“When we met, I didn’t even know who Alisha was,” Glenn told 10 play, “I had watched maybe an episode and a half of Bachelor in Paradise before I went just to get… what the premise is.”
From that first greeting, the pair shared a mutual attraction later diving into a conversation that night.
“It was like the cameras weren’t there,” Glenn continued, “we just both jumped in and chatted like it was a first date that you can’t even imagine went that well, we just connected on so many levels.
“I think you can see it… we looked at each other and we just knew we were into each other.”
Though the pair were definitely keen on one another from the get-go, it wasn’t until Alisha was dragged into some drama at a Bula Banquet that the pair realised their connection may have been stronger than even they knew.
After Glenn lept to Alisha’s defence, the pair locked eyes.
“In that moment, standing up for Alisha I was like, holy s*** I actually really, really like this girl,” he said.
“That was the exact moment for me,” Alisha agreed, “It was all fun and games and excitement to go on the banana leaf massage date, having a great first conversation. But I think seeing somebody who you have that instantaneous chemistry… to be in a circumstance which is very authentic, you can’t hide in Paradise somebody’s going to see you warts and all, and the fact that he still liked me and was so my teammate in that moment, that really shifted stuff for me.”
“You might date someone for two months and you hardly know them,” Glenn said. “In Paradise, within a week you’ve seen this person on a date and having lots of fun, but then you see them dealing with conflict and how they deal in social situations that aren’t comfortable.
“I think you need all of that to really build a meaningful connection. There’s drama, but there’s also the love story that can be built around it. I think it goes hand in hand,” he said.
After their time in Paradise, the couple decided to take things slow and try their hand at a long-distance relationship with Glenn based in Perth and Alisha in Sydney.
“We made a pact that we weren’t going to go two or three weeks without catching up and we stuck to that. We knew there was a huge connection and we wanted to make it work so we were going to do long distance,” Glenn said, adding, “Then corona hit.”
“I was doing a bit of an Eat, Pray, Love,” Alisha said, “I was in Bali and Cambodia and when I was flying home from Cambodia it was just when people started to have to self-isolate when they got home.”
Once things began getting more and more serious and WA looked to close their borders, the pair had to make a tough decision.
“I ended up just packing two suitcases and… a couple of days before Mark McGowan closed the WA border I flew in,” Alisha explained.
“And she’s been stuck in my dungeon ever since,” Glenn joked.
While the pair have been living together, they’ve had to do so with some level of secrecy while the show was on air.
“It’s so novel to me that tomorrow I’ll be able to just take a photo of him if I want and put it on my Instagram story,” Alisha said. “We went to get some cheese to watch [the finale]... and some lady stopped us in the shop and was like, ‘Beautiful couple!’”
But trying to live on the down-low while the show is on hasn’t been all bad, as the pair said they’ve loved watching their story play out with the rest of Australia.
“To be honest, it has literally been like falling in love all over again,” Glenn said, “sharing those moments with each other every night on the couch.”
“I really enjoy watching what gets Glenn emotional and sometimes it can be different to what gets me emotional,” Alisha added, “it has just been a nice, new discovery of us as well. It’s amazing.”
“Watching myself fall in love with someone on TV is incredible,” Glenn agreed.
