Finding love on The Golden Bachelor might be the ultimate goal, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be the romantic kind. Such is the case for Terri.
Although she went on the show hoping to meet the man of her dreams, Terri chose to leave the mansion on her own terms and, most importantly, with a greater sense of self-love.
Terri made the split-second decision to choose herself. (Credit: Channel Nine).
Shocking everyone in the room, Terri refused Barry ‘Bear’ Myrden’s rose, telling him, “I will not accept your rose.”
Sitting down with New Idea after the events aired, Terri, a 61-year-old property investor, admits she really struggled with the rose ceremonies.
“You think you are going to be OK, but it’s a different feeling when you’re actually doing it,” she tells us.
“I felt I had a connection with Bear. He’s certainly my type of guy, but each week standing there waiting to see if you’re chosen, just didn’t sit right with me.”
Terri adds she realised that hoping to be “picked by a man” isn’t who she is at her core, explaining, “I needed to choose myself”.
In fact, she was surprised Bear, 61, wanted to give her a rose, as five women were set to go home that night.
“My insecurities just crept in. I thought, ‘he’s not going to pick me.’ But he did. And I stood there for a moment because I thought, ‘What am I going to do?’ It wasn’t until I was walking up there that I decided ‘no, I just can’t do this,’” she confesses.
The moment she made the decision to leave. (Credit: Channel Nine).
No one knew Terri was going to make that decision.
She says throughout the day she had thought, “I just hate that rose ceremony.”
Terri admits that after watching the show back, though, she has felt some pangs of regret.
“A part of me wonders ‘what if’ … I would’ve loved to have seen whether it was a true connection with Bear. I thought if it was real, maybe if I’d met him somewhere else, like in a family barbecue or through friends, it might’ve worked – but who knows?” she says.
Terri hasn’t spoken to Bear since leaving. (Credit: Channel Nine).
Terri hasn’t spoken to Bear since she left the show – not even at the recent premiere.
She says, “It just happened in that moment, and I wished him all the best … I didn’t really stand there and sort of go into why I made that decision. But, I’d like to one day maybe tell him.”
While Terri would recommend doing the show, she warns women considering it to be wary.
“You meet some incredible ladies. I’ve made friends for life,” she says, adding with a laugh, “And of course, you might meet the man of your dreams! But, be prepared for the rose part! I want women to know that you don’t have to wait for a man to choose you. You can choose yourself first.”
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Celia Whitley
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