Estella Gardinier: Nineteen years later, this ‘Bachelor’ winner is finally married
When Estella Gardinier competed for Bob Guiney’s heart on the fourth season of “The Bachelor,” which aired in September 2003, “Things were pretty different. I call it ‘the very vintage Bachelor,’ ” the fitness studio owner based in Encinitas, Calif., told Page Six. “There was no Instagram back then, so no one really questioned whether or not you were there for any other reason than to find love. All I ever wanted was to be in a happy and loving relationship.”
She was the last woman standing, although Guiney gave her a promise ring — not an engagement ring — and the two broke up shortly after the finale aired.
“After ‘The Bachelor,’ I felt so exposed and it led to this hesitancy about dating and being vulnerable because everyone knew everything about me already,” said Gardinier, 46.
In the years after, she was in three serious relationships, none of which led to a proposal. Finally, in 2020, she enlisted professional help — a “highlevel coach to help me get to the root cause of what was keeping me from what I desired most: a loving and lasting partnership.”
“For so long, I felt like everything was great in my life, but I wanted to be married and have a family,” she said. “So, right before the pandemic, I actually paid someone to help me optimize the online dating process.”
She met her match — a sales director at a shipboard solution provider — on Match.com and they married in June of 2022.
“[The coach] was worth every penny because my husband and I met right away and fell in love,” she said.
“I didn’t end up leaving ‘The Bachelor’ in a serious, committed relationship, but I have no regrets about being on the show,” Gardinier said. “It was challenging and I was young, so I didn’t know how to navigate the craziness once it all ended, but the experience helped me grow.”