‘It’s not only me, I’m not alone’: Former Bachelorette Georgia Love on dating disasters, wedding plans and her new podcast
Former Bachelorette star Georgia Love is used to putting her love life out there. Now, she is exposing jaw-dropping tales of romance-gone-wrong.
Hibernation
Don't miss out on the headlines from Hibernation. Followed categories will be added to My News.
It may be that her surname is “Love” or that she found romance on reality TV but Georgia Love has become a bit of an expert on finding The One.
“Maybe because of The Bachelorette and my surname, people look at me as an oracle of someone who knows (about dating),” Love says with a laugh.
The former Bachelorette star, 31, often finds herself dishing out dating advice to friends – so much so, that it inspired her new podcast, Everyone Has an Ex. It started after a conversation between Love and her now-producer, Linda, whose former relationship became the inspiration for the doco-style weekly podcast series.
“She told me (her dating disaster) casually over dinner one night when we were on holidays, and I went, ‘holy sh*t you need to do something with this story,’” Love says, speaking from her quarantine setting — the home she shares with fiance, Lee Elliott.
“And then that kind of became the seed.”
The stories on Everyone Has an Ex are real, unconventional, and at times more juicy than a Gossip Girl plot (sans Chuck and Blair), as Love navigates “tales of public humiliation and prison to forbidden love and funerals”.
Among the dating stories is an episode about a woman “who was engaged and the morning after her hen’s party, she got a message from her fiance’s ex that isn’t something you’d want to receive”.
“It’s one of those horror stories you wouldn’t want to wish on your worst enemy,” Love says, as a faint meow can be heard over the phone.
“Sorry about that, it’s Pawdry Hepburn,” Love explains, of her cat’s interruption.
“She’s loving this isolation thing, we don’t go out, she gets to sleep on the bed every night. She’s loving life.”
DATING GURU
So what is it that fascinates Love – and all of us – about dating mishaps?“ Wanting to feel like you’re not a failure,” the TV news reporter muses.
“And most people have had a failed relationship whether that has been on them or on the other person.
“Hearing other people’s stories just makes you feel a bit better about yourself.
“It’s not only me, I’m not alone. There’s something in human nature that’s voyeuristic and juicy and we like hearing other people’s stories.
“They’re the kind of stories you hear and you retell at a dinner party. It’s not a ‘he cheated on me’ podcast in the slightest.”
And how has Love managed to launch and record a podcast during the current era of social distancing and self-isolation?
“Six of the episodes we did before all of this,” Love says. “And the (recent ones), I set up all the equipment, dropped it off on the doorstep, they took it inside and then picked it up afterwards.
“We want to deliver something new. It can be really easy to decide to do a podcast, record yourself, and hit publish.
“And we thought no, we want to give people more than just that.
“We didn’t just want to do a podcast. We heard amazing stories and we thought, these need to be told.
“Rather than talking about the stories, we thought, no, we’ll tell the stories. That’s what I do for a job – I tell stories.”
WEDDED PAUSE
Of course, Love found fame nearly four years ago as the series star of The Bachelorette where she met Elliott, 38.
They had planned to tie the knot in Italy next year but have had to revert to Plan B due to the coronavirus crisis.
“Thankfully we hadn’t actually booked anything yet,” Love says. “I can’t even imagine what so many people are having to do, to cancel weddings that they have planned.”
Instead, the couple are going to keep it simple.
“We’re reassessing and maybe we will do something at home in Australia,” Love adds.
“Maybe this is a sign that we should just keep it simple. And then go on a big epic honeymoon at some point.
“We do want the big party. We want that aspect of it so we’ll wait until we can have that.”
REAL FAN
Speaking of The Bachelorette, Love still describes herself as a “super fan” of the reality TV series but says she and Elliot “kind of forget that’s how we met”.
“We’re just a very, very normal boring couple in our day to day lives,” she says.
“We’re grateful that that’s how we met – it’s such a cool thing. If or when we want to go back and watch the moment that we met, we can literally do that.
“And how amazing an opportunity is that.
“When we’re sitting on the couch in our trackies arguing about who is going to cook dinner, it’s a far cry from the Bachelorette mansion.
“We might not have ever met if it wasn’t for that show.”
Both Love and Elliott are still friendly with some of the other boys who tried to win Love’s heart on the show, including fan favourite firefighter Cam Cranley.
“Cam is one of our best friends,” Love says, adding the couple also still see Clancy Ryan and Matt Dunn.
“Matt and Clancy both live in Melbourne and it’s so easy to catch up with them,” Love says.
“Cam is such a beautiful person, he and Lee were besties in the house. I wasn’t keeping them apart!”
Day to day, Love works as a TV news reporter with Ten where she became a pro at DIY hair and makeup even before beauty salons were shut down due to lockdown restrictions.
“Reporting we always do our own makeup and wardrobe,” Love says.
“I miss my shellac (polish) – I’m no good at painting my nails myself, I’ve learnt.”
Everyone Has an Ex is released weekly via iTunes, Spotify and other podcast platforms.
Originally published as ‘It’s not only me, I’m not alone’: Former Bachelorette Georgia Love on dating disasters, wedding plans and her new podcast
La Contessa and Nick find the ‘bootleg bar’
A weekly serial of life in COVID-19 isolation through the eyes of Nick Moore and La Contessa in the world’s first coronavirus novel.
Step aside sourdough, there’s a new lockdown obsession
If you thought hobbies picked up during our first stint in lockdown were bad, it’s only gotten weirder, and wheelier during the second wave. Please, put down the rollerblades.