Were Nikki and Richie dating BEFORE The Bachelor?

Richie Strahan broke up with Nikki Grogan in a pretty brutal way during The Bachelor finale that shocked everyone who believed she was the one who won his heart.

And now there are suggestions that the former reality couple were an item even before cameras started to film and had planned to pursue their romance in front of the nation.

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New Idea has reported that the pair were in a relationship in real life before filming for the reality show had started.

"They had so much in common and a mutual attraction way before the show," a source revealed to the magazine.

And it seems there was a hidden agenda to signing on, with the insider adding: "They are both ambitious to push their public profiles."

"Nikki thought this would be a great opportunity for them to get to know each other better, fall in love and become a household name at the same time."

The magazine also claims Nikki's ex-fiance Tim Verlinden "always maintained that [Nikki] knew Richie from the races and that they had something going on together."

Both Nikki and Richie hail from Western Australia, with the 28-year-old a frontrunner during the entire series to win, but ultimately lost out to Alex Nation.

However it's another ex-boyfriend, Scott van den Bosch, who has refuted the rumours, telling Daily Mail Australia that while the pair "may have had mutual friends" he knows nothing about the claims of Nikki and Richie knowing knew each other before meeting on the show.

"As far as I know they hadn't met before the show began," Scott told the publication.

Hm this could get interesting!

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