Bachelor in Paradise Jake Ellis admits cracking under pressure and lying to Florence Moerenhout

AFTER he was branded “fake” and “cold-hearted” and told he had “no soul”, Bachelor In Paradise’s Jake Ellis admits the pressure got to him when he lied to Florence Moerenhout before he sent her packing on Tuesday night’s rose ceremony.

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BACHELOR In Paradise’s Jake Ellis admits he “cracked under pressure” when he lied to Florence Moerenhout before he sent her packing at the rose ceremony.

In a dramatic episode of the Channel 10 reality show, Moerenhout threw champagne at Ellis’ face after discovering he deliberately concealed that he had kissed newcomer Megan Marx during their blind date.

Ellis, who subsequently gave his rose to Marx which sent Moerenhout home, said if he had his time over he would have come clean.

“I’ve never been in a situation like that in my life … where I have had to tell a girl how another date went and honestly I cracked under pressure and I failed that and that’s something I realised and I will do my best to apologise for,” he said.

“Nobody’s perfect. I guess I handled it as well as I could at the time and looking back at it, it just wasn’t the right way.

Jake Ellis. Picture: Glenn Hampson

Florence Moerenhout.

“I can only hope that people who watch the show to the end realise I learnt from my mistakes.”

Upon leaving the show, Moerenhout, who had an intimate relationship with Ellis prior to filming and gave him her rose the previous week, described him as “fake”, “cold-hearted” and as having “no soul”.

While the Gold Coast bachelor said there were “no hard feelings” between the pair, he said it had been difficult to cop the backlash.

“That’s definitely not me; that’s not who I am,” he said.

“She reached out to me when I lost my mum at the start of the year; there’s no hard feelings between Florence and I whatsoever. It was just the way that it all happened.

“When Flo was giving out the rose I did whatever I could to get that rose.

“I was interested in pursuing something with Florence, but once it switched around and I was the one giving out the rose Florence didn’t come to me at all.

“She made no effort. She expected me to continue to do it. For me that is a big sign.”

Megan Marx in Bachelor in Paradise.

Ellis said he had only met both Moerenhout and Marx in person once at Channel 10 events before continuing to talk online.

Admitting the relationship didn’t end well, Ellis said Moerenhout came into the show as “a woman scorned”.

“It wasn’t anything serious (with Florence); we were talking a lot but were just weren’t right for each other,” he said.

“Maybe we didn’t end it on the best terms. I honestly can’t remember the specifics, but ... obviously coming into Paradise she carried that perception of me and she was maybe a little bit of a woman scorned or maybe we didn’t finish the way we should have.”

He said he had met Marx while she was still in a relationship and was interested to see what could develop romantically.

“She made my paradise from the moment she walked in and that was something I could not possibly ignore,” he said.