Secretly dated?
He entered the race for Sophie’s heart weeks later than the others, but there’s no denying pub mogul Stu – who’s admitted to asking Sophie on a date a year before the show – made an impression, fast. Now, sources are saying there might be more to their previous encounter than they’ve claimed. “Everyone is saying Soph and Stu didn’t meet just once before the show started,” tells an insider. “They actually briefly dated.” And there are some telltale signs that flame was never fully extinguished on either side. For starters, Ten made the decision to adapt the normal age bracket of 23-35 to include men up to 45 years old, and brought Stu, 44, in as an intruder – meaning he had fewer suitors to compete with than the men who’d been there from the outset.
Then, bookie-favourite Luke got the boot – and according to the hunk it was to remove competition up against Stu.
“There were obviously guys who came into the house and I noticed almost straight away there was a connection with one of them. Maybe she just wanted to remove someone out of the picture to not complicate things too much so she could focus on developing a relationship with that person,” says Luke.
And we can reveal Sophie’s “friend” Adele, who led the “doga” session on her single date with Apollo, is also a friend of Stu’s – and lives in the same Sydney suburb as him! Coincidence?