"Most viewers knew that something wasn't quite right when a rose was handed to a man who had clearly not taken part in the first six episodes."
Serial prankster Karl Power is best known for appearing uninvited at sporting events as an imposter. He notoriously appeared in The Manchester United team photo before a UEFA Champions League match against Bayern Munich in 2001. He is also credited with somehow walking out to bat with The English Cricket team and managing to play a short game on Wimbledon Centre Court before a Tim Henman match.
Since moving to Australia, Power has been rather quiet, staying well under the radar. But that all changed last night, when he somehow found his way onto the set of the Bachelorette, mingling and eventually even receiving a rose from Ali Oetjen.
We spoke to Ten's Chief Executive Officer, Paul Anderson, about last night's dramatic events.
"Yes it's obviously embarrassing. As soon as the episode aired, our switchboards started lighting up. Every call was the same. Pointing out that a rose has been given to some guy who clearly hasn't been on the show in any of the first six episodes, and has somehow snuck past security and onto the set."
An emergency meeting of Ten's directors, producers and stars, including the contestants of the show, is understood to be planned to take place early this afternoon. High on that agenda will be an inquiry as to how none of the competitors noticed that Mr Power had not been previously involved in the show in any capacity. It is well known that all of the competitors live together in one house, and yet somehow they didn't notice the appearance of a stranger at the rose ceremony.
Paul Anderson explained that Power had even prepared a rich backstory, in case anyone spoke to him on the evening.
"No one spoke to him on the night. But I understand that, if called upon to speak, he had invented a rich backstory as a retired Navy veteran from Victoria named Daniel, who is a perfectionist at heart. It was a pretty good backstory actually. In fact, we like that idea so much that we have offered him a position on the show from here on. So expect to see a little more of him over the coming weeks."
This could in fact be a remarkable stroke of luck for Ten. Because this year's cast has been widely panned as a bunch of basic bros with the charisma and screen presence of a turnip, the producers had already been looking for something to shake things up. What better way to shake things up than with the surprise addition of a world-famous prankster?