When you think of Bachelor in Paradise, you think of fun in the sun, love in the hammocks and drinks by the pool.
But for our latest Paradise evictee, Rachael Gouvignon, that was far from her reality when it came to her tense dynamic with co-star Alex Nation.
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“That girl is a master manipulator when it comes to men,” Rachael told us in an exclusive chat.
“And getting what she wants out of reality TV.”
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“She does it in a way that just looks so natural to her.”
“I just don’t know where to start, I just have a lot to say about Alex.”
On Thursday, the pair were caught on camera in a never-before-seen video on Ten Play, where Rachael confronts Alex about lying in their season of The Bachelor back in 2016.
Rachael and Alex face-off in a fiery conversation. (Source: Network Ten)
According to Rachael, Alex had told Nikki Gogan that she made some pretty harsh comments about her parenting skills – something which Rach said never happened.
“I was mortified when I saw that conversation with Nikki,” Rachael told her.
“I can’t believe you’ve just lied on national television about something like that.”
“I didn’t lie,” Alex said. “I definitely didn’t lie.”
“Okay, wow, you’re going down that track? I can’t believe you’re just literally lying right now,” she continued.
“I have actually been waiting for years for you to apologise to me.”
To which Alex responded: “I’m not going to apologise to you. Because I know what happened.”
Ouch! So no love lost, then?
WATCH NEXT: The fiery face-off between Rachael and Alex
Story continues after the video…
Of course, being on the same season as her arch-nemesis meant that they had one thing in common… Richie Strahan.
And for Rachael, seeing him in Paradise felt like a second chance.
“There were scenarios in my head that made feel like, ‘oh this would be so easy.’ We’re at a similar age, we’ve got a lot of the same interests. We have mutual friends and he’s literally around the corner and it just made a lot of sense that it would be a great relationship.”
“But, you could see a lot of damage that Alex had done and I thought, I don’t even know if you’re ready to date anyone.”
“I know he was open to exploring relationships but I guess where I’m at, I went in looking for a guy to establish a relationship with and potentially fall in love and I just don’t know if he was on the same page as me.”
Rachael did admit that the edit she got on BIP made her “anxious, sick” and “unable to eat” before every episode, especially because we didn’t see everything between her and Richie.
Rachael revealed that she and Richie did share a connection. (Source: Network Ten)
“He gave me a lot of opening lines saying that he had concerns with Cass [Wood] and wanted to spend some time talking to me about a few things,” she explained to NTL.
“Our dinner was for three hours and there were no awkward silences like they showed.”
“He was asking what it would be like being in a relationship with me outside of Paradise. It was romantic and the connection was there.”
The following day, Richie said he wanted to hang out with her but “everywhere Richie was, Cass was there – she was with him all the time.”
Cass Wood and Richie Strahan on the set of Bachelor in Paradise. (Source: Network Ten)
Richie and Cass ended up on stand-up paddle boards, laughing and “all over each other in my eye-line” and that’s when Rach realised she had “no chance to spend time together.”
Richie then told Rachael: “It’s really hard for me. I don’t know how to juggle two people” so I had to just suck it up and be like, “well that’s fine – you just go ahead with Cass.”
While Cass and Richie don’t seem to be together anymore, it’s all in the past for Rachael who is still searching for her Mr Right.
“I am still single,” she revealed.
“I’ve been exploring younger men, which is what Nathan [Favro] taught me – to be open, and I’m looking at the connection, not just the age.”
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