‘This is Darcy and Mel,’ Alice tells Ty. ‘They’re our field producers so you’ll be spending a fair bit of time with them. They’ll organise your dates, help choose which girls to take through and if you have any problems they’re the people to see.’

‘Thanks.’ Ty nods, nothing resembling a smile even close to touching his face.

Darcy sucks in a long breath. This guy is going to need a lot of media training.

‘Have you got any questions for Ty?’ Alice looks to the girls.

‘We’ve already done our final castings,’ Darcy says. ‘Most of the girls have already signed their contracts and sent them back to us so we’ve got a basic idea of who we’ll be presenting to you.’

Ty’s face is blank, dull even. Normally the suitors are excited, often greedy with nervous anticipation, at the mention of the smorgasbord of women they’re about to date. It’s a relief he’s good-looking because his personality seems as flat as a pancake.

‘We know that not everyone will be your ideal contender, but they’ll make for an exciting show,’ Darcy continues. ‘We just want to know if there’s anything in particular you’re looking for in a partner?’ They’ll have to try to figure out who is going to be wifey material for Ty.

Ty looks sad at this question and eventually he shrugs. ‘I thought I knew what I was looking for, but it turns out I was wrong.’ He jams his hands into his jeans pockets. ‘Whatever you find will be fine.’

‘Okay.’ Darcy hides her concern behind a cheery smile.

‘Don’t you worry, we’ve got you some good ones.’ Mel’s enthusiasm is admirable.

‘I’m ready to get married,’ Ty offers, perhaps sensing their alarm. ‘I want someone who wants that too.’ Darcy’s mind immediately goes to his ex-fiancée, the woman he was ready to settle down with. She’ll try to find a photo to see what she looks like. If one of the girls doesn’t sign on, maybe they can find a lookalike to put on the show. That kind of thing always sparks some emotion.

Alice fidgets, tapping away on her phone despite the conversation going on around her.

Darcy, used to such rudeness, keeps her attention on Ty. ‘We’ve read your file and it doesn’t seem to say much about the types of dates you’re keen to go on. Is anything a no-go zone?’

Ty considers this and then admits, ‘I’m not huge on sharks.’

Darcy has already scheduled whale watching for the first one-on-one date. She smiles, knowing the chances of him going on a date in a shark cage just increased dramatically. The suitors never want to appear weak when it comes to crunch time and part of Darcy’s job is pushing them to their limits.