As soon as Sophie Monk told Stu Laundy she loved him on a Fiji beach, rumours began swirling about the legitimacy of their relationship.
Their strange chemistry in post-show interviews on The Project and radio stations around the country had fans scratching their heads and asking – are they really in love?
New Idea can now exclusively reveal the truth, that just like Matthew ‘Matty J’ Johnson and Laura Byrne before them, Sophie, 37, and Stu are believed to have made a secret pact before the show’s filming even started.
‘Everyone in their circles knowns that she asked him to go on the show,’ an insider told New Idea.
‘People like Stu don’t need to go on a show to find love. He is loaded, knee deep in babes and he would never risk his reputation unless he knew he was winning.’
According to the spy, that’s why the 44-year-old pub heir arrived as an intruder, skipping weeks of tedious filming with a bunch of strangers.
Even fans have started to question how well Stu and Bachelorette Sophie really know about each other before he arrived by helicopter mid season.
Columnist and social commentator Kerri Sackville took to Facebook to share her ‘conspiracy theory’ that the whole show was ‘a sham.’
‘I know tons of men like Stu Laundy,’ she writes. ‘They certainly do NOT risk public humiliation to go on a reality TV show to seduce a girl who has already rejected them – particularly not when they have four daughters.
‘My guess is that Sophie and Stu have a pre-existing relationship, and that he came on the show only because he was absolutely guaranteed a win.’
Meanwhile, the new couple have been facing constant speculation they’ve split in secret, but are maintaining a united front in public.
For the full story see this weeks issue of New Idea – out now!
