There are a lot of things we have wanted to ask Zac since The Bachelor started. Like, do your teeth glow in the dark because, damn boy, they are some halogen pearlies right there.
And, why does he always wear that necklace…? Is it a charm, religious icon, or a locket containing the hair from his ex girlfriend. (It's a St Christopher's cross if you're interested, which his grandma gave him when he was 18.)
And, if you were single, is there a chance you'd be interested in an overworked, underpaid lowly female journalist with a passion for cats. (I didn't ask. I couldn't face the rejection.)
But lucky for you, Newshub sat down with Zac to ask him all the hard questions that you've never have a chance to. Like does he pee in the shower. (Yes, he does.) That and other queries that will hopefully lead us to the soul of this neon toothed nice guy.
The first, and most obvious, being that naturally he's on a TV show where he's the headline star. Call us cynics here at the Hub, but isn't he worried that the girls only like him because he's, well, on TV?
Turns out he's not worried. "I'm a pretty good judge of character". And the game of working out who's-here-for-me-and-who's-here-for-the-Insta-follows is the whole backbone of the show. "It's my job to wade through those who are here for the right reasons," he says. And given his track record at evicting the majority of the bunny boilers, he seems to be fairly good at it.
And naturally there's only so much of a man's character we can judge from endless shots of him walking thoughtfully on a beach. So we decided to apply the age old character test, how do you treat your exes? Turns out he's friends with them. "I don't like conflict, especially with someone who I care for or cared for." He does however stalk their new boyfriends on social media. "I'm only human!" True. And we all know the sole purpose of Instagram is for tracking your ex's new partner and deducing their character from their brunch snaps.
Then there's another scientifically tested judge of a man's character. Was he popular in school? Because we all know that the nicest people are the ones who were a little bit ignored in school. "I wasn't one of the popular kids." In fact, "I was actually bullied at school for a bit. Then I had a growth spurt before most other people and that stopped that." Thank God. We'd hate the nation's new heartthrob to be someone who peaked in year 13.
A more unexpected part of his character is that he's the first Bachelor who has dropped some seriousness into the Lindauer fuelled frolics. He was very open on the show about his struggles with depression. Should more people be discussing this? Absolutely. And he thinks there's a problem with Kiwi males in particular with talking about their feelings. "You get more respect, definitely from me, if you admit that you're struggling and I can help ... it's not a sign of strength to pretend you don't have feelings."
Perhaps the most surprising part of his character at all is his admitting he'd shag Judith Collins. When playing Shag, Marry, Kill with Helen Clark, Paula Bennett and Judith Collins, he chose to kill Aunty Helen, marry Paula Bennett and shag Crusher Collins. He clearly has a thing for strong women ... or at least women with alliterative nicknames.
But with Judith Collins out of the picture, the ultimate question is still, who did he choose? Perhaps we should be scouting out women with a weakness for heavy eyeliner and tough on crime policies.
