"Before you call The Bachelor's Cass desperate, remember you were just like her once too."

“Nick, from the moment I first saw you, there was this precious moment in time where everything stood still and we locked eyes through the crowd. I didn’t know who you were… there was a moment of realisation for me that love at first sight could be true.”

Watching on as these words came out of Cass’ mouth on last night’s episode of The Bachelor 2018 was mortifying.

I wanted to run, to cover my eyes and bury my head under the couch, but I couldn’t look away as she read out the love letter written in her diary.

I recognised the sound of the shake in her voice. I felt her hesitation, her anxiety, her insecurity so deeply.

You can watch the moment in all its glory below. Post continues after video.

A wave of nostalgia came over me and my heart felt like it was shattering into a million rose petals.

Because if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ve all been there. We’ve all done something, in hindsight, we really, really wish we hadn’t with our feelings for someone else. Feelings that should’ve stayed locked behind a six-feet concrete wall. With a stranger’s facial recognition.

We all have a Cass story.

Mine involves IGA guy. For months, IGA guy and my 21-year-old self shared a flirtation over loaves of bread and halloumi cheese. “Back again,” he say with a cheeky smile, which I now realise was just good customer service.

Then, just before I went to Europe, I decided it was now or never. I had to tell him how I felt. After standing out the back of the supermarket for 20 minutes trying to gee myself up to go in there and lay one on him, I chickened out and instead wrote a lengthy Facebook message that might have included the terms ‘damn sexy’ and ‘I’ve wanted to kiss you since I first saw you’.

I could see the message was ‘read’. I never got a reply.

I’m not alone in having done something really cringey for the person I liked.

We unpack the funniest moments from the Honey Badger’s latest week in the mansion on our Bach Chat podcast. Post continues after audio. 

Laura* once printed out all of her MSN conversations with John* and pasted them into an exercise book. She then spritzed it with some cologne she got at Myer before giving it to him at the bus stop.

Rachel* was at least slightly more practical. She went to the same bar where the person she liked worked, and always acted surprised to see them there.

On Valentine’s Day, Jen* gave her crush a rose and a note that read ‘you have amazing eyes’. Hours later, she watched him throw it in the bin.

Then, there’s Karen*. She was in year 12 when 9/11 happened. She thought the world was going to end, so she wrote a really long email to the boy she liked declaring her love for him. It was ridiculous, full of feelings she definitely couldn’t feel for someone she hardly knew. Then, the world didn’t end. He didn’t feel ‘that way’ about her, and she continued to see him at parties for years. She never really stopped having a crush on him.

Call me naive, but Cass and her public display of her feelings for Nick is the most genuine thing I’ve ever seen on The Bachelor.

So before you call her desperate, remember:

You were once just like her too.

*Names changed because, well, just because.

Do you think Cass could win The Bachelor? Or do you think her character is a set up to create drama?