Sam, a public servant from the NT, had a brief stint on Matt Agnew’s season of The Bachelor in 2019.
The couple met while on a trip to Bali with a few other reality pals, and they clicked immediately.
“For some weird reason I put her into the friendzone,” Jarrod says with a laugh. “She thought I had friendzoned her and thought I wasn’t interested in her! But it was me telling myself that I needed to take it slowly – I wanted to get to know her before anything else.”
After about six months of friendship, Sam stayed over at Jarrod’s vineyard in Gippsland, Vic. And from there, a romance blossomed.
“I felt like a little schoolkid all over again,” Jarrod recalls, remembering how giddy he felt at the start.
Today, the loved-up pair are battling through long distance while Sam stays in the NT because of the coronavirus travel restrictions.
But it hasn’t stopped them from discussing their future together – which, of course includes the pitter-patter of tiny feet!
“We’ve spoken about it a lot. Down the track when she moves back from Darwin, we can get married and have kids and our kids can grow up on a farm,” Jarrod says. “As for a wedding, we’d love it out here. Sam’s got a second family in Vanuatu so we’d have to get married there too.”
Jarrod says he doesn’t envy the contestants on this season of Bachelor in Paradise – which includes his ex-girlfriend Keira.
“Sam doesn’t like the way that I was treated (by Keira) and misled and she’s more protective than anything,” Jarrod explains.
“But I’ve moved on. I’m past that.”