It seems like just yesterday we were introduced to first pilot Jimmy Nicholson, who was taking a crack at The Bachelor on his quest to find love.
With 23 women to choose from, he knew it would be a tough choice, but last night it all came to an end when he proclaimed his love for Holly Kingston.
She was considered a front runner throughout the entire season, as the marketing manager from Sydney hit it off with Jimmy from the very first day.
Now, after many trials and tribulations, the two can finally go public with their relationship.
I was given the chance to speak to the happy couple and find out everything there is to know (did you know they’re moving in together!?), so keep reading to find out what they had to say.
POPSUGAR Australia: First of all, congratulations! How does it feel to be able to finally announce your relationship?
Holly Kingston: It’s awesome. We’ve obviously had a very long few months of not being able to see each other all that much and not being able to tell our family and friends that we’re super happy, so it’s very exciting.
PS: How have the last few months been for you guys?
Jimmy Nicholson: From a relationship standpoint, we’ve been so rock solid and she’s been the most amazing partner to have throughout this whole thing. Because it’s not easy watching your boyfriend date other women and she’s just been so rock solid, so it’s been really nice having someone who is so mature and kind of knows how it all works and knows that we’re going to have to watch some stuff that we don’t want to see, so that could potentially be really difficult if you’re not able to see each other. Or if your partner, which a lot of people would be, gets a bit jealous and freaks out, so it’s been tricky, with lockdown and not being close to each other geographically and not being able to see each other, but we’ve seen each other a few times, had a couple of rendezvous, but we’re just super excited to be able to be normal together and do all the normal couple things we missed out on.
HK: I think as well, post-filming wrapping up, we’ve become even more of a team having to deal with everything that we’ve had to deal with, whether it’s been watching the show back or dealing with the media or whatever it might be. We’ve really just been very compatible in that sense, as we both know how to support each other and it doesn’t feel like we’ve known each other for a few months, it feels like we’ve known each other for a lot longer. I think we’ve become a really good team out of all of this. It could be a really bizarre way to start a relationship but we’ve made it work.
JN: I found it really difficult when all the girls were spreading crap in the house about Holly and trying to throw her under the bus, it was difficult for me because I wanted to just come out and say “actually, you know what, I was there, and no, that’s incorrect, it’s absolute BS” but I couldn’t, I had to bite my tongue, so I found that a little bit tricky. But luckily there were beautiful people like Carlie there. What better moral compass and a better judge of character than Carlie, so as soon as any of those rumours started I was like “get Carlie on! Someone ask Carlie and tell Australia the truth, she’s not going to lie to people.”
PS: Jimmy, what was the moment you knew Holly was the one?
JN: I definitely knew early on that she was an amazing girl and the more and more time I spent with her I was like, “wow, she’s incredible, she ticks all the boxes” and in the end, the only little bit of jeopardy we could have on her was that she was pretty similar to the people I’ve dated in the past. But on our first date, we had a moment where we looked at each other and thought “okay, this just got real.” But, yeah every date the more and more time I spent with her the more I knew she was the one. Even after you finish filming, that’s the true test, and we’ve just grown stronger and stronger.
PS: Jimmy, during filming, there was so much that happened when you weren’t around. How did it feel watching it back and seeing some of the girls act the way they did?
JN: Oh look, I was kind of annoyed at myself that I had taken a certain someone on a single date. Watching that back was pretty frustrating because I wanted to go on the show and make sure I didn’t — what you do on the show is a reflection of who you are and who you’re going to be outside of it — and I made it pretty clear that I don’t want any drama around me, I’m not going to get caught up in that kind of stuff. Because at the end of the day I know who I am as a person, and I don’t want to surround myself around people that aren’t nice to other people and are trying to get famous and all the rest of it. So it was kind of frustrating for me watching those bits back, and thinking “oh you were completely blindsided.” But it makes entertaining television I guess, so that’s the silver lining.
