Matt Agnew applied for the show the old-fashioned way – online – and was "so convinced" he'd be rejected.Credit:Edwina Pickles
"I don't want to get famous,"he says with a laugh."I see this as just another way to meet someone. I'm completely humbled that I've had the opportunity to be in this position,but for me it was just a case of'this is another potential avenue to meet a partner'."
Agnew,who currently works in data science but has his Masters in astrophysics from Lund University in Sweden,where he lived for two years,ticks a number of boxes. That he needs to go on a reality TV show to find love is somewhat puzzling but explained away by the fact that all other dating avenues – through friends,at work,on various dating apps – have proved fruitless.
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"I didn't go into it with any associated negative connotations or anything like that,"Agnew says."It was just another way to find a partner and I'm really glad that I did it."
Is that because he's fallen madly in love with one of the 28 bachelorettes he's about to meet on TV?
"Very much because I did find a partner,yes!"he says,saying he's"very happy"and"delighted"with the outcome. No chance of a Nick Cummins-style fizzle,then.
Perhaps the biggest question of all is this:is Agnew really prepared for the attention this watercooler show is about to deliver?