UPDATE WEDNESDAY: Bendigo woman Anita Cusack has received a rose from bachelor Blake Garvey and will continue her quest for love on national television beyond tonight's premiere showing.
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TUESDAY: Anita Cusack is putting her heart in the line on this year's The Bachelor.
Ms Cusack is one of 24 women competing for the affections of 31-year-old Blake Garvey on the Channel 10 reality show.
Ms Cusack, 30, said she went on the show because she wanted a new experience.
"I'd been single for so long and I thought this was an opportunity to meet an amazing guy and have an amazing experience," she said. "I thought it was time to take time off for myself ... and take the dating thing a bit more seriously."
Ms Cusack said competing for someone's affections on national television was a strange situation, but not very different from competing for attention in a nightclub.
"You're going to know if you like them," she said. "It's doable (to find love)."
Ms Cusack said she didn't go on the show to win a modelling or media contract.
"The whole media thing is not something I'm comfortable with," she said.
"I can go two weeks without speaking to anybody but customers ... so this was taking myself way out of my comfort zone."
Ms Cusack was born in Castlemaine but moved to Bendigo in 2007, starting a successful dog grooming business in Kangaroo Flat.
She sold her business late last year to concentrate on dating, socialising and self-development.
The Bachelor premiers at 7.30pm tonight.