Country WA boy feels chemistry on The Bachelorette
He’s a self-confessed “country boy at heart” but Dan Hobley has found his face broadcast on TV screens across the nation as a contestant on The Bachelorette.
Spending months in a lavish mansion — required for filming, of course — was a far cry from growing up with four brothers on a sheep and grain farm at Nyabing.
Mr Hobley won hearts around Australia when he presented Bachelorette Ali Oetjen with a lamb during his red carpet entrance, which premiered last month.
Mr Hobley said he applied for the show to try his luck with Bachelorette Ali Oetjen and “build some confidence” after fighting a battle with Crohn’s disease.
“I have been a very single man for a while now, and was in the position where I hadn’t had a relationship for almost three years,” he said.
“A bit of loneliness was starting to creep in... like a lot of blokes I maybe don’t like to admit it.
“I thought I really needed to throw myself into a totally different environment, get some confidence and give love a go.”
Mr Hobley’s family, a well-known farming family in the small town, runs 5500ha of owned and leased property with 3600ha of cropping and 7500 head of stud and commercial Merino sheep.
While the 33-year-old teacher lives in Perth, he said he tried to get back to the farm as much as possible and previously played for the now-defunct Kent Districts Football Club, which folded in 2012.
He said he did his best to fly the flag for country WA while on the show.
“Naturally, people are fairly keen to know where you are from and I am a fairly unique person to be on a situation like that,” Mr Hobley said.
“A lot of the boys are from the northern beaches of Sydney, it’s an east coast-dominant show.
“I was a typical West Australian, I refused to be intimidated and I think WA blokes have an ability to be widely liked and that’s because we are approachable.”
Mr Hobley would not be drawn on just how far he makes it on the show, and whether Ms Oetjen had made a home visit to his family’s property.
“There is definitely some chemistry there,” he said.
“You will just have to wait and see.”
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