Spy: Bachelor host Mike Puru 'wouldn't mind swapping places with a bachelorette'

Bechlor NZ host Mike Peru says he wouldn't mind having a go at chasing Arthur Green's affections. Photo/Sarah Ivey

It's not just the 21 Kiwi bombshells on The Bachelor NZ whose hearts were set aflutter by the show's hunky leading man.

Host Mike Puru confessed this week: "The Bachelor is so hot I wouldn't mind swapping places with a love-struck bachelorette."

Puru welcomed sponsors and media to the premiere of TV3's new show at the Bachelor's central Auckland pad on Tuesday night.

Everyone was in a whirl wanting to meet Arthur Green, the handsome 26-year-old businessman, Red Eleven model and fitness fanatic.

But he kept everyone waiting, staying out of sight upstairs until after the screening - not that that stopped some guests from trying to barge in on him getting changed in his bedroom.

The bachelorettes were hidden from the media, possibly a wise move given the controversy over the criminal convictions some of them had.

Spy was told many of the original bachelorettes instead got together for a private viewing of the show's first episode.

Arthur Green from The Bachelor NZ.

While guests watched the show, Spy caught up with a smitten Puru by the pool.

"I am a gay man and as soon as I saw him I thought, 'Wow, you are hot'," he said of Green.

"I have spent lots of time with him and he is truly an amazing guy and very, very funny."

Puru added if he wasn't in a relationship himself, he would vie for a rose.

"None of the women who have met Arthur have been disappointed because he has an amazing body and a great personality. Despite his good looks he is not arrogant or self-obsessed."

Puru believes the bachelorettes are genuinely looking for love. He said competition to win the affections of the show's star was fierce.

He also told us there were plenty of fireworks in the mansion and the claws did come out.

"I can tell you more than half of the ladies fall pretty hard for the Bachelor."

When the Bachelor finally joined the party he was exactly as Puru described him. The crowd of mostly women went weak at the knees, as did Spy.

So where can you hope to "bump into" Arthur Green?

Producer Anna Lynch gave Spy the inside word: "He is at Ludus Magnus Gym off Symonds St most days."

- Spy/Herald on Sunday