The Bachelor's Jay on her famous ex, plus all the other behind-the-scenes gossip from The Bachelor.

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Jimmy Nicholson's season of The Bachelor has been eventful to say the least.

From heated cocktail parties to the unexpected exit of a frontrunner, we've certainly seen it all.

So, as the end of the season draws closer, we decided to round up the juiciest behind-the-scenes gossip from the show.

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From Brooke's surprise return to the mansion to exactly who Jay's 'famous' ex is, here's what we discovered.

"It was frustrating that it was brought up." The Bachelor's Jay on her 'famous' ex.

On Wednesday night's episode of The Bachelor, Jay Lal was sent home, narrowly missing a spot in the finale.

Jay was sent home after Jimmy questioned her intentions on the show, following a series of rumours that arose in the mansion.

"It was a real shame," Jay told Mamamia, reflecting on the rumours. 

"The first rumour was that I didn't want to have kids, which is completely untrue, and [the second rumour] was that I wanted to come runner-up, which is also absolutely untrue.

"Every single time that he questioned why I was there, I was thinking, 'Yep, maybe I'll be going soon.' It was sort of chipping away at my confidence and my connection with him."

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Jay also admitted that winning the Business Lounge Key at the first cocktail party put a target on her back among the other contestants.

"I didn't expect to get that key to be honest. Getting it was a huge surprise," she said.

"I think it was a double-edged sword. It was great that I could spend uninterrupted time with Jimmy, but I always had that target on my back from day one."

For Jay, the final nail in the coffin was when her friend told Jimmy at the hometowns that she had dated a man in the public eye before. 

Later on, during their final single date, Jay shared that her ex is the New Zealand Bachelor. (After some online sleuthing, we discovered she was talking about this year's star of The Bachelor New Zealand, Moses Mackay).

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"It was awkward and so irrelevant. I dated this guy when I was 26, and I'm 32 now. It was a long, long time ago," Jay explained.

"When I dated him, he was not on The Bachelor New Zealand. He was an opera singer. And it was a short-term relationship," she continued.

"It wasn't until about five days before I went into filming for The Bachelor that I found out that he was going to be The Bachelor New Zealand, so it was all quite funny and a huge coincidence. It was frustrating that it was brought up."

"I wasn't there to pit myself against other women." Carlie on staying out of the drama on The Bachelor.

On last Thursday night's episode of The Bachelor, frontrunner Carlie Hodges was unexpectedly sent home after the hometown visits.

Speaking to Mamamia following her exit, Carlie admitted that there was a shift in her mindset following Jimmy's visit to meet her family and friends.

"I was pretty rattled after hometowns. There were a few days between hometowns and the rose ceremony where I was in my head completely. I felt quite emotional, and it kind of felt like The Bachelor bubble had burst and infiltrated my real life. Having that little bit of home definitely put things into perspective," she shared.

"I just had a really strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. And when I didn't receive a rose at the end, it was almost like, 'Oh, was that my intuition telling me that something wasn't right?'"

Throughout the season, the 33-year-old managed to stay out of most of the drama, opting to focus her attention on Jimmy.

"The reason I was there was to find love. I wasn't there to pit myself against other women," Carlie shared.

"I'm not a jealous type and I didn't see this experience as a competition, so I was just happy being in my zone and doing my own thing."

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As a result, many viewers have called for Carlie to be the next Bachelorette.

"I didn't go on The Bachelor to try to go on The Bachelorette. I went on there to try to find love, not to potentially do it all again," she laughed. 

"But in saying that, it's been really overwhelming to see the positive comments about my journey and to see that people enjoyed watching a woman in her thirties who had her sh*t together who was still trying to find love. Maybe people are wanting to see someone in their thirties going through that process? 

"So, if I ever got the knock on the door, I'd consider it."

"They cut out our kissing scenes." Ash on getting the 'friend zone' edit on The Bachelor.

Speaking to Mamamia following her exit from the show last Wednesday night, contestant Ash opened up about getting the 'friend zone' edit on the show.

"What I really want to voice to everyone is that I had a connection with Jimmy. Obviously, making it to the top six, you would have to. And I know I got the friend zone edit, but I was not in the friend zone. There was chemistry there," she said.

"They cut out our kissing scenes or the affectionate parts. Every cocktail party, I spoke to him... we definitely built a lot more of a connection and I wish that was shown."

Ash added that she was "really disappointed" to be sent home before home towns.

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"I obviously felt that if [Brooke] hadn't come back, I would have gone to hometowns just based on our connection. I really would have liked to show Jimmy my home environment," she said, adding that she cried while watching last night's episode.

"It brought back emotions, and I did cry that night as well. It was hard to watch because it didn't work out and that's why I went on the show, to find love."

Ash, along with the other contestants, struggled with Brooke's unexpected return to the mansion. While Brooke was away from the show due to a family tragedy, Jimmy stayed in touch with her. 

"We knew he was seeing other women in front of us [in the mansion], but it felt like he was cheating on us behind closed doors," Ash admitted.

"It didn't feel good not knowing that he was speaking to her. She did have social media, she could Google stuff, so it was like a reset coming back in," she added.

"I know that she obviously went home under bad circumstances, but she was able to look up things and we didn't have that."

"It was a lot." Laura on Brooke's surprise return to the mansion.

Speech pathologist Laura O’Loughlin was sent home from the show after Brooke Cleal unexpectedly returned to the mansion.

Speaking to Mamamia, Laura opened up about the moment that Brooke returned.

"At the cocktail party, when Brooke came back, that confirmed it in my mind that I was out. I thought, 'I'm going to be swapped out for Brooke tonight,'" she said.