PS: The show has been over for a while. How did the two of you manage to keep your relationship a secret? Did you have any code names for each other?
JN: She’s still saved on my phone as “Mark” *laughs* so …
HK: So, Jimmy’s sending lots of romantic, sexy messages to some bloke called Mark, and I call Jimmy Weezy on my phone because he snores like a tractor. So, they’re both very non-romantic names.
PS: When you went on dates, was it awkward to have a camera crew following you around?
JN: It could potentially be really awkward, but I know that I dated not just Holly, but some others on the show as well, and every bit of time I had with Holly it just felt like the cameras weren’t there.
HK: Oh, I completely agree. I know it’s so hard to believe. I remember the last few years I’ve seen pap photos, and you see what the camera crew looks like on dates and you’re like, “sorry, this is BS, how do these people actually fall in love and make out and not be actors.” And I think if that connection is there, we just completely forget. Also, the one thing you do realise is that the camera crew and the sound guys and whatnot, half of them are watching the golf on their phones and stuff. They couldn’t care less about what’s going on in front of them. If there’s kissing on the show, they’d take out their earpiece. So they just fade into the background after a little while, and you just focus on yourself.
PS: What will be your first “normal” date now that the show is over?
JN: Well, we have a break today from publicity so we’re going to walk to my local cafe and get coffee together, which is going to be really nice. So that’ll be our first little date. But, there’s going to be some really exciting stuff on the cards for us. We want to travel together a lot. Because we skipped the first 6 stages of dating, we want to do all that kind of stuff. Picnics in the park, going to the movies, having a nice dinner without cameras there, all that kind of stuff.
PS: Holly, how do you feel watching the show and seeing Jimmy make out with other girls, and see his connection with Brooke?
HK: Yeah, you know what, I was really expecting it to be a lot worse than it was. I think a few past Bachelor people have told us a really good piece of advice, and that’s pretty much your relationship starts the day that he picks you. So anything that happens before that is all riff-raff. Who told us that?
JN: It was Laura and Matty J.
HK: Yeah, that was a really good piece of advice. I actually struggled more watching the girl drama and the mental headspace that I was in during all of that stuff. I struggled watching that back more, so the C-word drama and that awful family dinner party. But watching him kiss other girls, we just kind of laugh about it. We actually were able to watch the Steph date together, so we had many Hawaiians over that.
JN: Oh yeah, but especially when my family came in, that was frustrating to watch for my sister and my cousin Jaimie, because a couple of the girls kind of teamed up on Holly and they had a little plan they wanted to execute just to throw her under the bus. My family coming in to see the girls was valuable time, and they just took that away from Holly and from my sister, causing them to get distracted by this other garbage. So that was kind of frustrating because when your partner meets your family, it’s valuable time, especially on TV. You want them to be able to start forming a connection and all the rest of it, but anyway. We had a bit of a laugh over it.
PS: Holly, what is Jimmy’s most annoying habit?
HK: Ohhhhh! How long do we have left for this interview!?
JN: Hey!
HK: I think Jimmy’s most annoying habit would be, he has no concept of a morning voice. He would wake up — and he has a deep voice already — but no concept of a morning voice. And he’s quite hyper. Because we’ve spent so much of our relationship in these last few months over the phone, he’s always doing something. He’s always working on his bike, or drilling and I can’t hear anything, or he’ll take a lunch break and he’ll be chewing in my ear on the phone. So, I mean there are quite a few annoying habits but we’re about to move in together so I’ll get back to you on some more.
JN: Do you want to know her annoying habits? I got a few as well! You can’t drink a cup of tea around her, even if you’re the most silent tea drinker in the world, forget it, she’s going to have a go at you. Eating lunch in front of her? Absolutely not. She’s got this weird thing where she can’t hear people chew or drink so I’m just there, trying to drink my cup of tea really, really quietly, but it’s very difficult. Oh, and she goes quiet when we have a little tiff, which hasn’t happened many times, but it’s actually kind of cute, it’s not really annoying.
