Just hours after The Golden Bachelor‘s finale, Sunny Long and Barry ‘Bear’ Myrden are absolutely smitten with each other. As they chat to TV WEEK, Sunny’s manicured, promise-ring wearing hand is draped gently on his chest while Bear’s arm is wrapped protectively around her shoulder. Clearly, they’re happy to finally be able to proclaim their love out in the open.

But, before the finale hit our screens, the 61-year-old found himself in the centre of a scandal when it was reported that Bear had been in two long term relationships — including one engagement — in the 14 years since his wife Audrey passed away, despite the show heavily implying that he has been single since Audrey’s passing. As a result, audiences were shocked to find out that Bear had been in one six-year relationship and one two-year relationship. But, if you ask Bear, he never lied about his relationship history while on The Golden Bachelor.

“From the beginning, I said that I wasn’t celibate for 14 years. I did have relationships,” Bear tells TV WEEK.

“I didn’t want to make them public out of respect for what I had with the two ladies but I certainly didn’t keep a secret. I said I was in two different relationships, long term, and they didn’t work out. I take the blame for that because I don’t think I was ready at the time.”
Sunny and Bear had a spark right away. (Image: The Golden Bachelor)
While the tabloids have been going bananas over Bear’s dating history, Sunny says she was never worried by the headlines.

“Bear said, not just only to me but my friends in the mansion, about his previous relationships,” Sunny adds. “We were all aware of that.”

Now that the finale has aired and Australia knows who Bear chose, the glowing couple are incredibly relieved to be able to have their relationship out in the open, especially after seven months of sneaking around like teenagers to keep their romance a secret.

“Free at last,” Bear says with a laugh. “We had a couple of covert operations going on.”

“I’m a Bond girl and he’s James Bond,” Sunny quips

However, they do admit that the contractually-obligated furtiveness did keep things spicy between them.

“Yes,” Bear says quickly.

“Yeah, for a couple of months but I think that’s enough secrecy for now,” says Sunny.

For viewers of The Golden Bachelor, it was difficult to pinpoint which gorgeous woman Bear would choose in the finale. Admittedly, Bear says that for him, the decision truly came down “to the bitter end” but that “Sunny was always at the top of the list”.

But for Sunny, there was one particular moment where she realised that she wasn’t just attracted to Bear physically, they had a pretty explosive spark too.

“I knew [I liked him] after the Grease photoshoot,” Sunny admits.

“I was Sandy and he was Danny and he picked me up and started bicep curling me. There was this physical…moment.

“Everybody knows he’s cute, he’s handsome and at that stage I was more interested in friendship with the other women in the mansion. But then I had that moment where suddenly I thought ‘oh, there’s chemistry’ and I started having this little crush.”
Grease is the word! (Image: The Golden Bachelor / Nine)
Despite the absolute rock of a promise ring sitting on Sunny’s wedding finger, the couple don’t have plans to tie the knot just yet. Instead, they’re more focused on blending their families.

“We’re going to let things happen organically,” says Bear. “Right now the priority is integrating our two families together.”

“At our age, its not just Bear and I,” Sunny adds. “It’s also his family and my family. Last night our kids met for the first time and they’re already just like brothers and sisters. It was so nice for us to watch them giggling, laughing and bonding straight away.”