'She's been through a lot': ex-Bachie star Helena Sauzier reveals how Chelsie McLeod is coping ahead of the finale

She’s made it to the final two in the fight for Bachelor Matt Agnew’s heart.

But according to fellow bachelorette and best friend Helena Sauzier, Chelsie McLeod’s journey to the reality TV series’ highly anticipated finale hasn’t been easy.

Chelsie has ‘been through a lot’

In an exclusive chat with Yahoo Lifestyle, 25-year-old Helena - who was sent home by Matt in the season’s penultimate episode - reveals the chemical engineer “has been through a lot”.

The former Miss World competitor explains that as she and Chelsie speak every day, she’s able to offer insight into how the 28-year-old is handling the intense pressure and speculation ahead of tonight’s make-or-break finale.

“Chelsie is a really resilient person,” the Mauritius-born beauty says.

“I think she’s been through a lot and I think she’s coping better than I anticipated,” she adds.

“I guess chatting to her, she’s like ‘it’s fine, everything’s fine, I’m fine,’ and I’m like ‘okay let’s have real talk,’” she reveals.

The health and wellness coach confirms that Chelsie “really is fine and happy”.

“She’s just a great girl, I only have love for Chelsie,” she says.

Chelsie and Matt would be ‘a great couple’

Needless to say, it’s Chelsie - not rival Abbie Chatfield - who is Helena’s pick to win this season’s Bachelor.

“I’m hoping it’s Chelsie. She’s honestly my best friend. I speak to her every single day,” she reveals.

“I just love her and I think they would make a really, really great couple,” she gushes of her BFF’s potential relationship with astrophysicist Matt.

“But honestly I don’t know, I honestly have no idea who’s going to win which is a pretty scary thing. Usually, you have an idea but I will be watching on the edge of my seat,” she adds.

‘I went numb’

As for her own Bachelor experience, Helena recalls the exact moment she knew Matt was going to send her home.

“It was the minute I walked into the rose ceremony, to be honest. I walked in and Matt sort of looked at me and I knew ‘oh I’m going’,” she admits.

“That’s why I was so cool, calm and collected as I had just accepted it,” she adds.

Taking to Instagram the morning after her exit, the blonde beauty shared a heartfelt ‘farewell message,’ with her fans.

“I have stayed true to myself and stand by every decision that I made, and every feeling that I felt,” she wrote.

But her post also came with a warning: “A reminder to everyone on social media to please be gentle to us all - not everything you watch is as it seems, so remember to take all that you see/hear with a big pinch of salt!”

She tells Yahoo Lifestyle that the ‘reminder’ was “in reference to everything you watch on TV” but more specifically, the extreme backlash she received in response to her controversial hometown date.

At the time, she was forced to disable the comment function to stop the trolls but has since reactivated comments.

Speaking of not everything being as it seems, we had to quiz Helena about Bachie Matt’s bizarre Instagram post on Wednesday, which showed his posing in Scotland of all places.

“I was like ‘what!?’” she laughs, but reveals that “he’s just doing that to throw people off”.

“He’s definitely in Australia,” she confirms.

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