From his explosive confrontation with politician Jess Glasgow in the very first episode, to ‘ratting out’ Carlin Sterritt this week, Jamie Doran has certainly made waves on The Bachelorette Australia.
He’s been labelled a stage-five clinger and been called too intense. Though he says he’s got thick skin, the reality TV contestant admits the negative attention has been tough to deal with.
“It’s been difficult,” Jamie tells TV WEEK after his elimination on Thursday night.
“I’ve been receiving death threats, I’ve had people asking for my address because they want to come around and punch me in the face, you know. That’s difficult.”
Jamie’s also had to deal with viewers making nasty comments about his career as a firefighter.
“The thing that really gets me down is when people start calling me out about my career as a firefighter,” he says.
“That really bothers me, because I wear that like a badge of honour and I’ve been doing that for 20 years. That’s the thing that gets me hard.”
Jamie has struggled with the negative attention online.
(Image: Network 10)Thankfully, Jamie says he’s had the support of many of the Bachelorette boys.
“I’m friends with the majority of the guys on the season, and they’ve got my back,” he says. “They’ve been supportive. Especially Timm, Ryan, Adam, Alex and Jackson. They’ve been a good support network.”
He’s also grateful to his firefighter pals, who’ve encouraged him to ignore the negativity.
“They take the piss out of me, but they’ve been really great. They know who I am, and that is all that matters.”
Jamie says he actually understands the reaction to his on-screen persona, and claims he’s “made his peace” with his “stage five clinger” edit.
“Look, I’ll own it. I was pretty intense,” he says. “I was in there, in a competitive environment, and my emotions were quite heightened. It is a pressure cooker in there and it probably brought out the worst in me.
“I’ve made my peace with the edit,” he continues. “You’ve got to understand that’s two months of filming, and they’re showing 45 minutes an episode.
“I didn’t expect to be such a main character, as you see it, but I’ll own everything I did.”
Jamie admits he was a bit “intense” on The Bachelorette.
(Image: Network 10)Jamie also holds no grudges against fans who think he was too full-on.
“The people that watch the show, they’ve got a right to have an opinion. I won’t hold that against them,” he says.
“Fans of the show have the right to say Jamie was acting intense, or Jamie was acting like a stage-five clinger, or over the top, they have the right to say that and I’ll never be angry at them.
“They are fans of the show, and I put myself out there to be in this position,” he says.
“At the end of the day if people want to say I’m intense, or I’m a dog and I broke the bro code, then that’s true and I’ll take that on the chin.”
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Though it ultimately led to him being sent home, Jamie maintains he has “no regrets” over his decision to “out” Carlin to Angie. He believes Carlin isn’t who he appears to be on-screen.
“I was there for Angie, and even the night I left I was still there for her, telling her about the locker room talk,” the 39-year-old star says.
“A lot of the guys sort of had this rule that what was said off-camera in the mansion, stayed in the mansion, and I rebutted that all the time.
“I just think Carlin on camera, is Carlin the golden boy you’ve all seen. But Carlin off camera, there was a lot of fakeness,” he claims.
“He was slipping up, he couldn’t hold that image 24 hours a day and I saw cracks in his character forming more and more every day. But I mean let’s see what happens in the future, because I feel like it’s going to come out in the wash.”
Though he’s a clear frontrunner for Angie’s heart, Jamie maintains there’s something untrustworthy about Carlin.
(Image: Network 10)The Bachelorette Australia airs Wednesday and Thursday, 7:30pm, on Network 10.
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