Looks like love is dead...
AUGUST 7 2017 - 5:05PM
The Bachelor's Richie Strahan and Alex Nation 'split'
After months of speculation, it's splitsville for last year's
The Bachelor Richie Strahan and his chosen one, Alex Nation.
Both have yet to comment on their breakup, but it's believed that Nation, 26, is well and truly over the Perth rope technician, 32, as she makes her son Elijah, 6, modelling and playing AFL her priorities.
Their last public appearance together was at the Logie Awards in April, but their reluctance to give interviews on the red carpet coupled with a not-so-subtle fight in the lobby of the Crown Promenade at the Channel Ten after-party, got tongues wagging about their future together.
The pair met on season four of the reality love show and Melbourne-based Nation emerged as an early front-runner alongside fan favourite, Nikki Gogan.
There was no denying Strahan and Nation's chemistry, but fellow WA-native Gogan, a girl-next-door with a real estate portfolio tucked under her belt, seemed to be the obvious choice for him.
When Strahan "followed his heart" and went with Nation
he was brutalised by fans on social media for choosing "the wrong girl". There were demands for a royal commission. Others suggested he had ruined his life.
"Richie's an asshole," said one viewer on Twitter. Another added this pearler: "You can follow your heart straight to hell Richie."
Even former
Bachelorette Sam Frost, who sent Strahan packing the season before, expressed her confusion, tweeting: "What is happening?"
But those feelings subsided as fans watched their journey develop through social media (a lot of Snapchatting from bed) and Strahan bond with Nation's son in a glossy magazine shoot.
Strahan promised to move to Melbourne to be with Nation and Elijah, but the move never came about.
The timing of the break-up has yet to be confirmed, but both jetted away for separate holidays - Nation to Thailand in June and Strahan to Bali last month. The last time the pair shared shots of each other on their Instagram accounts was in May.
Woman's Day suggest that their split took place six months ago with an unnamed source telling the publication: "They were worried if they announced it their profiles would come falling down, so they decided to say nothing."
The love triangle: Strahan with the final two Nikki Gogan (L) and Nation. Photo: Ten
Michael Turnbull, who starred alongside Strahan on
The Bachelorette, is upset by the news.
"I was surprised and sad to hear it actually, it was so good to see Richie happy and in love," Turnbull told Fairfax Media.
"The pressure on TV relationships is crazy and I can understand how all that attention can get in the way ... They both deserve to be happy so if that means breaking up then I guess it's for the best for both of them."
So far,
The Bachelor, a show billed on helping people find love, works 50 per cent of the time. Season one's Tim Robards and Anna Heinrich
got engaged in May, while season three's Sam Wood and Snezana Markoski are also engaged and expecting a baby girl.
Blake Garvey from season two split with
Louise Pillidge last year and is
currently off the grid.
Only time will tell how the current Bachelor Matty Johnson will fare.
Fairfax Media have asked Alex Nation and Richie Strahan for comment, but they did not respond.
http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/...an-and-alex-nation-split-20170807-gxqrme.html
