Room for one more: The Bachelor’s Kiki Joell on Polyamory

When Kiki’s friends jokingly signed her up to the Bachelor Australia, she thought little of it. That was until she found herself walking out of one of those limos, supposedly there to meet the man of her dreams.

However, Kiki wasn’t like most of her fellow contestants. She was just starting to delve into the world of ethical non-monogamy and polyamory. “The whole show ran on this crazy non-monogamous basis, I mean… we were all dating the same guy!” she joked to City Hub, “I don’t know, I thought to myself, maybe I’ll dig one of the girls!”

Kiki discovered non-monogamy after fifteen years in a monogamous relationship, including nine years of marriage. “I was still very much living under the heteronormative expectation where I thought that my role was to support my husband”, she said, reflecting on her past relationship.

Nowadays, Kiki is happily in a polyamorous relationship with her partner of two years. “I think it almost forces you to be more honest,” she said, reflecting on the differences between monogamy and non-monogamy.

Kiki is just one of many who are breaking away from traditional relationship setups in search of fulfilment, as well as those looking to talk more about it. “We don’t just have one friend or parent we love” she reflected, “so why do we restrict ourselves to one in our relationships?”.