He’s the charismatic Brit doing his best to steal Angie’s heart on The Bachelorette Australia, but beneath the confident smile, Ciarran is nursing the wounds of a difficult upbringing.
“I’m from a poor area in Bolton [near Manchester], and growing up, we didn’t have much money,” reveals Ciarran, who was raised by his single mother. “It was a rough place; we lived on a council estate.”
Ciarran also found himself in the middle of a bruising battle between his parents after he packed up and moved to Perth with his father as a teenager.
“My dad moved back here when I was 13,” Ciarran says. “I came for a holiday and loved it, so decided to come back for six months and go to school.
“After the six months was up, I wanted to stay, so I rang my mum and said I didn’t want to come back. We fell out after that because she felt like my dad had stolen me away.
“We didn’t talk until I was 18 years old – she felt like I had abandoned her.”
Ciarran has quickly become a fan-favourite on The Bachelorette.
Ciarran’s childhood of family disputes and challenges has dulled the drive to one day have children of his own.
“For me, having kids isn’t on the cards,” he says. “I’m the oldest – I had to help raise my younger siblings, change nappies, look after them until I was 18, so I feel like I’ve done the parent thing.”
While Ciarran’s decision might be cause for concern for Bachelorette Angie, who has told TV WEEK she “definitely wants kids”, he doesn’t seem too worried.
“People call it selfish, but it’s just my view on it at this stage in my life. I want to travel. I have other things I want to do,” he says.
“I’m only 26. A lot of things could change in the next five or 10 years, but that’s where I’m at right now.”
Ciarran made a great first impression on Angie.
The Bachelorette Australia airs Wednesday and Thursday, 7.30pm, on 10.
