Seven Sharp reporter Tim Wilson admits addiction to TV3's The Bachelor

Tim Wilson says he and his wife became Bachelor addicts while suffering sleepless nights with their newborn son. Photo/Greg Bowker

It's not often a journalist publicly admires a show on a rival network - but that's exactly what Tim Wilson has done.

In a new interview with Woman's Day, the Seven Sharp reporter reveals he and his wife were recently addicted to a show on opposing network TV3.

But there was a serious side to their addiction.

Wilson and his wife Rachel savoured episodes of The Bachelor as a way of getting through sleepless nights as their newborn baby Felix suffered colic.

"We would watch The Bachelor NZ one-quarter of an episode at a time in the wee hours and it was like an antidote ... It was strangely intimate and a time that we will always remember," Wilson tells the mag.

The second season of the show ended controversially, with Bachelor Jordan Mauger ditching winner Fleur Verhoeven just days after she was announced the winner.

Many think he should have picked runner-up Naz Khanjani instead.

But Wilson can't help but have a little dig at the contrived format of the romance reality show.

"We were watching these people go on dates doing abseiling and water sports and I thought, 'This has absolutely nothing to do with how love is solidified.

"But having said that, we were grateful to watch it because it was a circus."

Wilson says Felix's colic has since cleared up, and the sleepless nights he and his wife were suffering through have now eased.