A shock moment unfolded on The Golden Bachelor last night when a contestant rejected a rose from the Bach himself, Barry “Bear” Myrden.
In dramatic scenes, Terri, 61, refused a rose much to the shock of the other 11 contestants vying for one of the six roses on offer.
When Bear called her name mid-ceremony, the property investor from Victoria – who was a frontrunner on the show – dropped this bombshell:
“I thought long and hard about it. I’m not going to accept your rose,” she told him to the chorus of collective gasps.
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A devastated Bear, also 61, quickly whisked her away to talk privately and determine why she was leaving the show.
“It’s so emotional. I just don’t want to get hurt. It’s just such a big emotional rollercoaster,” she told him.
Ever the gentleman, the Golden Bach comforted her as she continued, “I just can only imagine how you must be feeling. My heart goes out to you.”
In a voiceover played as she exited the Sydney mansion, a tearful Terri explained that she watched Bear form connections with other woman, and she just felt that same spark was missing between them.
“I’m grateful for these women that I’ve gotten to know,” she said. “It just shows to me that there are so many powerful, strong women at the age of 60 that are just blooming.”
“I’m really grateful for my time with Bear, and every moment I spoke to him, every look that I had with him – I definitely had feelings for him. But I know what he’s got really deep connections with a couple of other ladies, and I’m just not there.”
Terri later reflected on her time in the mansion with New Idea, telling the magazine that she struggled with the rose ceremonies from day one.
“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,” she said.
She said she came to the realisation that hoping to be “picked by a man” isn’t who she is at her core, so therefore she said she “needed to choose myself”.
The mother-of-two won the hearts of viewers this season when she revealed on camera that she learned of her then-husband’s unfaithfulness through their children after two decades of marriage.
“My first love was my husband, we were only 17 and 18. I spent nine years with him before we married and we were married for 11,” she said on the show’s third episode. “That was my forever – well, what I thought was going to be my forever love.”
“The children were going to the Melbourne show with my husband. So I dressed them all up, he looked fabulous and off they went. At the end of the day, they come rushing in with their show bags saying how wonderful their day was.
“And then my oldest boy said to me, ‘Oh Mummy, we met dad’s girlfriend today.’ I didn’t see it coming.”
“I think everybody who has been hurt knows that stab in the heart. It’s just a stabbing gut-wrenching feeling when someone breaks you like that.”
