Dr Mumbo

The Bachelor auditions: Scuttlebutt from the sequin Hunger Games

Dr Mumbo overheard an intriguing conversation in a hairdressers in Sydney’s inner west over the weekend.

Relaxing in the chair with a glass of wine while she had her hair coloured was a young woman who claimed to have auditioned for the current season of Ten’s reality dating show The Bachelor. And while she didn’t make it to the 30 who fought it out on the show, she had intriguing tales to tell of the process.

Will actress, sorry 'accounting student', Jessica win the sequin Hunger Games?

Will actress, sorry ‘accounting student’, Jessica win the sequin Hunger Games?

Viewers are told contestant Jessica – one of the favourites to win – is an accounting student. According to the auditionee, Jessica is actually an actress by vocation.

A spokesman for Ten tells Dr Mumbo: “Jessica completed an acting course while in the US in 2010. She is now an Accounting Student. She took a break for The Bachelor and will resume studies at the start of next semester. She is currently working as a Business Development Manager for a post-surgical nursing firm.”

And what else did this would-be Bachelorette have to say? Given that the show has been labelled “The Hunger Games with sequins” by the SMH, perhaps the most relevant anecdote backs up those who dislike the show’s pitting of one woman against another. In one exercise, she said the would-be contestants were paired up and instructed to tell the other what they disliked about them.

Asked about this claim, Ten tells Dr Mumbo: “No they were not encouraged to criticise each other.”

And there was one more piece of scuttlebutt. She claimed that one contestant was cast, then dropped after she put on weight as filming began. But, according to Ten: “Not true.”

And as to who wins, this rejected Bachelorette claims to have kept in touch with her friends who made it onto the show, and already knows. But that would be a spoiler.

Given that this person was just telling anecdotes in public, Dr Mumbo can’t vouch for her authenticity. But she sure did seem to know what she was talking about…

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