Chatting to 10 play after he didn’t receive a rose on Thursday night Damien laughed and said, “I’ve actually given notice today and, yeah I’m going to take up a career in stripping.
“My mates have been telling me I look like I’ve got arthritis of the hips! I wanted to keep it respectful so it was a bit of a difficult one and, I mean let’s face it, stripping isn’t in my hitting zone. It isn’t my forte.”
Though his final days in the Mansion were memorable, to say the least, Damien said he wasn’t shocked when he didn’t receive a rose.
“I had a feeling I was going and, to be honest, I was at ease with that,” he admitted. “There were guys that were a lot more progressed than I was in their feelings towards Elly.
“I was at the stage where it was a friendship. I needed more time with her to see if it could be a romantic connection and that didn’t happen. So, I was happy for her to explore those relationships that were a little bit more developed.”
Dubbing himself a “group date king”, Damien managed to score an invite to every group date, but never managed to secure the all-important single date with Elly.
“I was working through my feelings as well,” Damien explained. “While I thought they were great girls I wasn’t head over heels in love. I thought they were beautiful but I was still working through, could this be something more than a friendship? Can this be a romantic connection?
“You have to make the most of the time at the Cocktail Parties and group dates… but it’s tough to establish a real romantic connection on a group date with 15 other blokes there.”
Though he’s no stranger to the world of reality TV — his best mate Todd Elton starred on the second season of Love Island — Damien said he hadn’t really considered giving dating on TV a shot until someone reached out to ask if he was interested.
“That set the wheels turning in my head like, you know what? I wouldn’t mind having a crack at this. Worst case, I’ve experienced something new, best case I fall in love on national television and meet the woman of my dreams.”
What Damien didn’t expect was walking up the red carpet to see not one but two Bachelorettes.
“Going in there was a lot of talk about Sharna Burgess being the Bachelorette so I sort of thought it might be her,” he said. “But then I came out of the car, around the corner and it was two beautiful blondes. I was pleasantly surprised, it was good.”
Though he initially felt a vibe with Elly, Damien said it was just a matter of time — wanting to investigate if their connection was anything more than friends.
“It is a reality show, it’s real life, you’re not going to fall in love straight away and when there are other guys that are a lot further progressed, they probably deserve to stay longer than I did because they were developing better connections than what I had.
“I still wanted to be there because I wanted to see if there could be something there, but I saw what the other guys were like and where they were at. I saw the writing on the wall.”
Watch The Bachelorette Australia, 7.30 Wednesday and Thursday on 10 and 10 play