Australia’s newest Bachelor Jimmy Nicholson is used to staying calm in nerve-racking situations, flying passengers all over the globe.
But the 31-year-old Sydneysider admits it was nothing like the jitters he felt meeting the girls for the first time.
“My heart was pounding… I was petrified,” Jimmy tells Woman’s Day.
“The first flight you prepare for, but for The Bachelor there’s no training involved – you’ve just got to roll with it.”
Single for some time before entering the mansion, Jimmy says he signed up for the show hoping he could finally find his soulmate.
“I had some great relationships but I never met the right person,” he says.
“I’d been out of a long-term relationship for about two years. So the timing just felt right and I thought, ‘I’m just going to go for it’.”
Jimmy can’t wait to watch the series along with Australia.
(Credit: Channel Ten)Having watched snippets of the show before, Jimmy admits he could have watched a few more episodes to prepare for the “whirlwind” that lay ahead.
With Jimmy usually juggling a busy work schedule as a commercial pilot and often gone for days at a time, the girls wondered exactly how a relationship would work.
But he had just the thing to calm their fears.
“Business class flights are always a good one to get someone on board… with my roster,” he jokes.
“And if they still want to run for the hills maybe I’ll have to dangle the ‘staff travel’ carrot in front of them!”
The pilot is looking forward to getting back in the cockpit.
(Credit: Instagram)Most nervous that he wouldn’t find a love match among the 23 girls in the mansion, Jimmy turned to former Bachelor success story and gym buddy Tim Robards for advice.
“He basically just said to me, if you obsess from the start about who you’re going to pick, you get in your own head too much,” Jimmy recalls.
“He told me to think about who I didn’t see a future with and I definitely used that advice. It really helped me.”
Jimmy admits the whole experience was a “whirlwind.”
(Credit: Channel Ten)The hometown dates will be more important than ever this season, with Jimmy stressing that his family mean everything to him. No pressure girls!
“My parents are madly in love and that’s exactly what I want,” says Jimmy, who reveals his mum and dad even helped plan his dates for the girls!
“We had a family group chat going about what would be great dates to see the different personality attributes that I was looking for in a partner… which you’ll see on the show. I want them to get along with my friends and family – their opinion means everything.”
Tim and wife Anna are the original Bachelor success story!
(Credit: Instagram)Now, like the rest of the country, Jimmy is eager to see his love story play out on the small screen.
“A lot of the drama and stuff that happens in the house is when I’m not there,” says Jimmy.
“I’m really excited to find out who were themselves and who were kind of putting on a bit of an act.”
And while Jimmy confesses he would have had no problem pulling a “Honey Badger” had he not met the right woman – Nick Cummins chose neither woman in the 2018 finale – he’s overjoyed to share he’s very much in love.
“I’m really, really happy to say that I’m in love and I met someone who I just absolutely adore,” Jimmy says.
“I took a leap of faith and it all worked out.”
THE BACHELOR premieres 7.30pm, July 21 on Ten
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