"It was definitely a little bittersweet. She got the opportunity to come back because obviously she had to leave under really tragic circumstances. But the way in which she returned was very intense. It was a lot, and that's coming from me," she continued.

"She was really intense about her entrance and I thought that was really bizarre. She just came back with this mission.

"She missed a lot of stuff... and that was kind of an advantage in a sense because she just came straight back into the top six and didn't even have to meet [Jimmy's] mum."

Brooke was forced to leave the mansion after she received the news that her grandfather had passed away. While she was away from the show, Jimmy stayed in touch with her.

"I think a lot of the girls were quite upset about that. I wasn't really surprised, I think Jimmy is the kind of person that probably wanted to check in with her. But I think a lot of the girls were surprised to hear that, that they'd been messaging and talking on the phone," Laura said.

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During her time on the show, Laura had a particularly awkward date with Jimmy.

While Jimmy kissed... most of the contestants, the bachelor backed away when Laura tried to kiss him after their single date.

"No, I mean... like, I really want to kiss you," Jimmy said at the time.

"But now we are getting to the pointy end of the experience, there are a lot of emotions involved. And I want to make sure that we’re both feeling ready," he added, before hugging Laura.

"I probably should have run for the hills after that single date and politely declined the rose or given it back," Laura told Mamamia, when asked whether she had any regrets about her time on the show.

"I mean, 'Okay, I'm going to go, clearly this isn't going to go anywhere.' But he was so reassuring towards me in that moment, so it didn't feel like something that I would regret. But watching that back has made me regret it," she continued.

"The single date was actually going so well and we'd actually had the best day. It was just more confusing than anything else... but I think you could definitely sense how awkward I felt."

Steph had "no idea" that she was this season's 'villain'.

After a confrontation with Jimmy at the cocktail party, Stephanie Lynch was sent home on The Bachelor.

Speaking to Mamamia, Steph admitted she wasn't expecting to leave the show that night.

"I remember having a few glasses of prosecco that night thinking, 'I've got nothing to worry about.' I was so naïve," she said.

"But watching it back it's no surprise that I should have gone weeks ago," she added.

"It was a shock at a time though. I remember going to bed very, very sour that evening."

on last Wednesday night's episode, Steph met Jimmy's mum, who asked her about her ex-boyfriend. 

Later on at the cocktail party, Jimmy pulled Steph aside, sharing that a number of girls had expressed that they thought Steph still had feelings for her ex.

"I literally never would have gone on the show if that's how I felt," Steph shared.

"The people who he went and spoke to were not my friends in the mansion and weren't people that I'd ever discussed my dating history with. It's over and I'm out and you know what, I haven't spoken to my ex."

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Steph also made headlines earlier in the season when she was filmed calling frontrunner Holly a "c***", before blatantly denying it.

"I wasn't convinced that they had the audio or anything so I just keep saying, 'I'm sorry but I wouldn't say that.' Like, shut up. That's exactly what you would say," Steph laughed.

"Calling another woman a 'See You Next Tuesday' on television is not really ideal. I probably would have tried to avoid that in hindsight," she added.

"But overall, I don't have any regrets. I was very true to myself through the whole experience and it should be taken at face value as entertainment."

Since watching the show back, Steph has been surprised by how much screen time she had.

"I talk to Sierah every day and I always say, 'Oh my god, I just wish we knew at the time that it was going to be the Steph and Sierah show.' We had no idea," she said.

"It probably seems ridiculous to the audience to think that I didn't know that I was the villain, but I had no idea, so watching it back is just so hilarious.

"I think anything that I ever said that would make me likable, relatable, vulnerable, was definitely left out of the show."

Sierah's exit really was that brutal.

Earlier on in the season, Sierah Swepstone was sent home during a surprise rose ceremony.

After giving Jimmy a half-hearted goodbye hug, Sierah told producers: "I kind of had an inkling Jimmy wasn’t into tall, horny bogans. I think any guy would be lucky to have me. If Jimmy couldn’t see that, it’s a him problem."

Speaking to Mamamia, Sierah shared that her exit really was that brutal in real life.

"I was so p*ssed off," she said.

"I remember when Holly's name got called out, I pulled this face, and the girls p*ssed themselves laughing," she added.

"I honestly didn't say a word to him because I was so salty. And I didn't actually intend the rant to be quite so comical, but yeah, it worked out well."

Sierah added she has almost no regrets about her time on the reality show.

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"I've joked about getting a full face of Botox because you don't realise how bad your resting bitch face is until you go on TV and they're zooming in on your face constantly. It's just so funny. I had no idea how terrifying I was," she said.

"[But] I think that a lot of things were true to myself and authentic to me. I think that most people can gauge that I am just being really sarcastic and I don't really have any mean intentions."

While Sierah shared she was "shocked" at how much screen time she had, the 28-year-old admitted that she applied for The Bachelor because she "always thought" that she "should be a reality TV star".

"I was shocked, especially [watching] that first episode. I was like, 'Whoa, I've actually got more screen time than Jimmy here,'" she said.

"It would have been really good to have [a single date and have] an episode about me. But I have joked that the entire first half of the season was about me, anyway."

Speaking to Mamamia, Sierah also admitted that she didn't feel a spark with Jimmy on the first night.

"Look, he didn't blow my socks off. I thought he was a nice guy, but definitely not my usual type," she said.

"I would normally go for a blokey bloke. A tradie with calloused hands wearing high-vis. He was a little too refined for me."

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Oh, Sierah. We'll certainly miss you.

Feature Image: Channel 10.