Neighbors Brace for Another Noisy Bachelor Bash

Furious neighbours who pelted the cast and crew at a raucous late night Golden Bachelor party with raw eggs from their apartments above in a luxury Sydney enclave are bracing for further disruption.

The Golden Bachelor, which is being filmed for Channel 9 at the mansion Tresco in an elite pocket on Elizabeth Bay in Sydney's east, scheduled more late night parties with the finale to be filmed on Sunday, March 1.

Police and council rangers were called to the first late nighter, on February 4, which boomed out loud karaoke music until 4am into Elizabeth Bay Road's seafront cul de sac which houses thousands of apartments.

The rich neighbours to the $110 million Tresco Estate, which bookmaking identity owner David Waterhouse rents out to the Golden Bachelor producers, became so angry at the noise in the early hours one threw eggs down from their high rise home.

Partying down below were this season's two bachelors, Ed Savage and Mat Collett, who are both believed to be aged in their late 50s, and the 20 women aged in their 50s and 60s competing for their affections.

Tensions reportedly boiled over to the point that one neighbour retaliated by blasting a trumpet from their backyard in protest. 

Two of the women vying for the affections of the two Golden Bachelor 2026 contestants descend through the terraced gardens of the $115m Tresco Estate mansion which was the scene of a raucous party until 4am earlier this month

Golden Bachelors Ed Savage and Mat Collett in evening wear alongside Samantha Armytage in the gardens of the Waterhouse-owned mansion where karaoke music until the early hours sparked complaints by neighbours and police were called

The Golden Bachelor 2026 has officially started filming, and this year it's double the drama with not one but two main men at the helm, Mathew Collett, left and Ed Savage, right

David Waterhouse owns the $115m Tresco Estate mansion where filming of the Golden Bachelor 2026 has caused problems after neighbours complained about a raucous party and threw raw eggs down on to the cast 

'What really tipped me over the edge was the first night they met the Bachelor,' one resident said. 'They were up partying until 4am. I woke up thinking it was kids screaming, but it was the women doing karaoke and yahooing.'

One neighbour told the Daily Mail that the noise from the first party was so loud that it echoed around three of the most expensive high rise blocks which are closest to Tresco and have multi-million dollar views directly of the bay.  

The buildings, Oceana, Deepdene and Toft Monks, where the late billionaire media mogul Kerry Packer once owned a $25m apartment, wrap around Tresco Estate's massive 3300sqm grounds and terraced gardens.

Residents said the most recent late night party, on Thursday, had been much quieter but the bright lights under which the middle-aged cast were mingling cast a glare into some of the surrounding flats.

Warner Bros were forced to issue a conciliatory letter with 'our sincere apologies' promising there would be no more loud music. 

But it warned residents there would be more late night parties on specific dates with strong outdoor lighting, which neighbours said shone onto the water until after midnight on Thursday.

Production vehicles for the reality TV show, residents told the Daily Mail, were worsening the traffic congestion and parking space shortage in what was already a very tight loop of road where buses regularly get stuck garbage behind construction and trades vehicles.

'You have to wait until 3pm when all the tradies leave to get a spot, but with this going on at all hours it's narrowed availability,' one said. 

She's made the cut! Golden Bachelor contestant at the mansion where filming is taking place carrying a fresh red rose which indicates she has just been selected by one of the bachelors to remain in the race as the romantic culling process heads towards its March 1 finale 

Filming the first big party of the Golden Bachelor 2026 early this month created a headache for Warner Bros after local residents called the police with noise complaints and one neighbour pelted the cast with eggs from a high rise apartment above

The scene at the Golden Bachelor mansion as tense on Friday as a security guard (above, left)  told media it was 'illegal' to film him at the gate of the $115m property where the reality TV show is being filmed

On Friday, tense production staff ferried gear to and from the premises and a security guard told the Daily Mail it was 'illegal' to film him from the public road.

One female crew member for the multi-million dollar Channel 9 show said photographing her was 'harassment', as one of the ladies competing in Golden Bachelor 2026 arrived.

Dressed in shiny black leggings and a black tulle top and holding a fresh long-stemmed rose in her hand, which meant she had just made the latest cut of one of this year's bachelors, she beamed at the crew before being ushered inside. 

And as one resident complained, it was only the latest chapter in a long-running saga of noise and disruption from the mansion, which Mr Waterhouse has previously rented out to Amex, the Logies and for a Nova 96.9 Christmas bash.

The art collector, options trader and estranged member of the Waterhouse bookmaker dynasty has also endured neighbourhood disputes at other luxury properties.

This includes Villa Biscaya, the opulent pink Spanish-style home on Tivoli Avenue in Rose Bay which has featured in Vogue and on Married At First Sight, The Bachelor and The Voice.

In 2019, Mr Waterhouse became embroiled in a different nasty feud with his wealthy neighbours in one of Australia's wealthiest suburbs, Darling Point.

