Love is in the airwaves Darling bud: The Bachelor Australia's Tim Robards. You've probably seen the ad. You know, the one Channel Ten has been flogging for a few weeks now. The really-expensive-looking one in which rose petals fall from the sky in Sydney while Kelly Rowland sings When Love Takes Over. The source of the petals turns out to be a helicopter flying over the city and the handsome, suited guy throwing them from the chopper is Tim Robards, a 30-year-old Bondi chiropractor and sometime model. Robards is about to become the titular star of the inaugural Australian series of The Bachelor. The format, if you've missed the American version, goes like this: 25 attractive single women, living under the one roof for the series' duration, vie for the bachelor's affections. He meets them all, takes a select few on dates (many of which occur in swimsuits and jacuzzis, of course) and progressively whittles down the list by way of a "rose ceremony," in which long-stemmed roses are given to the girls he wants to stay. It's kind of hard to imagine Robards would have trouble finding a date. Known as "Manperfection" in certain circles, he's modelled for swimwear and underwear company AussieBum, appeared near-naked in a Dolce & Gabbana coffee table book, and was even a cover boy of gay men's magazine DNA - all to earn a bit of money while at uni, he says. There are whispers that Robards was still with former girlfriend Coby Connell, a model and aspiring Hollywood starlet, at the time he was approached to do The Bachelor Australia. It's a claim Robards denies vehemently. He says he's on the show to find "the one," and hasn't been put off by the American version's poor track record (two from 17) of producing lasting relationships. "I thought I'd embrace it and give it a go," he says. Knowing now that I've met the girls and how I feel about them, I think there's every chance of me finding love. The Bachelor Australia joins several local reality-romance productions of recent years. We've watched singles grope in darkened rooms (Dating in the Dark Australia) and have blind dates over home-cooked meals (Dinner Date). In Please Marry My Boy! mums choose a prospective wife for their sons, while Beauty and the Geek Australia pairs ditzy pretties with nerdy types. Nine's The Farmer Wants a Wife, a veteran of eight series, is not returning this year, but that's arguably owing more to a dearth of eligible farmers than falling ratings. Nine is premiering a similar show in its place in 2014, When Love Comes to Town, in which city chicks attempt to romance a broader description of diamonds in the rough in regional areas. Channel Ten and The Bachelor Australia executive producer Stephen Tate doesn't think audiences have reached their reality-romance saturation point just yet. "Love is universal; it's the one thing we don't begrudge other people finding," he says. We're not that happy if other people have money or nice cars or expensive houses, but we're happy if they find love; it's one thing we want for other people in our life. The less outwardly sentimental might argue that the car-crash qualities of these types of programs are the main drawcard. Who doesn't love to see an urban princess struggling to milk a cow without breaking a nail in Farmer? And you can bet the Please Marry My Boy! producers were rubbing their hands with glee when Nathan's conservative Christian mum walked in on him and Yvette in what she described as an "amorous position." In this genre, schadenfreude seems to coexist with a desire to see real love blossom and, in spite of contrived scenarios and intrusive camera crews, there have been some success stories. At last count, The Farmer Wants a Wife has spawned five marriages and four babies. Jo Fincham, a former Melbourne photographer, is expecting her second child to Rob Hodges, a farmer she met on the show's second series in 2008. The family now live on Hodges' beef and sheep farm in Mingbool, South Australia. "I never would have thought I'd meet my husband on reality TV," Fincham says. Tameka Buckley was less fortunate - she "won" series seven in 2011 but her "relationship" with Farmer Nick lasted two days. "We were friends, more than anything," she says. While describing Farmer's producers as "very supportive," Buckley isn't sure she would recommend the experience to others. She says she was constantly on her toes to be sure she couldn't be portrayed in a certain way, but even so, felt some things were being manipulated. Other former Farmer contestants have told of being encouraged to fake certain feelings, and The Bachelor's American creator, Mike Fleiss, has admitted that "villains" are cast every series. The imperative to entertain, it seems, will always trump authenticity. But, as Buckley points out, what the viewers at home are privy to is only part of the picture, with perhaps more opportunity for romance to blossom in the bits that we're not seeing, when the contestants are mucking around between takes. "The authenticity comes out when the cameras aren't there, and the cameras aren't there 24//7, it's not Big Brother," she says. The genuine connections and respect is what's there in the moments that aren't filmed. The Bachelor Australia, Ten, Sunday, 7.30pm (Monday, 7.30pm).