When Melbourne-based astrophysicist Matt Agnew was announced as the Bachelor, flocks of fans raced to their phones to look him up on Instagram, desperate for information on the new suitor.
Except no profiles were found.
Yep, ahead of filming Matt, 32, wiped his digital footprint, he tells TV WEEK, and later on, following the big reveal, created a new Instagram account to promote his role as the Bachelor.
But why?
“What you see is… I’ve had a past Instagram,” he admits when we asked where his social media profiles were.
“Essentially I’ve had a lot of mates, friends and family… and I thought I don’t know what the situation will be with their privacy, so I decided to deactivate it,” he confesses.
Indeed, after confessing to TV WEEK that his parents were worried about how his private life would become public and open to scrutiny following his appearance on the reality series, Matt confesses he was equally as protective about the people in his life.
“I don’t mind people trawling through my stuff” he says. “But it was more a case of there is other people’s privacy that potentially is open to be invaded.
“I mean, there are no scandalous things to be found anyway.”
Matt says he didn’t bother telling his family about his auditioning for the series until he was told it was actually going ahead.
“I got the offer, I called my parents and had to say, ‘Oh there’s something I need to tell you.'” he recalls. “It was kind of a bit of a shock for them, because I hadn’t dripped or drabbed the process, so they were aware that things were going. It was just like, “Matt’s dropped this on us, and said he’s potentially going to accept this and be the Bachelor.”
Despite their original reservations, his parents couldn’t be happier for him.
“Overall, they’re very, very supportive and excited about the process and excited about me hopefully finding love.”
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