Why Are They Hiding This Bachelor Contestant's Past?

The Bachelor NZ returned to our screens last night and already it would appear not all is as it seems.

Thirty-three-year-old Rebecca Trelease was the first contestant to receive a rose from The Bachelor, Jordan Mauger, who said he felt a special spark with Trelease and thought she was sweet and genuine.

Trelease was described as a "retirement village attendant" and filmed playing Scrabble with some senior citizens. There was no mention, however, of her secondary career as an actress, which has seen her appear in several local productions, including Nothing Trivial, The Almighty Johnsons and Shortland Street.

The actress, who is represented by one of the country's leading talent agencies Johnson Laird and who previously worked for nzherald.co.nz, has starred in several short films and won several acting awards, including "Best Kiss" at the Waikato Screen and Media Awards in 2004.

She is currently in the process of completing her Masters of Philosophy at Auckland University of Technology, where she is researching television and broadcasting and wrote a thesis on "The Evolution of Romance in Reality Television".

According to an online summary: "The aim of this research is to understand the evolution of romance in reality television in the 50 years since The Dating Game (1965-1986) first aired."

It goes on to explain the research will conduct "historical analyses of the progression of romance reality television" and "textual analysis". It does not make any mention to field research or The Bachelor specifically.

A MediaWorks spokesperson confirmed viewers will soon learn about Trelease's interest in film and television, saying "Jordan and her talk about it at length".

They also downplayed her acting career, saying she "used to act, small roles".

According to IMDB, Trelease's last on screen role was in Nothing Trivial in 2013. However, she did appear in a short film last year as part of the 48 Hour Furious Film-making competition.

Trelease is not the only actor on the new season. The Bachelor himself is a professional actor, starring in the hit TV3 series Westside last year.

He has also featured in several advertising campaigns, including an online video for Grab One, which saw him travel to Las Vegas for a quickie wedding as his alter-ego Ron Rowdy.

Speaking to The Hits radio station, Mauger told host Flynny that Rowdy has "been giving me a lot of trouble of late because his shenanigans are linked to me."

In the first episode of The Bachelor NZ, there is no mention of his career as an actor. Rather, he says he works in "film production" and is shown discussing crew bookings with a colleague.

- NZ Herald