Nick Cummins 'The Honey Badger' from The Bachelor Australia. Photo / Supplied
Nick Cummins 'The Honey Badger' from The Bachelor Australia. Photo / Supplied
He's The Bachelor's most controversial suitor but Nick Cummins appears to have walked away from the show with a nice pay packet as a result.
Series favourite Brooke Blurton told the Shameless In Conversation podcast the former rugby star was paid far more than the A$250,000 ($262,150) he was initially speculated to have earned.
"I think it was a bit more, I think it was half mill maybe," she told the show's hosts Zara McDonald and Michelle Andrews.
If Blurton's claims are correct, Cummins would be the show's highest paid star by a long shot, news.com.au reports.
Sophie Monk reportedly made A$300,000 ($314,575) for her 2017 Bachelorette stint while Matty Johnson is believed to have pocketed A$200,000 ($210,000) for The Bachelor that same year.
In contrast, contestants on the show have a more modest salary, with a former contestant revealing in 2018 they were paid under A$100 ($105) a day during filming.
News.com.au has contacted Network 10 for comment regarding Blurton's claims.
Blurton quit The Bachelor abruptly after making it to the top three, with Cummins controversially going on to chose neither Sophie Tieman or Brittany Hockley during the show's finale.
Earlier this year Blurton revealed she had dropped out of the show after Cummins told her he planned to pick no-one.
She told Shameless that Cummins had broken the news to her using a bizarre code as they drove on a motorbike together during their single date.
"We went on our date and we went on the motorbike and he kind of like stopped the go pro, held my mike … he held his, and he's kind of like driving but he's mimicking, 'three zero, me zero,'" Blurton explained.
Blindsided as Blurton had been convinced Cummins would pick her as the winner she "threw everything at him" during the date to try and change his mind.
"I had to continue the date still, and I got off the motorbike and I was talking to my minder and I was like I'm so confused, and I couldn't tell her, because I couldn't trust anyone," she said.
Nick Cummins is The Bachelor's most controversial suitor. Photo / Supplied
Blurton's secret contact with Cummins didn't end there, with the sports star messaging her once the show finished.
"I don't know what I'm supposed to say, but I don't care," Blurton said.
"I think as soon as he landed in Australia and got his phone back and everything, he messaged me being like, 'this show didn't end the way that it would've ended,' something quite cryptic."
She claimed Cummins was careful to cover his tracks, only sending her messages through Instagram that would disappear once they were opened.
"We were messaging but we weren't messaging like normal messaging, it was like Instagram photo, so there was no proof that he had said anything to me because it was through photos (that disappeared)," Blurton said.
