The reality show couple revealed in a magazine deal with Woman's Day that Garvey, 31, a real-estate agent from Perth, had expressed his love for 26-year-old Pillidge, 26, in a letter that she opened just days before the series finale aired on television.

They have since travelled to the Thai resort island of Koh Samui to reconnect away from the intense public scrutiny that led to Garvey being dubbed "the most hated man in Australia", according to Woman's Day.

And Garvey is the man Pillidge "now hopes to marry", the magazine said.

In The Bachelor finale, Garvey proposed to winning contestant, Sam Frost, but then dumped her before the episode aired on television.

Garvey said in the interview that, while he and Frost had fun as they laughed and sat on the couch drinking wine together, he realised "that's all there was".

"Network Ten can confirm that Blake and Sam have sadly ended their engagement. When Blake proposed to Sam in South Africa, he did so because he had genuinely fallen in love with her. He was excited to start a life with Sam and was very much looking forward to their future together," a Network Ten spokesperson said at the time.

In his letter to Pillidge, an events planner from Queensland who came third in the reality show competition, Garvey explained that he believed they shared "something truly special".

He tracked her down through Pillidge's father, and gave him the letter to deliver to his daughter.

"My one wish is that I don't want to just be your first love, I want to be your first, last and only," he wrote in the letter.

Garvey told Woman's Day that he now knew he "should never have proposed [to Sam], I know that now, but it was such a surreal situation".

"I never tried to be fake. I tried to be respectful and a gentleman and that didn't end when the cameras stopped," he said.

"What also didn't end was the love I felt for Lou and, as much as I tried to file it away, it kept growing."

Garvey said his mother had received threats on the internet, in which people said "she should be punished for bringing up a boy like me".

Pillidge pleaded for the public to give Garvey another chance.

"Australia needs to forgive him. Before this, everyone saw him as a kind, honest, loving man and that hasn't changed. He never said anything bad about Sam. He ended something he knew wasn't right to be respectful," she said.

Garvey said he and Pillidge would move in together, but had not decided on a location.

"I haven't felt like this in a long time. It's a beautiful feeling and we want to start our lives together," he said.

"We're moving in together, not simply moving across the country to start dating."

An edited extract of Garvey's letter:

Dear Louise,

If you are reading this letter, then I must have decided it was right to let you know how I am feeling.

I try never to regret the actions that I have taken in life as each one of them has led me to where I am today and shaped me as the man that you know.

However, here is the absolute truth. In the weeks, days, hours and minutes since I last saw you, not a day has gone by that I haven't thought of you and our time together.

I miss you, but it goes beyond that. As dangerous as this is to admit, I feel I need to admit it - I made a mistake.

I don't want to live a lie for the sake of appearances. I can't take the pain away that I've caused you or undo what I've done, but I can do one thing that you've always respected me for: be honest and genuine.

I need to be true to myself and who I am as a person. It's for that reason that I'm not going to follow through with the engagement.

I realise it's a lot to take in, and at this point I don't know if how I feel about you is still how you feel about me.

You have never ceased to inspire me, even in your absence. What you and I shared was something truly special. I have never felt so natural and comfortable, so right with anyone in my life. Your sincerity, your energy, your beautiful soul, made me feel as though we were always alone together, when we were anything but.

My one wish is that I don't want to just be your first love, I want to be your first, last and only.

Louise, you have my heart, you share my soul and in my mind you are the one for me.

Forever yours, Blake

Source: Woman's Day magazine

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