Lily Reckons Brooke Only Came Back To The Bachelor Because She Sees It As A Competition To Win

The Bachelor Australia, Lily

I don’t know about you lot, but I was bloody shocked to see Lily Price not receive a rose on last night’s episode of The Bachelor Australia. I thought she would’ve at least made hometowns, considering how strong her connection with Jimmy Nicholson was.

According to Lily, the amount of time she shared with Jimmy was what it came down to and at the end of the day, she just didn’t have enough of it. That said, it probably didn’t help that Brooke Cleal returned to the mansion and took up a chunk of that precious time with Jimmy.

Here’s what Lily had to say about her stint on The Bachelor Australia, annnnd her thoughts on Brooke’s return.

PEDESTRIAN.TV: What did you think of last night’s episode?

Lily Price: [laughs] Um, Brooke coming to interrupt me [during the cocktail party] wasn’t the best timing, considering she had the entire day beforehand to speak to Jimmy. And I’m not sure why she decided to bring me up [on their date]. I think it’s not good to shame other women, but that’s just my opinion. I would never do that. But yeah, it was definitely hard to watch because it’s never good to see yourself upset.

[For context: Brooke asked Jimmy what kind of “connection” he wanted after she saw paparazzi pics of Lily and Jimmy making out on the beach.]

PTV: It looked like you had such a genuinely strong connection with Jimmy. What happened?

LP: Yeah, I sort of asked myself that after I left and I think it was just a matter of time. I would’ve loved to have had that last single date. I was sort of banking on that one a little bit – um, we definitely hit the ground running in the first-half of the season and a lot of that hasn’t been shown. But that’s okay – a lot of it was just me – I think I realised a lot was at stake for me, putting my heart on the line. It was getting hard for me to open up, knowing that some people weren’t genuine and were, you know, getting a bit further than they should’ve.

PTV: Did you have a feeling you were going home?

LP: Yeah, I definitely knew. There was something within my heart that week. It wasn’t feeling right anymore and Jimmy’s really emotionally intelligent and I think he could read that from me. So I think we both knew it was for the best.

PTV: So a lot of last night’s episode focused on Brooke’s compatibility with Jimmy – 

LP: Mmm.

PTV: Did all the women know about how Brooke felt or was that sprung on you during the cocktail party?

LP: Yeah, she was very vocal about the fact that she wasn’t sure about his lifestyle, or she’d make comments about some of his characteristics. She’d been saying that for weeks, so we were really shocked to see her back, if I’m honest. And then to go on the date and not address any of it, it was just a stark reminder that – to me – that you need to be having these conversations straight-up, so you’re not wasting everyone’s time.

It was frustrating to watch because I know that with Jimmy I had been honest from day dot and I had those hard conversations, early on. And I think you do need to have those hard conversations early on, so you know whether or not it’s going to work.

PTV: Did any of you in the mansion encourage Brooke to say something?

LP: We all said to her, definitely, that she needs to tell Jimmy how she’s feeling, but we’d done it for weeks so we just assumed that when she left [on the single date] that she had told him. And so when she came back and she said she hadn’t addressed any of it, we were all just a bit discombobulated by that.

We were like, ‘We’ve been here for 10 weeks by the point, how have you not?’ – like, these are big conversations that you need to be having straight away.

PTV: So in saying that, did you expect Brooke to return?

LP: I was a 50/50 on whether she would come back, because I knew she had a lot of concerns and then – I don’t know, I think she sort of saw it more as a competition rather than finding love. I think that’s why she came back.

PTV: Wait, are you saying that Brooke isn’t one of the more genuine women on the show?

LP: Umm, no, I think she sort of just wanted to finish what she started. She definitely picked herself to win from the start.

The Bachelor Australia airs Wednesdays and Thursdays on Channel 10.

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