Their spark was instant but it faded fast.
And on tonight’s episode of The Bachelor Australia the show’s resident tennis ace Lisa Carlton was sent packing.
But the down-to-earth 25-year-old won’t be going home with a broken heart.
In fact, she tells Now To Love she couldn’t be more excited for Matty J and his Chosen One – who happens to be one of her very good friends in the house…
Talk us through your final rose ceremony, what happened?
It’s probably a bit of a shock for some people. I knew my time was up. My feelings for Matty weren’t very strong compared to the rest of the girls that were in there. I did express that to him on many occasions – that it’s difficult to open up to someone in that environment.
And my single date with him was so long ago and so much time had passed, I really can’t see myself developing strong feelings for him with the amount of time we had left. I was really honest with him and I think he was really respectful with that. It was my time to go!
You guys had such an instant chemistry, was it a shame Matty didn’t pursue that?
I really have no idea! My single date was one of the first ones and that was within the first week, so I knew that I wasn’t going to get another date for quite a while. I guess once the second single dates started rolling in I thought, “Maybe I’ll get one soon!”
Then Elora got one, Laura got one, Tara got one… So I was like, what’s going on here? I honestly have no idea why I didn’t get another date but I guess that Matty just felt he didn’t have feelings for me either and thought he didn’t want to waste a single date on a girl who I can’t see anything with. I’m sure it came from him as well as me. I think our feelings are mutual!
What are your feelings towards Matty now?
I could only ever speak very highly of him. He’s a great guy and it was such a pleasure to get to know him. It sucks it didn’t work out but you can’t force yourself to have feelings for someone. He’s a great guy and he’s happy now which is really awesome.
Matty and Lisa hit it off to begin with.
Do you regret saying you saw Matty as a brother?
Not at all! I don’t think that has anything to do with me going in tonight’s episode. Everyone knows what Jen is like and she was on the chopping block that night and she just wanted to bring someone down with her and I happened to be that person.
I think Matty knows me and what I’m like, and he knows what she’s like.
Have you seen Jen since that fiery face-off?
No, she lives in Sydney and I’m in Melbourne. We weren’t overly close in the house anyway… I don’t have any animosity against Jen. I didn’t respect a lot of her behaviour on the show, I think she was quite nasty at times and I stayed away from that.
If I saw her on the street I’d be like, “Yo, Jen!” But I’m probably not going to stay over at her house if I’m in Sydney!
Do you wish you spoke up more and were more forward in grabbing Matty for time?
No, I don’t regret anything. Cocktail parties can be a bit awkward but you’ve just got the be respectful of each other and how much time everyone has had.
There were cocktail parties where I didn’t speak to him, but most of them I did.
But he failed to ever ask her out on a second date.
Were you happy with your portrayal?
Yeah, of course. I was exactly who I was, I wasn’t anyone different so I think that’s shown on TV. I haven’t gotten a lot of airtime over the past few weeks, I don’t know why? I wasn’t at all nasty to anyone in the house, so they can’t manipulate me into someone else! I’m totally happy with how I’ve come across.
Why did you decide to go on the show?
To be honest, it just had popped up on Facebook or something. It was really late one night and I was going to Byron Bay the next day with a bunch of my girlfriends and I was like, “You know what? F— it! Yolo, it will be funny.”
I applied thinking it would take ten minutes and it took three hours! I sent it off, went on my holiday and then it all just fell into place a few months later – it was really crazy!
It’s one of those things where you put yourself out of your comfort zone and I don’t regret it at all. It was a unique experience! I didn’t leave heartbroken and I did give it my all at the time. I wouldn’t change anything.
Do you think Matty J has found love?
Yeah, he’s in love! I was really close with a lot of the girls who are still in the house. He’s in love and I’m really happy for him and for her! They’re both really great people.
Who do you think will win, it’s so hard to tell at the moment!
Umm, (laughs) I kind of know. So I can’t really say!
What, how do you know! Is it because you’re such good mates with the person who wins?
Yeah… But I’ll give you four names.
I would say Flo, Tara, Elise and Laura. They honestly would have been my top four picks on the third week in.
Here you have it, Lisa’s top picks – Flo, Tara, Elise and Laura. And apparently the winner is in here somewhere, OR she could be totally outsmarting us by NOT putting them in this line-up.
So which girls will you be keeping in touch with?
I speak to a bunch of them literally every day. I’m really close with Elise, Laura, Tara, Flo, Coby.
There’s a solid bunch of us who are really good friends. I couldn’t not think of anything better to come out of the Bach, apart from not ending up with Matty!
There’s a bit of a curse with lots of Bachelor couples who struggle to make it past the 12-18 month mark, do you think they’ll be able to make it last?
I would hope so. He’s said he’s in love and I know she’s in love with him as well, so that’s really amazing. Obviously there’s going to be a lot of pressure that comes with those two being social figures.
I think it will be very difficult at times but as long as they’ve got a strong connection and can support one another I think that’s the main thing… Hopefully it works out! They’re both great people so I don’t see why it wouldn’t.
Are you dating anyone now?
No, no, no. I’ve literally just been chilling at home and kept my head down.
The viewers did really see me as a front-runner and I didn’t want to ruin that for anyone and go out clubbing and go out with one of my guy mates and have dinner. It’s fun having people think that I actually ended up with him! I wasn’t big on dating anyway so I’ve just been focusing on myself and doing my own thing. When someone comes along, that’s fine but I’m not in a rush!
What’s next for you, would you be open to more reality TV?
When I got home I was like, “Oh my god! I am never doing reality TV again.” But watching it back, I’ve realised it was so much fun.
I’m still studying and I love the health and fitness industry and I want to do more work in that. Other than that, my life hasn’t changed!
