Golden Bachelor bombshell!

While Australia tuned in to see who Bear would choose in the emotional finale of The Golden Bachelor, the most stunned viewers weren’t the fans at home… they were the women who actually dated him.

Woman’s Day can reveal that the eliminated contestants were kept completely in the dark, with production enforcing such strict secrecy that even those closest to the series were left guessing right up until the moment Bear chose Sunny.
(Credit: Nine)
According to several women from the show, the cast’s private group chat erupted into chaos the second the finale aired.

Messages reportedly flew thick and fast, and one former contestant says the chat was “so wild” that multiple women immediately checked in on Janette, who many had assumed was the frontrunner.

In the weeks leading up to the finale, a persistent rumour had been circulating among the cast that Bear and Sunny did not end up together. Some were even told Bear had left the show single.

So when it emerged that Bear and Sunny have actually been secretly together for seven months, the women were genuinely blindsided.

“It was an absolute shock,” says a source close to the group. “No one expected that. Everyone thought he’d gone home alone.”
(Credit: Nine)
Many of the contestants hadn’t spoken to each other – or to Sunny – since filming wrapped. Strict network rules meant socialising was “frowned upon”, leaving the cast with almost no insight into how things had ended.

“People were scrambling, asking if Bear had proposed or what on earth we’d all missed,” one woman admits.

Privately, several contestants say they never saw real long-term chemistry between Bear and Sunny.

“They didn’t seem aligned,” one reveals. “Most of us thought he’d choose someone calmer, someone softer.”

Another contestant adds, “Sunny could be polarising. She really dominated her time with Bear – and that didn’t always go down well.”

The moment the finale aired, the group chat went into meltdown.

Woman’s Day is told the chat became a full-blown frenzy. “My phone was blowing up,” a source says. “Everyone was in shock. It’s the ending they wanted, but no one could believe it.”

Some women even felt the final scenes “didn’t look real” and were disappointed by how rushed and awkward the last declaration came across.
(Credit: Instagram)
While a handful of friendships from the series remain strong, others have quietly faded.

Very few of the contestants are still in touch with Sunny, with several struggling to move past what they saw as her “hogging” Bear’s time during filming.

“One minute you think you know exactly where it’s heading… then suddenly you’re watching the finale with the rest of the country wondering what on earth happened,” another woman says.

Still, despite the shock, the cast agree on one thing: they want Bear and Sunny to be happy – even if it wasn’t the ending they expected.

“They’ve kept their relationship quiet for seven months,” one contestant says. “So maybe they really are the real deal.”