‘I friendzoned him for three years’: Former Bachelor contestant Cassandra Mamone finds love

It took three years, stints on The Bachelor and Bachelor in Paradise, a trip to Europe and a plate of Pad Thai for Cassandra to realise ‘The One’ had been there all along.

An Adelaide former Bachelor and Bachelor in Paradise contestant has found love years after the show’s conclusion.

“Jeweller to the stars”, 37-year-old Cassandra Mamone “friendzoned” Charlie Chau, 36, the owner of Brown Charlie, for three years before the business owner told her he loved her at the international departure gate at Adelaide Airport three months ago.

“He does this little dippy thing, it’s really cute, he did that and kissed me and … said I love you,” she said.

“I said it straight back and he’s the first guy I’ve ever said it straight back to which was really sweet.”

Cass spent the 24hr flight to Europe, where she would be for the next seven weeks, sketching her future engagement ring.

Former Bachelor contestant Cassandra Mamone, 37, and coffee shop owner, Charlie Chau, 36, are now officially dating.

Charlie told Cass he loved her at the international departure gate at the airport, moments before her flight to Europe.

Cass meet Charlie in a coffee shop in 2019. She had just come out of Adelaide astrophysicist Matt Agnew’s season of The Bachelor and was listening to a podcast that encouraged her to “do something out of your normal routine”.

Instead of driving straight to work, she decided to stop at a coffee shop at Hindmarsh.

“I walked into his coffee shop … and was greeted by this gorgeous smiling guy and started chatting and then we basically became friends,” Cass said.

Charlie asked her out a few months later but Cass wasn’t ready for a relationship.

“I was more guarded,” the jewellery designer said.

“There was a bit more of a shell that he had to crack through … which is probably why it took three years to my heart.”

The pair met at Charlie’s coffee shop, Brown Charlies.

“Sometimes you look for that real fairytale … sometimes you realise you have that,” she said.

After three years of friendship, including a 2020 stint on The Bachelor in Paradise, Cass began to realise that perhaps her Prince Charming had been by her side all along.

“Sometimes we look for that real fairytale romance that sweeps you off your feet and sometimes you realise you have that when you look back at it,” she said.

“I was like you were in front of me the whole time.

“This person has been next to me for three years as a friend and now I see him in a completely different light like I always knew he was beautiful, I always knew that, but once you start to like someone and fall for them, it’s just like, you see so much more wonderful things about them and you’re like how did I not see that before?”

After three years of friendship, including her stint on the 2020 season of The Bachelor in Paradise, Cass began to realise Charlie was her person.

Cassandra Mamone at her jeweller.

The moment Cass realised Charlie was ‘The One’ was while the pair were sitting at Social Street S2 on Hutt St.

“He always shares his food with me,” she said.

“The waitress asked if I wanted chilli in my Pad Thai and I said no, no very mild, because I can’t do chilli.

“She turned to him (Charlie) and asked him if he wanted chilli in his.

“And it was the moment he told her to put it on the side of his meal that I just went, wow, this guy is so thoughtful.”

According to Cass, it’s safe to say that if it weren’t for a bit of chilli on the side of a Pad Thai and a bloody good “sticky chai latte”, perhaps their fairytale would never have happened – but she is very glad it did.