The Bachelorette star Charlie Newling dies in car accident, two months after the birth of his second child

Reality fans are in mourning today after the announcement that Charlie Newling, one of the contestants in the 2018 edition of ‘The Bachelorette,’ has died aged 36 after his car drove off a cliff in Dover Heights, in Sydney's eastern suburbs, at 11pm on Saturday. Locals contacted police and fire services after many discovered the car at the bottom of the cliff face on fire.

Dubbed 'the nice guy' when he starred on the American dating show, the former builder said he was looking for a 'white picket fence' ending as he set off to find love. He ended up pursuing a romance with Ali Oetjen, however, viewers of the show ended up turning on him as they branded him 'controlling'.

That came after he refused to say that they were 'exclusive' until she had met his family. Despite boasting of his 'strong family values' which led to him being branded 'Mr Perfect', it emerged that Charlie was father to a son from a previous relationship - something that he didn't reveal on the show.

Things had started to look brighter for the former reality show star, after years of problematic behaviour in the public eye; in 2021 Newling was convicted of a mid-range drunk driving offence, however, the police are not treating the death as suspicious and no toxicology report has been issued to imply that Newling was drunk behind the wheel.

That convition paled in comparison though to the drama that unfolded in 2022, when Newling was sentenced to 13 months in prison for threatening to torture and kill his stepfather in a series of 37 text messages over a three-hour period.

Some of the messages to his mother read: "You are still controlled by that flog of a husband, "I'm going to kill him one day in front of you before I go," and "You have no idea what I'm capable of but just know it's not going to be pretty."

However in recent times, Newling had started to become the more upbeat character that many viewers fell in love with - he welcomed his second child into the world two months ago with his partner Kristal Taylor and is already a dad to a 13-year-old son from a previous relationship.