REGARDLESS of whether you consider reality TV dating shows carefree entertainment or mind-numbing dribble, it's impossible not to be charmed by Newcastle sisters Becky and Elly Miles.
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Reality TV producers aren't exactly renown for recruiting down-to-earth people. Drama with a capital D, generally equates to ratings. However, on this occasion the producers of The Bachelorette season six have opted for a different approach.
Elly, 26, appeared on The Bachelor last year where she became a fan favourite through her country girl charm. She reached the final five, before the former John Hunter Hospital nurse was sent home by her TV suitor Matt Agnew.
On Wednesday night Elly returned to our TV screens, and for the first time in the show's history, as one of two bachelorettes. The other being big sister Becky, 30.
"I was on the radar a bit from being on the show last year and getting a lot of public support," Elly says.
"When they were doing their scouting and casting they were on my Instagram and saw some cool videos of Becky and I from our travels through Europe and from this cool sky diving surprise 30th for Becky this year.
"They must have liked the dynamic between us and thought, 'Let's do something a bit wholesome and a bit different this year,' and that's what they got."
Becky is still struggling to reconcile that producers wanted her as a bachelorette. As someone who often relaxes around the Bar Beach Bowling Club or Merewether Baths, she never saw herself on television.
"For me, seeing us two girls in the image of The Bachelorette [is weird]," Becky says. "I'm just an ordinary girl from the country. I didn't see myself in that way.
"They wanted something different. They wanted a couple of ordinary girls, and I think that's what they got."
The Miles sisters grew up in the NSW central west town of Parkes where they rode motorbikes around their parents' 750 and 500-acre farms that raised cattle and sheep and grew wheat, barley and canola.
After school Becky lived in Canberra before moving to Newcastle in 2016 to work at the Williamtown RAAF base where she managed Defence contracts, until she resigned recently to take up the opportunity on The Bachelorette.
The Newcastle lifestyle and people has suited the sisters' country upbringing. They currently live together in Becky's Bar Beach apartment after Elly initially moved to Bondi after last year's Bachelor.
"I love Newy blokes," Becky says. "Newcastle for me, because I lived in Canberra for seven years, is a really nice middle ground between city and country, but you've got the beach.
"I feel the guys are easy-going and nice people who are chill and very much like we are."
Novocastrian men haven't been all positive for Becky. Last year she gave up a UK working visa to pursue a blossoming relationship with a guy she'd met two months prior to going on an overseas holiday.
"At the end of Elly and my European travels I decided to come home to Newy and make something work with him," she says.
"Unfortunately, but fortunately because I've been able to do this experience, that didn't work out because he was bit of s--- bag, cheating and carrying on.
"I gave love a chance then and I'd been single for three or four years and I've met some nice people, but I'm not a person to settle down."
While the Miles sisters aren't interested in drama, naturally reality TV shows find ways to create it.
It's been revealed one of the eligible suitors, Cessnock Goannas rugby league winger Joe Woodbury, previously dated Elly, which undoubtedly led to some awkward exchanges.
Many viewers will be tuning in to see if there's fireworks between the sisters when choosing dates, but Becky promises there was no double dipping.
"We didn't fight over any of the guys," Becky says. "We didn't date the same guys, except being on group dates, for example, and we didn't make out with the same guys. It's just not something that we'd ever wanna do.
"It's a bit weird, isn't it? Making out with someone your sister's made out with. I wouldn't wanna do that."
Elly agrees.
"If you think about it, anyone that's interested in Bec is automatically in the brother basket and vice versa," Elly says. "You just want to be mates with them, you don't want to be cutting your sister's grass."
The Bachelorette screens Wednesdays and Thursdays from 7.30pm on WIN.
Josh Leeson
Josh Leeson is an entertainment and features journalist, specialising in music, at the Newcastle Herald. He first joined the masthead in 2008 after stints at the Namoi Valley Independent and Port Stephens Examiner and has previously covered sport including the Asian Cup, A-League, Surfest, cricket and rugby league.
Josh Leeson is an entertainment and features journalist, specialising in music, at the Newcastle Herald. He first joined the masthead in 2008 after stints at the Namoi Valley Independent and Port Stephens Examiner and has previously covered sport including the Asian Cup, A-League, Surfest, cricket and rugby league.
