'Bachelorette NZ' contestant speaks after claim he had a girlfriend caused bombshell elimination

It may have been the biggest blind-side on The Bachelorette New Zealand to date.

Liam Cochrane was sent home after his fellow contestants threw him under the bus, suggesting that he already had a girlfriend outside of the show and that she thought he was in Hawaii.

When Lily McManus – who the Australian bloke was vying for - confronted him he did end up being a bit of a "stunned" deer caught in the headlights, but now Liam has had his chance to clear the air.

Speaking to Laura, Sam and Toni this morning Liam explained that he "didn’t have a girlfriend, no."

"Just as a conversation in passing," Liam said, "I was like 'it doesn’t matter I’ve got a girl on the outside' – well, no, even like that, 'I’ve got someone who’s interested me on the outside'.

"The reason why this person thought I was in Hawaii was because I had signed an NDA saying that I couldn’t disclose where I was going, so when I was p***ing off, I was like 'oh yeah, don’t worry I’m going to Hawaii'".

As for the guys – Aaron McNabb and Jesse Williamson - who told Lily the rumour and started the whole mess that saw him not receiving a rose?

While Liam says he doesn’t want to hold grudges and is still friends with a lot of the other Bachelorette contestants, he says he’s definitely not pals with Aaron.

"I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on it now, and I look back now and I don’t want to hold grudges … Honestly, I’m mates with a lot of them still.

"I can confirm, I do not speak to Aaron," he said, adding that he does still talk to Jesse who was his closest friend on the show.

Liam also notes that while he is still close with Lily, he says it still hurt that he got sent home over a misunderstanding.

"I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed," he said. "Only because they had a lot of time to figure out the person that I was and it was so out of character for something like this to happen from me.

"I reckon if it was done at a different time of the day I would have explained it better,” Liam said, revealing that being a "bottle and a half deep in red wine" made it hard for him to plead his case at that moment"

After last night's episode aired, Lily addressed her choice in not giving Liam a rose, writing:

"I’d be an idiot to come into this experience thinking that these men weren’t going to make mistakes. That these men weren’t going to have flaws. That at times they wouldn’t be egoistic, fragile, proud, insecure, and impulsive.

"They are human, all of their emotions are valid and deserve to be treated with the time and respect they deserve. I didn’t want much from these men, I didn’t have any expectations for them to fall in love with me on that show.

"All I wanted was for them to be open with me, themselves and the experience and see where that took them. Because that was all I could promise them, how could I expect any more than I was willing to give? Honesty was the one thing that I felt I needed.

"Did Liam have a girlfriend on the outside? Probably not. Was there some feelings being toyed with here? Potentially.

"Unfortunately, that wasn’t a risk I was willing to take this far into the show. This isn’t about Liam anymore. This is about another woman and how she might have felt.

"This is about me and the behaviour that I need from a partner in a relationship. I have nothing but respect for Liam. He is a good man. Yet this is just not something that sits right inside my chest. We love you Liam. Thank you for being you, flaws and all.

"That’s all a Bachelorette could ever ask for."

The Bachelorette NZ continues tonight at 7.30pm on TVNZ 2.