'I just spoke to Ciarran and ladies, get your applications ready for The Bachelor 2020.'

To catch up on all the Bachelorette Australia 2019 recaps and gossip, check out Mamamia’s recaps and visit our Bachelorette hub page.

For the past four weeks, I have been haunted by an article I wrote after we got our first look at two of The Bachelorette contestants.

Ciarran Stott was one of them, and I described his appearance as “the love child of Lucious Malfoy and Austin Powers”.

Looking back now, I regret everything.

If you want to cry… again… Post continues below video.

After the season began, Australia fell in love with the 25-year-old Brit from Darwin because he was funny and kind and funny and vulnerable and funny and happy to smash stereotypes and… I could go on but you get the picture, right?

So yeah… I We love him.

Then on Thursday night’s episode, our hearts broke. Ciarran’s heart broke. Angie’s heart broke.

I practically arm wrestled my colleague Gemma this morning to be the one to interview Ciarran after his exit, because HE'S THE BEST OKAY.

During filming, Ciarran found out his nan - who he had expressed so much love and admiration for during his single date - had passed away and he made the decision to leave the mansion.

Ciarran told Mamamia he hadn't been watching the show because reliving the events of a few months ago was pretty tough.

"Obviously [watching] it would bring back memories and emotions," he said. "I just watched a little bit then and it was pretty heartbreaking watching it, but it is what it is. I can't change what happened, it was a bit surreal."

The decision to leave was not an easy one for Ciarran, who thought about it over a number of days and believed he had the strongest connection with Angie at the time.

"It was all very difficult to do that because I felt like I was the frontrunner," he said.

"I just had enough with the drama at the cocktail party, and I was like 'I can't be bothered, I'm just going to bounce' but Angie saw me and was like 'What's going on?' and I told her everything... She was the same, family comes first."

Is it a decision he's come to peace with? Not really.

"It was a very hard decision to make and I kind of wish I didn't make it, but I did," he said.

"I'm the kind of guy, I'll just bottle up my feelings at the best of times, so I hadn't really thought about it and now it's all coming back around. That's why I'm like 'Crap, have I made the right choice here or what? What was I thinking?' But I'm a big believer in everything happens for a reason, so it is what it is. I can't change it."

And no... he hasn't spoken to Angie since leaving the show (but he did confirm that he and Timm made up after their fight on Wednesday's episode, are still good mates and I've never felt more relieved).

It was a heartbreaking ending, but the public response to it (tears, tears, and more tears) really showed just how much we'd all come to respect him. He'd basically received unanimous love from viewers, and uh... I'm so, so sorry about that Lucius Malfoy thing.

"When I first came on the screen with the teasers and the photos and that, I was just getting slated," he laughed.

"Everyone was like 'this English, bloody pommy geezer thinks he's this that and the other in his bright red suit, Willy Wonka, blah blah blah', I was just getting smashed and I was like 'Oh no, Australia's going to hate me'. This isn't what I wanted it to be like!"

We... don't hate you, Ciarran. Not even in the slightest.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

So as you all now know I’m no longer apart of the show or in the race for Angie’s heart! Due to unforeseen family reasons I had to make the choice of leaving. This was by far the hardest decision I had to make on here. Knowing that I had an amazing connection with Angie and then having to tell her I had to leave was just gut wrenching. She is an amazing woman and is full of love to give and can never wipe that big smile off her face! Thank you for letting me be apart of this experience on your quest (not journey) to find a man you can hopefully say “I love you” too. I wish Angie all the best for the rest of the show and now all the lads in there finally have a chance now I’m not longer in the race haha! Big love to you all! @angiekent_ @bacheloretteau

A post shared by Stotty (@ciarranstott) on Oct 31, 2019 at 2:05am PDT

"Then people started watching it and saw that I was being genuine and being myself and were like 'Oh, this lad's not actually too bad. He doesn't take himself too serious, he likes to have a laugh'. It did a 180 really so I was pretty happy with it," he said, underplaying his title as Australia's Favourite Bach Contestant Ever™ just slightly.

"I was always hoping that some people would see me for who I am. I wasn't trying to be anyone else, but I wasn't expecting the amount of love and messages and people saying about my nan, and all the nice words. It's absolutely crazy."

I told him my theory: That it was all because of how unapologetically himself he was. That he rejected the traditional sense of 'masculinity', was open and honest about taking care of himself, undergoing plastic surgery and working in a gay bar.

I guess the fact he was confident enough to strip, but also cry, in front of the camera was helpful too.

"Yeah," he said. "I was obviously a heavily tattooed lad on the show, and the stigma of that is that people with tattoos are this that and the other, so with me being there and making myself vulnerable and just putting myself out there, I think people can respect that because they can see I'm not trying to be someone I'm not.

"I love it, I love that people see me for who I am. I wasn't trying to be someone I wasn't."

It would be impossible not to respect a man who rocked a leopard print neck tie at a cocktail party, I said.

(We laughed in unison at this moment and does anyone know how to make that my ringtone?)

"That was a bold move, but I loved it," he said.

"We had our stylist in house for all the cocktail parties and I just said to her 'I want to be out there, I want to be elaborate, I don't want to look like a real estate agent so I was like you've got free reign to do what you want'. Then each week we tried to up the cocktail party outfits."

Just... imagine the extravagance of his finale outfit if he'd stuck around. It's too much for me to bear.

We're now going to have keep watching The Bachelorette without him, but there's been some pretty intense yelling from social media that he should reappear on our screens... next year... as the Bachie himself. Is he down?

"That's the question of the day, really. Everyone's asking me the same thing!

"If they want me to do it, I'd definitely put my hand up and do it for sure," he said and hello, yes where do we apply?

"I didn't think people would want that, but clearly there's a lot of talk going on about it and everyone wants me to do it so why not?"

But what would a Bachelor season centred around a man who is happy to drop trou on camera and werk florals, leopard print and pink shoes look like I wonder?

According to the man himself: "It would be absolutely carnage".

We... need this to happen. Now. Please.