Was this the most real episode of reality TV we’ve seen?
In the meeting of exes Australia has been waiting for, on tonight’s Bachelor in Paradise Alex Nation and Richie Strahan came face to face for the first time since their split in 2017, and it was not what we were expecting.
They said we weren’t ready to hear the ‘grubby’ details of their split – and they certainly danced around some of the finer details – but we were given front row seats to their nine-minute conversation where they get into a war of words over the real reason for their break up.
And while we can only speculate about what went on between the couple, it sounds like an intense time.
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After Alex requests they sit down to chat, Richie replies: “Yeah absolutely. We haven’t spoken since … And you know exactly why and what happened. What I woke up to.”
At which point, Alex nods. And Richie continues: “I meant I just can’t believe someone would do that to someone.”
While the pair are careful not to reveal the details of the unnamed incident, it’s evident something happened to cause a lot of hurt and resentment for both of them.
And it’s clearly something big deal for Alex to have dealt with alone.
“Me? Someone do something to you? Do you actually want to go there Rich? Because I feel like people would have a very big opinion of a woman, being left alone, to do something that involved both of us,” she replied.
“Don’t beat around the bush Alex say it. Because you’re not gonna like my response. Because we did talk about it. We talked about the whole thing,” says Richie.
“Over the phone,” she replies.
“Yeah, and what you said to me blew my mind. So if you wanna go into it Alex we can. Again, I’ve had to come to peace with this. I’ve thought about this a lot. I tried so hard to make our relationship work and …” he comes back.
They argue some more about who tried to make the relationship work, and who didn’t.
After more back and forth discussion around whose decision it was, it’s clear that Alex is upset at Richie for not being there with her, when she needed him the most.
“Yeah because you knew you couldn’t salvage it, because you knew that after what happened, when I was left alone, to go through something massive that no woman should go through,” Alex said.
“If you’re a man and you’re in that situation, you move mountains to be there for your partner,” she added.
It's no surprise Alex said she needed some 'Dutch courage' to confront her ex Richie.
The pair ended their conversation amicably, but some viewers took to Twitter to air their concerns over the subject matter and whether such a private conversation should have been shown at all.
Osher tweeted in response: “Both Richie & Alex were comfortable with the discussion going to air, and have access to mental health professionals before, during and after production.”