Lisa Hyde is absolutely living her best life since a) leaving Bachelor In Paradise and b) dumping former boyfriend Luke McLeod after he cheated.
The 31-year-old designer has been doing the media rounds this morning, having to explain that while yes, the couple did leave Fiji on last night’s Paradise to make things work in the real world, they’d since split amid cheating allegations. (The Daily Telegraph reports that Luke, also 31, hooked up with a 19-year-old on a boys night out.)
But despite that hurdle, she’s now free to stop keeping the Paradise secrets and move on. She’s also living her best life, expanding her sunglasses business Shevoke internationally and going back to dating the “old-fashioned way”.
When we spoke to her this morning, she also called bullshit on Luke’s explainer that their relationship was put under enormous strain after coming out of Paradise.
“I feel it’s a little bit of a cop out,” she told us – and fair enough.
Have a read of the full chat below.
PEDESTRIAN.TV: How are you dealing with the last 24 hours?
LISA: Oh my god [laughs]. I didn’t sleep much last night to be honest, and I was up at 5:30 this morning, and it’s been non-stop talking about my relationship with Luke. You can imagine how I’m feeling, but I’m trying to see the positive side of things and move past it.
P.TV: Is it a relief to be able to talk about it now and just move on with your life?
LISA: Yeah, look it’s going to be a relief to move on and not have to talk about it again, to be honest. Having it in the public eye is a bit easier – my family can read it, so they don’t have to ask me about it [laughs]. So all my friends can read it here, don’t ask me about it, okay?
Lisa is not here to be messed with. #BachelorInParadiseAU pic.twitter.com/ZaXQNcjH1E
— Bachelor In Paradise Australia (@BachParadiseAU) April 11, 2018
P.TV: So obviously you guys made the decision to leave, and you said there was a business opportunity going up. see how the relationship would go in the real world. What was your thought process behind making that decision?
LISA: I’ve had a lot of people write in and say, ‘Why would you leave Paradise?’ and to be honest, there’s one week left, I was quite confident where I was with my feelings for Luke, and I had an opportunity with work come through that it was really hard to pass up. Luke and I chatted about it for a few days. And we were both on the same page, and we were kind of in a position where we said, well, we both live in Sydney, we’re going to have to go back to real life sooner or later, if there’s a really urgent reason for me to go back – and there was – and Luke supported that decision that we made, and we ended up leaving together. And I don’t regret the decision. I’m working on that business deal at the moment, and we dated after the show. It wasn’t anything to really break us up, it’s just that we weren’t sitting in the sun drinking cocktails all day, we were actually dating without cameras in our face.
P.TV: I spoke to Luke this morning, and he was talking about how he found it pretty hard coming out of this world of Paradise and going into the real world, where you deal with jobs and life, and having to keep it secret, so you can’t go out and go to dinner like other couples.
LISA: Oh yeah [scoffs].
P.TV: Did you find it hard as well, that transition?
LISA: Honestly, I’ve heard that a few times this morning, and I feel it’s a little bit of a cop out. Like we spent nearly every day together, we went down to the beach in Tamarama, we went out for dinner, we went camping, he met my family, I met his family, it wasn’t hard at all to be around. That’s the same as the other couples who are still together. Yeah. I don’t see how it was pressure to be together. But yeah. It’s just normal. It you like someone you see them, you know? I don’t know where he’s going with that one, it’s a confusing angle that everyone keeps asking me about, and I’m like, ‘No, we hung out every day’.
P.TV: Tell me about this business opportunity, if you are able to speak about it. Is it to do with [your sunglasses business] Shevoke?
LISA: Oh, I’m so excited! I can’t tell you just yet, but it’s really exciting. I’ve just come home from London, I did a trip to London and Paris, and there’s a department store in London that are interested in my brand Shevoke. I can’t wait to share the news, but I’m currently working on it right now.
LISA: Obviously I do put myself out there to work, and I put a lot of pressure on myself to work hard and achieve my goals, but in saying that, I did take time off from work to meet someone as well. I don’t put one in front of the other. A lot of people are saying, ‘Why would you do the work opportunity?’ and I just think, these people are lazy. Have you never run a business? You’ve got to get back to real life someday. For me it was a no brainer. I went with my heart, and my head, and I asked him if he wanted to leave, and he was very happy with the decision. It’s confusing as to why people can’t see that when you have a job, sometimes you have to work.
P.TV: So let’s talk about this proposal that Channel 10 keeps teasing us is going to happen. There’s been different reports – some say it’s Sam and Tara, others say it’s Jarrod and Keira. From your time on the show, did you see that any of these couples seemed more likely to make that decision?
LISA: I can’t be a spoiler! Obviously you’ve gotta wait for it to happen, I don’t want to spoil the ending. But yeah, people did find love there, and I’m really really happy for a number of people.
P.TV: Do you still chat to people from Paradise?
LISA: Yeah, yeah, of course, we all have a group chat, we all keep in contact. I’ve had a lot of messages from everyone this morning and last night, and everyone’s been very supportive. May not have been me that found love, but I’m really happy for my friends.
P.TV: Are you dating anyone at the moment?
LISA: No, I’m not. I think I’m going to go back to the old fashioned way of dating, see if I can find someone without being on a dating show.
P.TV: And finally, what’s next for you?
LISA: I’ve kind of gone back to the swing of things and back to my life that I was living before Bachelor In Paradise, and working on my business Shevoke and growing it internationally at the moment, within Asia and Europe, which is very exciting! That’s what I’ll be doing over the next few months, hopefully I meet a man who respects that, and is also someone who has similar values and morals.
(Side note – apparently, Michael is keen to see where things lead once the dust settles down a bit, so HELLO, extremely tight-shirted man.)
