Whether you watch The Bachelor for Richie or to see what Keira has to say next, one thing all viewers could agree on was that Mudgee knows how to put it on for the cameras.
Episode eight of the venerable matchmaking series saw eligible bachelor and Stretch Armstrong lookalike Richie take budding soulmate Olena on a date to Mudgee for a romantic picnic at The Zin House.
This came as a surprise to quite a few people around Mudgee, except The Zin House’s Kim Currie who hosted the Bachelor crew and managed to keep the secret since the episode finished filming earlier in the year.
“They shot in Autumn, around about April. It was a week between when they approached us and when they shot.
Everybody had to sign confidentiality forms and waivers. They were very tight about it.”
Despite the strict secrecy around the shoot, the crew warned Zin House staff about the risk of paparazzi trying to capture shots on the property.
“They said ‘look, there’s going to be people chasing us’ and we thought ‘this is Mudgee!’ but there were people trying all sorts of things. Hoax phone calls to get on the property, drones flying overhead, cars following the crew, people stalking them at the airport. It was quite intense.” Kim said.
The Zin House staff weren’t phased however and worked with the crew to set everything up ahead of the arrival of Richie and his date Olena.
“Some of the crew came up the day before, scouting for just the right sites, for the right tree to set up in front of.
The next day there was a crew of about 28 for the whole day,” Kim said.
Kim says the Bachelor wasn’t the only one enjoying Mudgee with the crew excited to be working here too.
“They were genuinely delighted to be in Mudgee, they had chosen it because they thought it was somewhere that was quintessentially country, beautiful and a great spot.”
“This the most amazing place you could have brought me to, you’ve been amazing.”
The Bachelor date is just another feather in the cap of Mudgee’s increasingly positive profile around the country and builds on the work that Mudgee Tourism and Mid-Western Regional Council have done to present Mudgee to the world.
“I think for Mudgee generally, it’s just another layer on top of all the promotion that’s been done so broadly by so many people,” Kim said.
Mudgee Tourism has been so pro-active. Council’s done such great things with sport. The wine and food community is really out there and doing work people are increasingly aware of.
It’s great to have that idea that Mudgee’s a cool place to go and it’s not an out-of-the-way secret anymore. More and more people are finding it a desirable location.
All of these things are great for the layering of awareness for Mudgee and what a beautiful place it is and the diversity of the things you can do.”
Richie and Olena enjoyed a carefully prepared lunch by The Zin House followed by a bike ride around the property while enjoying the scenery the area has to offer.
We have a similar team motto here at #TheBachelorAU HQ 😘
The romantic atmosphere afforded by the Mudgee location may have contributed to the chemistry that developed between Richie and Olena,
“I feel like today with Olena, we’ve really come closer.
I feel like there’s a connection there, like there’s something worth fighting for, worth trying to discover,” He said.
Richie presented Olena with a coveted red rose, and they shared their first kiss.
Olena’s closing comments about Mudgee sum up the feelings of her experience in the area.
“This the most amazing place you could have brought me to, you’ve been amazing,” She said.
We like to think that last comment was about the Mudgee sunset over the hills rather than Richie.
The Bachelor Australia airs on Channel 10 (WIN network in Mudgee) 7:30pm Wednesday and Thursday.
Source: Benjamin Palmer, Mudgee Guardian, 19 Aug 2016
