Long-haired actor/model and operator of heavy machinery Wesley Ford is the latest dude to get the thorny end of a rose on last night’s ep of The Bachelorette, along with 42-year-old retreat director Damien Rider.
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They’re both Queensland boys, so maybe that’s behind Ali Oetjen’s choice – or maybe she just doesn’t want a bloke ten years older than her, and isn’t into dudes with long hair (the luscious-locked Cheyne was sent packing last week).
If you haven’t seen the ep last night, and you really can’t be arsed, just read our recap here:
Speaking to PEDESTRIAN.TV, Ford laughed when asked if his mane might have been a factor in Oetjen’s choice. Still, he reckons if that’s the case then maybe Oetjen doesn’t really know what she wants:
If she’s like that then she obviously doesn’t know what she wants, to be honest. You can’t just say ‘I don’t like long-haired blokes’, because I could cut my hair tomorrow, and what she’s gonna like me [then]? [laughs].
He reckons Taite Radley – who we’ve barely seen, aside from his ironically steamy winter Mills & Boon shoot, and his time with the alpacas – might just be this season’s winner:
My odds are sort of on Taite maybe. I dunno, when I was in there they all could’ve won but it felt like Taite had a little twinkle in his eye that he sorta could’ve taken out the lead as such. I wish ’em all the best and hopefully she stays with whoever she decides.
Then does Ford reckon Oetjen won’t end up the bloke she chooses in the finale? Does he think Oetjen doesn’t really know what she’s doing when it comes to finding the right man on the telly?
I think there’s a difference between saying [you know what you want] and actually doing it. I don’t know if she knows what she really wants. She’s sort of a little bit uneasy on that situation. Usually when you’re uneasy, that’s what you get in life – you get uneasy.
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Nevertheless Ford thinks he got a fair go, albeit “not much of a go“, and did have a few opportunities to speak with Oetjen. He can’t pinpoint anything that would indicate he and the Bachelorette were on different life trajectories or that she intended to send him home. Except, well, he might have rubbed her the wrong way in their last chat.
We sort of got along with the chats and that – I’m around her same age – [and] most of our conversations were sweet. Just our last one was a little bit um—she just said she keeps her cards close to her chest and I sort of questioned her and said ‘Well, why are you doing that when you wanna find love and meet someone who you wanna spend the rest of your life with? You can’t be hiding your cards – you’ve gotta show who you are.’ I don’t know if she took that the wrong way.
Ford admits freely that he only went on the show because he was asked by producers to audition. He’d been asked for a number of years he says, because they were familiar with him thanks to his side career as an actor and model: “I’ve been asked a few years to go on there, and I sorta thought ‘I’m not going on that silly show.’ But then I thought I’m getting a bit older, why not just give it a crack? So I went on.”
While he says it was “a little bit of a kick in the guts to leave so early“, and he would’ve appreciated a little more time to really “show who I am“, he’s happy with how he went, and wouldn’t do anything differently.
I just wanted to be me. I could’ve been a Paddy or a Nathan and sorta went out and loud and proud, but at the same time I didn’t want to show people that. I just wanted to show people who I am, and if i get voted off, then I get voted off. I wouldn’t do anything different.
Seems as good a time as any to ask Ford to dish on the other blokes vying for Oetjen’s affection. He says they were “generally good guys, just a couple were playing more of a game than others“.
When pressed for details – tea, pls spill it, givvus names – he said “Probably everyone’s playing a bit of a game. The loudest guys are usually the ones playing the game is my opinion.”
We tried to tease out if that meant Paddy Colliar and Nathan Favro, but Ford dismissed that possibility, saying that he reckons those young guys are “just there for fun“:
They’re not gonna end up with an older lady, especially not settle down in the next year or two. My opinion is the older guys should be the ones that would end up with her but I dunno if that will be the case.
So maybe the ‘loud’ ones Ford’s referring to are the vocal ones, the ones will all the pieces-to-camera, the ones set up as big personalities/hot favourites. Which puts us onto that rivalry between Bill Goldsmith and Charlie Newling. Real or television magic?
Some stuff was magnified more than what it actually was. There was tension in the house, but they overdid it more than what it actually was. A couple of the big dogs in the house – that tension was brewing and it was real.
Ford’s not back in the dating game just yet. He says he’s still single because he’s been too busy with work: “I’ve just been working hard lately and I’ve been doing a lot of my acting so I haven’t had much time. [Still] I’m always open to meeting new people, and seeing how that plays out.“
