lot of bravery to come back out, so I didn’t expect him to be there.
Were there any particular guys you were hoping were there?
Not really. I was just hoping that everyone that would be there would be really fun and light hearted and easy to get along with.
How about Michael Turnbull – he has a bit of a crush on you!
That’s very lovely! He’s a gorgeous guy Michael – He’s really lovely and really sweet and very gentle and I think he’s got a lot of love to give.
OK, so tell us about what nips and tucks you had before heading into Paradise?
I had my eyes touched up a little bit. I tried to sort fix a bit of the ageing that’s coming along there, but mostly I tried to keep it relatively natural. I didn’t want to have big lips or a waxy forehead. I thought, all the girls are going to have the work done when I go in, I think I’ll probably stand out more by being a bit more natural. So I just did my eyes. I just did some Botox around my crow’s feet and got a little bit of filler around there too.
Did you do your lips?
No. I thought all the girls will do their lips – I’m going to keep it natural.
