The REAL reason The Golden Bachelor’s Barry ‘Bear’ Myrden quit the show before being lured back by Nine – and it’s bad news for Sunny

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After a suspenseful eight weeks, Barry ‘Bear’ Myrden found love with Sunny Long on the season finale of The Golden Bachelor, which aired Sunday.

However, there’s a potential issue for the contest winner, CEO Sunny Long, 58: the 61-year-old engineer almost missed their meeting altogether.

Bear left the Channel Nine show soon after being chosen as the Golden Bachelor – he’d actually already found someone he was dating.

Surprisingly, the person who originally tried out for the part was a Canadian who now lives in Sydney.

According to a source, he was quickly hired after applying, but then withdrew his acceptance because he’d started dating someone else.

After Bear left before filming could begin, the show’s producers were left without a lead actor.

Once the other candidates were seen, Bear suddenly seemed much more appealing, and the producers convinced him to return to the show, according to a source.

According to the source, the other possible bachelors were ‘spectacularly underwhelming’.

Bear is said to be ‘loving all the attention’ the show has brought him.

Woman’s Day reported this week that Bear, who lost his wife Audrey in 2014, is engaged to millionaire Jo Kinghorn. This comes as a surprise, as he’s stated on the show that he’s been single since his wife’s passing.

Oh my god, I remember hearing things from someone who was at their engagement party back in 2016… it was so sad even then! Apparently, all of Nell’s friends thought Bear was just… awful. Like, they called him a total jerk behind his back! It’s heartbreaking knowing that was how people saw him even at the beginning, and explains so much about why things fell apart. I always knew there was something off!

According to a source who spoke with Daily Mail, Bear spent much of the party showing off on the ski boat Jo gave him, and he was also noticeably flirting with several of the female guests.

They also mentioned that Bear rarely seemed interested in the men in their friend group, who didn’t find him particularly engaging.

What’s more, according to the insider, Bear didn’t cough up for Kinghorn’s engagement ring.

‘It should be known that the engagement ring was purchased by the bride-to-be,’ the source claimed.

Kinghorn fell ‘madly in love’ with the keen sailor after meeting the Canadian widower in 2012.

According to a friend of Kinghorn, Bear’s stories about his relationships on the show have shocked her and her friends.

They weren’t just engaged and living together; Kinghorn also became a stepmother figure to Bear’s three young sons – Charlie, Jack, and Declan.

Once money became a significant issue in their relationship, the couple began to struggle.

Alexandra Kinghorn comes from a wealthy family. Her father created Allco Financial Services and RAMS Home Loans and has appeared on lists of Australia’s richest people.

Bear appeared to have a wonderful arrangement with Kinghorn. He employed a nanny to care for their children, allowing both of them to travel internationally.

According to reports, after Bear and Kinghorn got engaged in 2016, Bear and his three children moved in with her to her $6 million house in Manly.

Daily Mail has reached out to Nine for comment. 

After the show ended, Bear and Sunny shared that they are still a couple. They continued to see each other in secret for several months, keeping their relationship going despite the cameras being off.

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2025-11-18 11:04