YOU chats to The Bachelorette’s Ruan
Meet The Bachelorette SA’s Ruan Meyer. After being single for three years, he’s looking for a queen to claim his heart
IN HIS faux fur coat, he looked as if he’d stepped straight out of fantasy series Game of Thrones as he walked down the red carpet to meet his queen. From the get-go Ruan Meyer was the one to watch – and it’s no surprise the curly-haired cutie caught the eye of SA’s first bachelorette, Qiniso van Damme. The elegant young woman with the dazzling smile made a beeline for Ruan, singling him out to receive the first-impression rose.
His easygoing nature and refreshing honesty were just two reasons why he secured the coveted red bloom – but before that nerves got the better of him and he found himself overwhelmed by the moment.
“It’s hard to explain,” Ruan (26) says. “You’re so stressed. You see the mansion and you see her and you ask yourself, ‘How’d I get here?’ All you want to do is hide in the limousine because you’re too scared to get out.”
Ruan had devised a dramatic entrance along with a speech he hoped would sweep Qiniso off her feet. But by the time he made it up the red carpet, there was no sign of the smouldering gaze he’d been planning. Instead, a goofy grin was plastered across his face and he sheepishly offered her a stuffed toy wolf as a gift.
“I realised my plan wasn’t going to work so instead I focused on being in the moment,” he says. Ruan launched into why he was dressed as Jon Snow (played by British actor Kit Harington), explaining to her that he wanted to get the fact that he looked so much like Jon Snow out of the way so she could get know him.
But it was his Afrikaans accent that really endeared him to her. “I just gave the first-impression rose to Ruan – not the king of the north,” Qiniso said during the first rose ceremony, playfully rolling her Rs. “Thank you for showing me who you are and that you really tried to connect with me.”
In her video diary, Qiniso, a self-proclaimed Game of Thrones geek, confesses “cutie pie” Ruan is her “favourite Afrikaner”. Ooh la la, could the beauty have met her forever boykie?
HE GREW up in a typically Afrikaans household, Ruan tells YOU. “We were pretty traditional and my parents told us the usual stuff like pumpkin gives you curly hair.
Then this happened,” he says, gesturing to his curly locks with a laugh.
The family lived in Welkom, but when his parents, Gerhard and Ronel Meyer, divorced when Ruan was eight, he and his two older brothers moved to Bloemfontein with their mom.
He moved to Pretoria four years ago, where he studied architecture and these days he and a friend are trying to get a construction company off the ground.
Relocating to Gauteng spelled the end of Ruan’s four-year relationship with his high-school sweetheart, but he was ready to find love again when a member of the show’s production team approached him about entering the show.
Ronel was so excited that she sent Ruan articles and videos about Qiniso. “That’s when I discovered who she is, what she does for a living and how quirky she is. I knew I had to take part.”
His extended family were very supportive when he told them about it. “They said, ‘Go for it.’ I think my brothers wanted me to do it so they could tease me about the stuff they knew I’d probably say on television.”
He knew he spoke with a strong accent but didn’t realise just how strong it was until he saw the broadcast, Ruan says. “I struggle more when I’m nervous – I have to think harder to find the right words.”
Ruan describes himself as an introvert and sharing a house with the 19 strangers vying for Qiniso’s love caused him some anxiety. “You sleep in the same house, make breakfast together, work out together and relax together,” he says.
“I don’t usually get along with other guys straight away. To my surprise we all got along pretty well and ended up having a lot of fun together.”
THE contestants, who come from all walks of life, were quarantined together on location for eight weeks during filming. Things were bound to get tense with all that testosterone in the air and, according to Ruan, one of the biggest irritations in the house was caused by snoring.
“I won’t name and shame, but the guy who slept in the bunk above me kept a towel handy which he’d flick the snorer with to get him to turn onto his side,” he says.
Ruan found it tough to be around people all the time. When things got too much he’d find a secluded spot to sit and read. “Sometimes, I wouldn’t even read – I’d just hold the book in front of me so the others would leave me alone,” he recalls.
“But overall, it was a good experience.”
Before filming started, Ruan was sceptical about finding love on a reality show.
“It’s an interesting and unconventional process,” he says. “But I’m a bit of a romantic and I believe when you meet the right girl, circumstances or the environment don’t matter.”
He admits he felt attracted to Qiniso the minute he laid eyes on her. “But just like in everyday life, you must get to know someone first. It’s a process and after a while you might see characteristics you appreciate.”
Qiniso’s reaction to his Jon Snow introduction really drew him to her. “When I saw her laughing it was as if she was saying, ‘I see your geekiness and it matches my geekiness.’
“She’s obviously very smart. A lot of people might find it intimidating but I like it.”
There’s much more to Ruan than his striking resemblance to Jon Snow. Behind the beard and curly mop is a young man with a heart of gold – and he’s willing to share it with someone special. Ruan describes his ideal woman as someone who treats others with empathy and kindness.
A good sense of humour is a must, too, he says. “I tend to make lame jokes and it’ll help if there’s at least one other person apart from myself who laughs at them.”
So is Qiniso that other person? Time will tell if Ruan is worth more than a first-impression rose . . . S