Thinking of applying for the new season of The Bachelor NZ? Last year’s winner Matilda Rice shares her secrets for success, including sweating profusely and eating a lot.
Today the casting call was opened for second season of The Bachelor NZ, calling for “females aged between 21 and 35 who are genuinely looking for love.” But what does it take to secure a casting rose? How do you steal the producers away for a minute, and let them know you are there for the right reasons? Art Green’s wisdom is “just relax and be a confident version of yourself. Think carefully, it is a big decision and quite possibly life changing.”
Wanting a little more intel about how to really nail The Bachelor auditions (not for me, asking for a friend – actually), I got on the blower with Matilda Rice, who received the final rose last year and remains blissfully happy with Art – something which could well change after his Celebrity Fight for Life against Zac Guilford.
She had been to the Joseph Parker fight last night, and was shaken by the experience. “It was horrific. I’ve never been to a boxing match before, and I really didn’t enjoy watching men beat the shit out of each other. After the first two fights I thought I was going to cry… I’ll be a wreck when Art does it”
Whilst Art’s latest battleground is the boxing ring, Matilda was obviously a knockout at The Bachelor auditions. I picked her brains to see the application process is like, and what it takes to secure a place in the mansion.
There’s a lot of form-filling:
“I started with the application forms and I underestimated how intense the questions would be. All of a sudden I had been filling them out for way over 15 minutes. I was pouring my heart out about all my life secrets and started wondering ‘what is actually going on here?!”
You’ll have confront your regrets:
“When the form asked ‘what’s your biggest regret in life?’ was pretty full on. Mine was from when I was 18 and I really wanted to go to RnV for New Years. My Mum was travelling to Africa around that time. She posed me the option of either going to RnV with my friends or going on this huge safari trip to Africa. At the time I was like ‘oh my god I can’t miss out on RnV.’ So yeah, I went to RnV in Gisborne instead of going to Africa on safari. But it was such a good New Years.”
You’ll have to know your height and weight:
“I was about 80% truthful here. Maybe I lied a little bit about my weight – just a few kgs, nothing to write home about. My thinking was that it if I got picked, maybe the number I gave would be true by the time that I get on the show.”
Remember to check your phone:
“I never check my voicemail ever, it’s just a really bad habit that I have. A few months after doing the forms I hadn’t heard back and I thought they didn’t want me. I cleared my voicemail, because I had about 26 messages and two of them were from Eyeworks. I rang back and said ‘am I too late?!'”
You’ll have to do a screen test:
“The producers brought me in to be interviewed on camera. I remember it was a really hot summer’s day and I was extremely nervous. By the end of the interview I was so insanely sweaty that I could hardly breathe. Obviously they weren’t going to pick me – ‘nice girl, way too sweaty’”
Prepare to answer A LOT of questions:
“They’ll ask you a lot about past relationships, why you are doing this, what you look for in a partner and qualities that are important to you. It’s a good chat actually.”
Don’t fake tan right before the interview:
I remember what I was wearing for the interview very clearly, because I had put on a thin layer of fake tan that morning. I was wearing a light blue silk top and, because I was sweating so profusely, I made massive armpit sweat marks. Also, because I had fake tan on, the sweat had a definite tinge. It was just a great look for me.
Don’t worry about shredding:
They gave me start date for shooting and I just thought ‘okay, time to start shredding’. Turns out shredding is quite hard to do around the Christmas and New Year period. I had all these plans to get really fit and lose weight to be on TV, but instead I just ate and drank an absolute shitload. If anything, I put on weight for the show.
Be yourself, sweaty armpits and all:
Definitely just be yourself, and be an honest as you can. That’s what helped me, I was so honest in my answers that they saw I was genuine. If you go in pretending to be something you’re not then they’ll see you aren’t applying for the right reasons. Just go in there and show them who you are, be confident and see what happens.
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