After eight nerve-wracking episodes, Barry ‘Bear’ Myrden eventually found his match on The Golden Bachelor with Sunny Long in Sunday’s finale.

But in what could be bad news for his winner, CEO Sunny Long, 58, the 61-year-old engineer almost didn’t meet her at all.

Bear quit the Channel Nine show shortly after being cast as the new Golden Bachelor – because he had found love.

And in a surprising twist, it was the Canadian-born Sydneysider who auditioned for the role in the first place.

‘He applied, they liked him instantly, then he pulled out because he’d met someone,’ an insider told Confidential.

The source added that after Bear made his exit before the cameras had a chance to roll, the show’s creators were stuck for a star.

Barry ‘Bear’ Myrden (pictured) found his match on The Golden Bachelor in Sunday’s finale

In what could be bad news for his winner, CEO Sunny Long (pictured), 58, the 61-year-old engineer almost didn’t meet her at all – because he had found love

‘But once they saw the rest of the candidates … let’s just say Bear suddenly looked like a rock star and they lured him back,’ the production insider explained.

According to the source, the other possible bachelors were ‘spectacularly underwhelming’.

Bear is said to be ‘loving all the attention’ the show has brought him.

This week, it was revealed by Woman’s Day that Bear was engaged to a millionaire heiress named Jo Kinghorn after his wife Audrey died in 2014, despite claiming on the show he had remained single since becoming a widower.

An insider who attended the couple’s engagement party in 2016 revealed leaked information about their ill-fated romance and said Bear was commonly described as a ‘tosser’ by Kinghorn’s friends.

‘Bear spent most of the engagement party showing off in the ski boat Jo bought him,’ the source told Daily Mail, adding he was also quite flirtatious with some of the women in attendance at the soirée.

They added that Bear barely paid attention to male members of the friendship group, who did not find the infrastructure engineer ‘interesting.’

What’s more, according to the insider, Bear didn’t cough up for Kinghorn’s engagement ring.

Pictured: Barry ‘Bear’ Myrden and his late wife Audrey

‘It should be known that the engagement ring was purchased by the bride-to-be,’ the source claimed.

Kinghorn fell ‘madly in love’ with the keen sailor after meeting the Canadian widower in 2012.

A friend of Kinghorn told the publication that Bear’s claims about his love life on the show have left her and her friends ‘gobsmacked’.

For not only had the pair been engaged and lived together, but Kinghorn even stepped into the ‘step-mum’ role with Bear’s three young boys – Charlie, Jack and Declan.

However, as soon as money started playing a major role in their relationship, things seemed to go downhill for the couple.

Kinghorn is a millionaire heiress. Her father founded Allco Financial Services and RAMS Home Loans and has been featured on the Aussie Rich List.

Bear seemingly lived the good life with Kinghorn, who hired a full-time nanny for his children so that she and the engineer could travel the world together.

The publication revealed that when the pair got engaged in 2016, Bear and his three kids moved into Kinghorn’s $6 million home in Manly.

Daily Mail has reached out to Nine for comment.

Following the finale, Bear and Sunny have revealed that they are still together – and kept their love alive in the months since filming on the reality show ended with a series of secret hookups.