Former staffer to Labor leader Bill Shorten Alisha Aitken-Radburn is a contestant on The Bachelor 2018
AFTER the pressures of parliamentary scheming, life in the Bachelor mansion was a breeze for Bill Shorten’s glamorous former lieutenant, Alisha Aitken-Radburn.
Confidential
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AFTER the pressures of parliamentary scheming, life in the Bachelor mansion was a breeze for Bill Shorten’s glamorous former lieutenant, Alisha Aitken-Radburn.
Quitting her job with the Labor leader, Aitken-Radburn said her time served in Canberra was the perfect boot camp for competing on a reality dating show.
“Canberra, Bachelor mansion, I think they have a little more in common than people think,” the 25-year-old told The Daily Telegraph.
“Working in the halls of Parliament House was good preparation for some of the drama that goes on in the Bachie mansion.”
Aitken-Radburn is one of 25 females vying for retired rugby player Nick ‘Honey Badger’ Cummins attention when the show launches on Wednesday night.
The series is already in the can with details a closely guarded secret but over several months, the female suitors live in the same house — affectionately called the ‘Bachie mansion’.
“I honestly thought being a political staffer I wouldn’t get on The Bachelor,” she said. “I did it because it was something different. I felt like I needed a bit of a circuit breaker as I had had a bit of a tumultuous time with an ex boyfriend (Young Liberal Dean Shachar) and I just needed something new.”
Aitken-Radburn, who bares a striking resemblance to previous Bachelor contestant Anna Heinrich, worked at Sky News before being employed by Mr Shorten as an ‘advancer’, a staffer who makes sure politicians are not put in embarrassing situations.
“Typically people understand it to be that we don’t pop our member of parliament in front of anything embarrassing,” she said. “I loved it, it was great but this is a new adventure for me as well. Shorten’s office has been pretty supportive through the whole thing to be honest. I think some of the office has been a little bit bemused by it but really supportive and I think everyone is pretty excited to watch.”
Aitken-Radburn is a graduate of Sydney University, where she served as president of the USU.