Vanessa Sunshine on her awkward date: "You don’t see it but I had to give a massage as well."

When you arrive in paradise , the last thing you expect is to be asked to sniff dirty men’s shirts, but that’s exactly what happened to Vanessa Sunshine on Bachelor In Paradise Australia this week.

Former The Bachelor contestant Vanessa arrived on the scene hoping she’d have a better chance at finding love on TV now that Nick ‘Honey Badger’ Cummins was nowhere to be seen, but alas, her experience in reality TV dating turned out once again to be a stinker.

After being asked to sniff a bunch of well-worn shirts, worn by contestants already hanging out in paradise, Vanessa was tasked with picking the smell that attracted her the most and then being set up on a mystery date with the smell’s owner.

“I was thinking ‘you don’t even want me to see who it is, you just want me to sniff the BO?” Vanessa told Mamamia. “It’s pretty obvious I was really disappointed when I realised it was Nathan. I didn’t want a party boy and out walked the ultimate party boy.

“We knew straight away when we met each other that is was never going to eventuate into anything and Nathan was a really good sport, we make the most of the day. It was really light-hearted, even when he drowned me in the oil. We were laughing because it was just funny. And I’m really grateful for that, it could have been just super awkward.”

She also stepped in to defend the date and Nathan, saying the not-so-great massage she gave Nathan in return was not shown on TV.

“I have to say, and you don’t see it, but I had to give him a massage as well and I’m willing to bet mine wasn’t good either,” she said. “He might not have liked it. I don’t think you hear it on the show but I just didn’t want oil in my hair.

“I don’t do anything for extra airtime or to stay there just for the sake of it. As lovely as the guys are, they don’t like me romantically.”

Vanessa said she decided to go on  Bachelor In Paradise because she was so disappointed in her season of The Bachelor and was hoping the producers would pick better men for her this time around.

"The producers asked me to come on the show and I was open to it because obviously I didn’t really like my Bachelor," she said. "I was a little bit hesitant because I was thinking ‘you all cast me on Nick’s season and it was so obvious that I was never going to like him'. So I was thinking ‘who are you all going to pick for me in paradise'. It turns out….no one.

"For me, I knew the whole Richie and Alex thing was just inevitable. Of course, they were going to put them together, I think that’s all their issue to deal with and their thing.

"Of course, Alex was my roomie and they talked about whatever they had to talk about and it just wasn’t a big deal. I wasn’t there for that whole big conversation though, I was on my date."

Even after two slightly disappointing roles of the dice when it comes to finding love on TV, Vanessa said she would be willing to go back for the third time if the offer was right.

"I did ask to be the Bachelorette this year," she said. "But they had already shortlisted the women so I didn’t make it this time around. I don’t think I’d do Paradise again, just because it is previous contestants. If it was Bachelorette I would have double the men, I would be able to get rid of probably ten of them in a ceremony and I would be open to that."