Ty leans in, concern on his face, but Bonnie pulls her hand free. ‘My time’s up. I won’t keep you.’ With her emotions swirling inside her, she’s relieved to be able to escape. Why did she think she could do this? She’s wearing her heart on her sleeve, but it feels more like she’s circulating a photograph of herself naked for the whole country to see.

‘Thanks, Bonnie.’ Darcy sends her a kind smile, but Bonnie knows she’ll be pressed about this later.

The makeup girls swarm over to Ty, ready to set him up for the next one-on-one.

‘Six kids?’ Ben murmurs, stepping back from his camera as Bonnie moves past him. ‘He’s an idiot.’

Bonnie finds herself smiling though her eyes are still teary. ‘I guess it’s lucky he’s a good-looking idiot?’

‘Well, yeah, he does have that going for him.’

She gets the feeling he wants to say more, but he probably feels awkward that he’s just seen her cry. She cringes. All of Australia is going to see her cry.

‘Nice work with the fifties swimsuit date.’ Ed smiles as they make their way to the pub to meet the uni crew.

Darcy laughs. ‘I thought you’d like that one.’ Five gorgeous women in sexy classic swimwear.

‘Bundles of footage to choose from when Imogen’s on a date, I imagine?’

‘She barely even needs prompting—she comes up with so much of that nastiness herself,’ Darcy explains. ‘But it might be time to get rid of her soon.’

Ed makes a mock-horrified expression. ‘You mean she’s not going to win Ty’s heart?’

Darcy giggles at this. She loves that Ed pretends the show is all magic.

‘How’s Bonnie doing?’ he asks now. ‘She was a bit of a wreck.’

‘I talked to her afterwards, but she kept insisting she was okay and didn’t know why she got so emotional.’

‘Umm, maybe because she’s on a reality TV show?’

‘She seems kind of normal.’ She’s not like most of the other girls and Darcy actually likes her. In all honesty, she’s kind of rooting for her. ‘I’d like to see her get a happily ever after.’

Ed’s face contorts. ‘I know you’re paid to believe that, but do you really think relationships can survive once the cameras stop rolling?’

Darcy shrugs; she still hasn’t figured that out yet. But survival rates of couples from previous seasons of The One aren’t all that great.

‘Have you heard from Zoe?’ Ed changes the subject.