Bachelor boy Tim's life before TV

Sensitive, nice guy . . . Newcastle-raised Tim Robards is now a chiropractor.

But the last time I bumped into Tim, he’d been showering for another audience.

It was a couple of years ago and I was checking into a hotel in Melbourne. It took a moment to recognise the tall bloke next to me. ‘‘I haven’t seen you in clothes before,’’ I said, with absolute honesty.

Tim grinned. ‘‘I’ve only just put them back on,’’ he said.

He’d been working that morning as Sheridan’s towel model, a role which required him to spend hours bathing in a specially erected cubicle in the bathroom department of Myer, wearing naught but a thong and a smile.

Spruiking towels by being a live water feature, he said, played havoc with a man’s skin. ‘‘It wrinkles you up. I’ve had to go hard on the moisturiser.’’

It was all in a day’s work for Tim, who was with male model agency Topless Events. These buff, bare boys are a regular fixture on the Sydney party scene.

Although The Bachelor has carefully portrayed him as a simple, somewhat sheltered fellow looking for the girl of his dreams, Tim, now a chiropractor, is no stranger to the advances of massed female predators.

For a while, we both made our living attending the extravagant bashes at which this city excels. I was the Sun-Herald’s party columnist; he was one of Topless Events’ most popular assets.

On any given week you might have encountered Tim half-dressed as a sailor, doctor, teacher, cop, gladiator, lifesaver; painted gold, adorned with feathers or glitter; scrawled on or daubed; in a cage, on a podium. He was an obliging and fetching canvas.

Those of us who frequented that night-time netherworld regarded the Topless Events boys as the party scene’s unsung heroes.

If you sympathise with Tim’s current plight as candy for a houseful of hungry ladies, including Tim Mathieson’s daughter Sherri, imagine a whole nightclub packed with their even more lascivious sisters who make The Bachelor harem look like Benedictine mother superiors. Add free bubbles, pheromones and the backdrop of a city where men are hunted like truffles and it’s astounding that the lad made it to The Bachelor in one piece.

‘‘Tim was our enduring favourite,’’ says Tiffany Farrington, director of the Sydney-based Social Diary network for PR and media professionals. ‘‘I hired the Topless Events boys - and still do - for all my events and Tim more than any of the models because everyone loved him. He had personality on top of the great looks; a genuine nice guy.’’

She adds: ‘‘He was the poster boy for our annual Social Diary costume Christmas parties, appearing as a Ken doll, a farmer, a doctor and lots more – all with minimal clothes.

‘‘When he told me he was covering up for good to pursue his career as a chiropractor, I was devastated. I still hope one day he might make a return guest appearance for us.’’

Sarah Smith, a Sydney-based nurse, fondly recalls Tim as the highlight of her 2009 hens’ night. ‘‘He was our topless cocktail waiter, wearing just a bow tie and pants,’’ she says.

‘‘He gave the best shoulder rubs, and some of the girls enjoyed doing shots off his chest. We were all struck by what a gentleman he was; he made everyone feel very special. The girls all raved about him afterwards.’’

I hear them. In fact, I hired Tim too. When it came time to throw a huge party to launch my first book, Night O’ Shite, and I needed crowd-pleasing muscle with good manners, he was top of the list. Tim led my escort of four topless pyjama boys at the bash at Double Bay’s Pink Salt restaurant.

He wore pink satin pyjama bottoms and his tasks included sprawling becomingly on a giant bed with fellow performers Victoria Bitter, a fabulous drag queen, and a Robbie Williams lookalike, entertaining the guests and being generally decorative. He did it all brilliantly.

When you’re a party columnist, torsos are like table decorations: you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. But Tim was a stand-out.

I remember most how nice he was to Mum and Dad. My folks were justifiably disorientated, having just landed in Australia from the UK and been promptly scooped into a stretch hummer with their daughter, four topless men, a drag queen and a flame-haired crooner.

Resplendent in his pink pants, Tim put them at their ease and made polite conversation about things that relax British people, such as the weather.

There’s no doubt – the boy’s got talent. And all of us who knew him back in the naked days are cheering him on as he fends off the teeth, nails, hairspray and lip gloss in the Bachelor house.

Says Tiffany Farrington: ‘‘I just hope he can fight his way through all that artifice to find someone as genuine as him. It’s going to be tough.’’

Sarah Smith agrees. ‘‘Good luck to him is all I can say.’’

The ladies of Sydney are all behind you, Tim. As I recall, the view from that angle was pretty good too.