Case of disappearing ‘Golden Bachelor’ sparks a shocking industry rumour. INSIDE MAIL separates truth from fiction

Dead air for Golden Bachelor?

We know, we know. We haven’t talked about human headline Sam Armytage lately.

And while we don’t have any news about her this week, we have heard some ghoulish gossip about the show she’s hosting for Channel Nine, senior citizen matchmaking series The Golden Bachelor.

Rumour has it the late-in-life lonely hearts club is already experiencing production delays.

What happened? A Viagra drought on set?

Well, sources tell me there was a slight snafu as the series’ first pick to be their mature leading man… he, well, died. Just days out from filming. 

We asked Nine about the rumours – which we’d heard from a very senior source – and were told that while production did change the show’s leading man at the eleventh hour, it wasn’t because of a sudden death.

The original pick, we are reassured, is alive and well.

His replacement, widowed father-of-three and infrastructure engineer Barry ‘Bear’ Myrden, has already been pictured on set and seems to be getting on with the ladies.

And as for why Bachelor No. 1 was canned? All we can say is, stay tuned. 

But the fact people involved in the program were under the impression the last-minute switch was caused by someone literally dying goes some way to illustrating just how shadowy and secretive the casting process is for dating shows like this…

Albo v Chalmers rivalry muddies election date 

There is a rumour doing the rounds in Canberra that Albo might call the election as early as this weekend because he’s become increasingly confident he’ll be able to eke out a narrow victory, albeit only as a minority government.

But the PM’s growing confidence isn’t the reason for the speculation. Those peddling the rumour think he’ll call it early to avoid Chalmers handing down the budget.

Albanese apparently doesn’t like the idea that if Labor does win an election after the budget is delivered, Chalmers will claim credit for the victory.

That would only feed leadership tensions in its aftermath, potentially sending Albo to his recently purchased coastal retirement mansion sooner than he’d hoped.

But we’re not buying it. The earliest the election could be held if it was called this weekend would be Saturday, April 26, which is the ANZAC day weekend, and we doubt he’d want a six-week election campaign if he announced the date for the following weekend, May 3.

Also, budget papers get printed over the weekend. Forcing them all to be shredded wouldn’t be the most environmentally friendly start to a campaign for a party that likes to think its green credentials are to be applauded. Plus there is the cost of canning the upcoming parliamentary week at such short notice, when flights and accommodation are booked for all the staffers and MPs making their way to the capital.

And don’t forget budget week is also expected to earn Labor millions in donations as ministers schmooze with business elites at various dinners and cocktail parties.

So the rumour seems rather far-fetched to us. But it hasn’t stopped those close to Chalmers from putting it out there, of course…

This is an extract from this week’s Inside Mail, the must-read media and politics column by Steve Jackson and Peter van Onselen, exclusively for Mail+ subscribers. Read the full edition tomorrow.