Bachelor Nick Cummins describes moment he knew he wouldn’t pick a winner

BACHELOR Nick Cummins has justified his choice not to pick a winner, describing the moment he realised what he had to do.

BACHELOR star Nick ‘Honey Badger’ Cummins has detailed the exact moment he realised he wasn’t going to pick a winner in this week’s disappointing finale of the dating reality show.

In a shock decision on Thursday night the Honey Badger decided to dump both Sophie Tieman and Brittany Hockley, becoming the first suitor to finish the series solo.

It left fans of the franchise reeling — and, in a preview of Cummins ‘only interview’ about the controversy that’s set to air on The Sunday Project tomorrow night, the former rugby player tells interview Lisa Wilkinson it was a sudden realisation.

Nick Cummins says he didn’t pick a winner “out of respect.”

“It hit me with a fair bit of a thunderbolt. It was just like, you know what? Out of respect to these women, if I can’t stand here and say ‘I’m picking her and I love her,’ why would I start something with someone?” he says.

A previously released teaser from the interview shows Wilkinson grilling Cummins about his reasons for opting not to choose a partner.

“But you do understand on The Bachelor, you’re meant to be in a place where you’re ready to have a relationship?” she asks him, which gets an awkward “Umm …” from an uncomfortable-looking Cummins.

Wilkinson also speaks to the top four contestants, including a weeping Brooke Blurton, who made it to the final three before walking from the show. She complains that her “whole life has just been exposed. Not just my love life, my family life. I feel super raw.”

He's left a trail of heartbroken women in his wake.

Blurton took a not-so-subtle dig at Cummins via Instagram following her exit from the show this week.

Elsewhere, Wilkinson seems to catch Brittany Hockley off-guard when she asks her if she’s still in love with Cummins.

“I thought everything that happened to me was leading up to this moment. I thought Nick was it,” Hockley says.

Both Hockley and fellow finalist Sophie Tieman and Brittany Hockley revealed this week that Cummins got in touch with them after dumping them in Thursday’s shock finale.

Speaking to Nova’s Fitzy and Wippa on Friday, Sophie, 25, said Nick had “reached out” after calling it quits.

“To apologise?” co-host Sarah McGilvray asked.

“Not so much,” Sophie replied. “It was kind of just, ‘I want to touch base and make sure you’re doing OK’, that was it.”

The girls may be reeling, but some have pointed out the signs were there even before the season started that Cummins wasn’t setting out to find true love.

And in a news.com.au exclusive today, several contestants from former seasons have spoken out about the manipulations that go on behind the scenes of the show — from “brain washing” to getting contestants drunk.

Lisa Wilkinson’s full interview with the Bachelor cast will air on The Sunday Project, 6:30pm tomorrow on Ten.

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