New Idea — 14 August 2017

(vip2019) #1
Debbie
starred on
the dating
show with
co-host
Greg Evans.

This sassy


bachelorette


has dating shows


in her blood


Debbie and
Tara have
a very close
mother-
daughter
bond. The
Perfect Match
co-host told
Tara to ‘be
herself’ on
the show.

clubs, had some simple advice for
her Gold Coast-based daughter.
‘I just told her to be herself,
because she’s a beautiful, kind
person,’ Debbie reveals to New
Idea exclusively. ‘I think Australia
will fall in love with her. She’s a
funny, down-to-earth girl who’ll
always stick up for the underdog.
She doesn’t have a jealous or
bitchy bone in her body.’
As an entertainment
professional, Debbie is keeping
mum on Tara’s secrets from
The Bachelor set.
‘I don’t want to spoil it for
viewers,’ she says. ‘But she loved
the experience. I think she became
a bit of a favourite with the
producers – she always loved the
camera, even as a little girl. So I
reckon she will get another show
out of this. That’s my feeling!’
Mother-of-two Debbie found
her own perfect match in second
husband Mark Learmonth, 59,
when they met through mutual
friends 20 years ago.
‘It was love at first sight for
both of us,’ she recalls from her
NSW Central Coast home. ‘He’s a
wonderful man who’s been a great
stepfather to Tara and my son
Troy, so I’ve been very lucky.’
By Jenny Brown

D


ating shows run in
the family for The
Bachelor’s bubbly
nanny Tara Pavlovic


  • whose mum is
    former Perfect Match co-host
    Debbie Newsome.
    ‘I’m very proud of Tara,’
    says Debbie, admitting she
    urged her 27-year-old daughter
    to audition for the hit reality
    series following a painful
    break-up with her boyfriend.
    ‘She kept saying she didn’t
    want to do it, because they
    might get back together. But she
    was looking after an 11-year-old
    at the time, who also told her
    she should try. And that’s
    what persuaded her,’ laughs
    Debbie, who became an ’80s
    TV icon alongside co-host
    Greg Evans and Dexter
    the robot.
    The
    56-year-old
    showbiz
    veteran,
    who still
    performs
    her own
    Janis Joplin
    Experience
    show
    around the


Bachelor


shock


TARA’S


PERFECT


MATCH


MUM


TARA’S


PERFECT


MATCH


MUM
NI

26

BACHIE.indd 26 3/8/17 5:09 PM

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