He has earned himself a reputation as the most perfect Bachelor to date, with his model good looks, a squeaky-clean reputation and no bitter exes dishing the dirt.
But now, New Idea can exclusively reveal that Matt Agnew is not as flawless as viewers have been led to believe and has gone to great lengths to cover up a shocking past.
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A source claims the astrophysicist has been hiding a secret girlfriend and the reality star has apparently confessed to friends that he doesn’t want anyone – especially the single ladies fighting for his heart – to know the truth.
According to an insider, before appearing on the show Matt fell in love with a Swedish beauty while studying in Europe and has apparently tried to conceal the past relationship from this year’s Bachelorettes.
“Matt had a steamy fling with his tutor while he was doing his Master’s in Sweden,” says our well-placed insider.
“It started out as a bit of fun but before it was time to leave he’d developed genuine and deep feelings for her.”
Their time together was kept a secret, but now Matt is said to be worried about how his former fling with his teacher is going to make him look. Will the news shatter his ‘good boy’ image once and for all?
“He thinks it’s going to change the public perception of him,” says the insider. “There is so much pressure to be this great guy and he doesn’t want
to disappoint anyone.”
The pair apparently often met late at night in the Lund University Observatory but months later, Matt can’t shake the feelings from the romance.
“She is on his mind a lot,” claims the source. “This whole process of finding love on TV has really brought back those emotions and it’s made him feel torn about some of the decisions he has made.”
When talking about the relationship Matt apparently can’t wipe the smile from his face, with our source saying if circumstances were different they would most likely still be together now.
“He had to come back to Australia and she had her whole life over there,” says the source. “Of course, they talked about the what-ifs – but there was so much stacked against them. Applying for The Bachelor was a distraction, really.”
Since suiting up for the seventh season of the hit dating show there is no doubt Matt has won over fans with his charm and old-fashioned manners.
“I’m at the stage in my life where I’m established in my career, I own my own home and finding someone to share my life with would make the trifecta,” he said prior to meeting this season’s contestants, later adding that he wanted to meet someone who was “a genuine woman who enjoys having a laugh and doesn’t take herself too seriously”.
And while his overseas fling is over and Matt is adamant that he has now found The One on the show, it appears he hasn’t forgotten about his Swedish girlfriend.
“Obviously Matt and his mystery lady had astrophysics in common and were at the same level intellectually,” says the insider. “And it sometimes seems like he uses the humour to mask his true feelings.”
Will Matt be able to finally move on from his former fling?
For more, see this week’s New Idea – out now!
