Kate Cameron says she was always in the 'friendzone' with Jordan Mauger.
Kate Cameron knew she was heading home from The Bachelor. She'd packed her bags, smiled as all the other girls got roses, and prepared to farewell Jordan Mauger with a friendly kiss on the cheek.
Then all hell broke loose.
"I remember knowing it was going to be me going home so I was double checking that I'd packed everything in my head," Cameron told the Herald about the moment when last night's drama broke out.
"Suddenly I realised Naz was really upset. I was like a deer in headlights really. I didn't know what was going on."
Cameron's fellow contestant Nazanin 'Nasty Naz' Khanjani, who has become the recent favourite to win the reality romance, was in the bottom two and fled the rose ceremony in tears. She later returned after being consoled by Mauger and Cameron.
Naz got the rose and Cameron was sent home.
The 28-year-old account manager admitted it was "odd" consoling someone who was getting a rose when she was going home, but said her instinct kicked in.
"It was an odd situation to be in (but) if someone's upset you generally check that (they're) okay. She's obviously showing quite a bit of vulnerability at the moment. Naz was upset, so I thought I'd check she's alright."
Cameron had been on the episode's day-long single date with Mauger, enjoying a pub lunch followed by a sightseeing parasailing trip in the Bay of Islands.
Their date was fun but had little romance or intimacy, and was final proof for Cameron that she and Mauger were just friends.
"If it was going to happen it should have happened then but I wasn't feeling it and I don't think he was either ... It wasn't awkward, but I did feel like he's obviously just not into it and his connections were so much stronger with the other girls," she said.
"I knew I was too far behind to catch the other girls up ... Having not kissed at that point I knew I'd be going home.
"It just confirmed that he's a great guy, he'd be a great friend."