Bachelorette NZ's Paul - ‘I'M COOKING UP ROMANCE'

The dishy chef says Lexie has all the right ingredients for r a lasting love

He’s a professional cook with long, luscious locks and an apartment in Paris, so Kiwi-Fijian hunk Paul Patterson was always going to be a top contender to steal the heart of The Bachelorette NZ’s Lexie Brown.

And the fact both avid travellers have been brought home to Aotearoa by the global pandemic has given them even more to bond over, with Paul’s plans to open a restaurant in New York scuttled and the former ski instructor, 31, losing her job in Canada.

“I’ve got feelings happening,” the Waiheke Island resident, 35, confesses to Woman’s Day. “It’s not what I expected. My dream girl is someone who can run amok and keep up with me, but is also happy to sit back and watch the world go by – and Lexie very much fits the bill.”

Mentored by top Kiwi chef Nick Honeyman, Paul has spent the past seven years making a name for himself in the cut-throat culinary world of the French capital and was on a brief visit back to Auckland before opening his bistro in Brooklyn when COVID-19 struck.

“I had to pull the pin on the dream and take a big financial hit,” he says. “I wasn’t happy about it. It’s been a hard six months trying to get my head around it. I was excited about the New York opportunity and having a new city to explore. I felt like I was starting again.