When Richie Strahan and Alex Nation walked away hand in hand from The Bachelor finale in 2016, it seemed like they were going to get their reality TV happily ever after.
But within months, their relationship was over and Alex had moved on with her AFL team mate, Maegan Luxa.
Neither Richie or Alex spoke publicly about their breakup, and the world was kept in the dark about what really happened between the pair.
Until now.
On Wednesday night’s episode of Bachelor in Paradise, Alex and Richie sat down and had a long overdue conversation.
Watch: Richie and Alex confront each other on Bachelor in Paradise. Post continues after.
“I’m a little bit surprised to see you,” Alex began.
They discussed the fact that they hadn’t spoken for a long time, before launching into a conversation about how their long distance romance had affected them both.
“I barely saw you. I needed to see you more,” Alex said throughout the conversation, to which Richie argued that she had continued to “move the goalposts” and had barely visited him in Perth.
“[You weren’t there] when I needed you most – when I needed you – and you know what I’m talking about,” Alex said.
Richie responded: “I know exactly what you’re talking about, and what you’re trying to say… [It was] completely out of my control.”
“How is it out of your control to get on a plane and come and see me during a really personal time that involved both of us?” Alex questioned Richie.
When Richie brought up how he had been dumped by text, Alex responded:
“Do you actually want to go there, Rich? Because I feel like a lot of people would have an opinion of a woman being left alone to do something that involved both of us.”
“Don’t beat around the bush Alex… Just say it, because you’re not going to like what I have to say,” Richie replied. “What you said to me blew my mind, again, I’ve had to come to peace with this.”
Alex responded: “You knew you couldn’t salvage it, because you knew that after what happened, when I was left alone that was something massive that no woman should have to go through.”
“You wanted to do it… You wanted to go down that path because you told me you wanted to focus on your AFL career. That was part of it,” continued Richie, which Alex denied.
“I don’t have an AFL career to focus on, I don’t even know what you’re talking about AFL career… You’re going to sit there and honestly say to me that all of that was my decision?” she said.
“Yeah we talked about it because you know Alex you’re a mother… I know that, clearly. I spoke to you at length about that because you’ve gone down that path where you know what is involved with that. I supported you and your decisions,” Richie said.
“But where were you?” questioned Alex.
“What am I supposed to do click my fingers and just appear for you? You changed the ‘goalposts’ so many times,” Richie fired back.
“If you’re a man and you’re in that situation you move mountains to be there,” said Alex.
Although neither Alex nor Richie directly said so, most viewers came to the conclusion that the discussion was about an abortion.
obviously we don’t know the details so it’s hard to speculate but being this detached i can’t see any reason that ritchie would not be there for alex when she had an abortion? #BachelorInParadiseAU
— لميا lamya (@theelaminator) April 11, 2019