Her connection with the Bachelor was plain for all to see. Green later said he felt relief when he saw Rice walking towards him and made his mind up right then that she would be getting the final rose.
But that would have made for a terrible TV show. So he spent the next few weeks pashing some other Bachelorettes, too.
May 7, 2015: Matilda wins. Nobody's surprised.
After enduring competition from 20 other women, a broken wrist after being thrown from a horse during a group date, and a koala called Happy Jay pooping on her during the show's finale, Rice got to hear the words she'd been waiting for from Green:
"It's always been you."
September 2015: The L word
After several months of being plagued by rumours that their romance was a sham, Green and Rice told Woman's Day that they're mad about each other – and had even started throwing around the L word.
Rice confesses she was the first to blurt out "I love you," while the couple were eating burgers in bed after a night out. The romance!
Early 2016: Happy anniversary!
Rice and Green celebrated their first anniversary together and finally started to put an end to those whispers about their relationship.
Green decided to post a sentimental message to Rice on Instagram, saying "It's been just over a year since I met this kid. Thanks for making life great."
The rumours then turned to whether or not the golden couple had decided to move in together.
At the time, Rice told Spy they weren't officially cohabiting, but "spend pretty much every night at each other's flats".
Late 2016: A love nest
By the end of 2016, Green and Rice had ditched the flatmates and set up their own home together, from which they both worked on their various businesses and personal brands.
September 2017: Art puts a ring on it
Two years after meeting on The Bachelor, Rice and Green decided to well and truly lock their relationship down.
During a holiday to Rarotonga (with a magazine contingent in tow), Green got down on one knee and asked Rice to be his wife.
Soon after, the pair shared the news with their Instagram fanbase.
"So something quite exciting happened in Rarotonga... I got to pat a giant Trevally named Gina!" wrote Rice.
"Oh and also, we got ENGAGED! Actually pinching myself that I get to wake up to that face every day for the rest of my life."
Also September 2017: Adding to the family
It was a busy month for our Bachelor lovebirds – soon after getting engaged, the couple took the even bigger step of adopting some fur babies. https://spy.nzherald.co.nz/spy-news/meet-art-and-matilda-s-babies/
After seeing two ragdolls on a cat rescue website, Rice and Green knew they had found their new pets. However they weren't fans of the names the cats already had (Tommy and Coco). So they decided to give them new names – Brian and Christine.
Perfect.
January 2018: Business partners
Already busy with their own projects, fronting ad campaigns and launching books, Rice and Green decided to launch a ready-made meal delivery service – all paleo, of course.
June 2018: Heartbreakers
After a few flawless years building her brand, Rice hit choppy waters when she took on co-hosting duties on TVNZ's controversial Heartbreak Island.
The show's live action Tinder sequence in its opening episode left a bad taste in viewers' mouths – and many of them let Rice know about it.
The day after the show premiered, Rice told her Instagram followers about the abuse she'd copped online about it.
"I have been absolutely inundated with messages and comments and tweets telling me I am a bad person," she said.
"The absolute barrage of hate I got on social media last night and today was, like, awful. I felt like shit, I felt like absolute shit."
Green spoke out in his fiancee's defence, reminding people that she was "just doing a job".
"If you don't like the TV show, then just don't watch the TV show, but don't come after people personally," he said.
"We are all just people and we have feelings and no one is better than anyone else and I don't think negativity and hurtful comments have a place on social media."
December 2018: The big move
After telling Next magazine that they couldn't afford to buy an Auckland property, Rice and Green looked a little further north and snapped up their first home in Warkworth.
"Just like that, we're now residents of Warkworth, AKA the winterless north, AKA The Dub Dub," Green wrote on Instagram on moving day.
January 2019: The family expands once more
What do you do when you move into your own home and have a bit of room in the backyard? You set up a chicken run, of course.
So Rice and Green moved five chickens into their humble abode last month – naming them Moira, Deborah, Linda, Tanya and Susan.
Next stop – the wedding!
And if this really has been a fake romance all along, all we can say is they have been very, very committed to the ruse.