The dispute at Santina, an elite block, centred on the cavoodle of Fay Cohen and her magician husband, which Mr Waterhouse dubbed a 'yapping menace' and and access to their luxury apartment block's harbourfront pool.

The site of filming for the Golden Bachelor 2026, Tresco is a $115m Italianate villa with a sea-pool, boatshed and stables built on one of the few surviving original harbourfront land parcels created in the 1867 subdivision of the Elizabeth Bay Estate

The Darling Point property where David Waterhouse complained his neighbours cavoodle (above) was a 'yapping menace' which barked incessantly 

Mr Waterhouse fell out with Fay Cohen and her magician husband Garry 'Black Jack' Cohen over their cavoodle's barking and use of the swimming pool at their luxury Darling Point property 

But it included claims about towels on balconies, the hours of access to the building's shared pool, and Ms Cohen accusing several female visitors to his apartment of being prostitutes.

An apprehended violence order sought by Ms Cohen against David Waterhouse was eventually dismissed by a magistrate, and he sold the property for $5.4m, double what he paid for it, in 2020.

Mr Waterhouse is the estranged brother of bookmaker Rob, who is married to horse-racing trainer Gai Waterhouse, and uncle to their children Tom - who continued the the family's sports betting trade - and fashion writer Kate. 

He is still engaged in a legal stoush over Villa Biscaya, which was listed just last week for a motions hearing and is due to return before Justice Ian Pike in April. 

Mr Waterhouse sold the property for $26million in 2023 to the Aston Martin-driving investment banker Michael Rothner, known for rubbing shoulders with the likes of Cate Blanchett and Tyra Banks. 

After a mid-2023 exchange, the sale was headed for settlement while Rothner occupied the house during a rent-free tenancy.

But when four mature palm trees were mysteriously chain-sawed down on a neighbouring block, Mr Waterhouse took umbrage.

He launched court proceedings which accused Mr Rothner's ex-wife, Lisa, of cutting down the trees - an allegation both Mr and Ms Rothner both denied, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. 

Villa Biscaya, the opulent pink Rose Bay house featured in Vogue and on Married At First Sight, The Bachelor and The Voice has been the subject of a stoush after four mature palm trees were cut down on a neighbouring property

David Waterhouse sold the property for $26million in 2023 to the Aston Martin-driving investment banker Michael Rothner (above) known for rubbing shoulders with the likes of Cate Blanchett and Tyra Banks 

Mr Rothner countersued and sought damages, accusing Mr Waterhouse of refusing to sign off on development applications which he claimed had delayed renovations and blocked construction of a planned 'wellness pavilion'.

Meanwhile at Tresco, which Mr Waterhouse is believed to use as his office when its not being rented out for events, neighbouring residents complained bitterly of his plans to develop the property which has significant naval history.

Tresco is a Victorian-era Italianate villa with a sea-pool, boatshed and stables built on one of the few surviving original harbourfront land parcels created in the 1867 subdivision of the Elizabeth Bay Estate.

For almost a century from 1902 it housed senior Royal Australian Navy officers, including commodores, 45 rear admirals who served as Captain-in-Charge to Garden Island naval base.

It is surrounded by terraces where marine villas that once flanked the main house no longer stand. 

Mr Waterhouse submitted a 2024 development application by eminent architects Tonkin Zulaikha Greer to the City of Sydney council to subdivide Tresco into four and build two extra luxury houses on its 3300sqm. 

The proposed $24m development would take four years and include 37 weeks just for excavation.

The DA stated Mr Waterhouse already had financial difficulty maintaining the property and Tresco was already compromised by neighbouring development, namely at least 60 apartments  which directly overlook the property.

A view of the $115m Victorian-era Italianate villa with a sea-pool, boatshed and stables and terraced gardens where the Golden Bachelor cast is currently being filmed by Warner Bros

Ed Savage (left of right) speaks with one of the women cast in the Golden Bachelor 2026 in the grounds of Tresco, the Waterhouse mansion on Elizabeth Bay where filming has disrupted the neighbourhood

The Golden Bachelor filming location is on a massive 3300sqm waterfront block where 20 women aged in their 50s and 60s are vying for the affections of two 'golden bachelors' 

Submissions against the DA rolled in, citing objections such as 'the continuous damage done to the incredible historic houses on Sydney Harbour'.

In February last year, the council rejected the DA mainly on tree and heritage grounds.

Tresco Estate will be the scene of several more filming sessions involving female cast members with the two bachelors guided through the matchmaking process by returning host Samantha Armytage.

Ed Savage is  a contract logistics manager at transport company K&S Corporation, and Mathew Collett, a father-of-three and the CEO of Frase Skin.

Production crew member with a beaming contestant and her red rose after she successfully survived the latest round in the Golden Bachelor 2026 

Warner Bros' note to neighbours said it had put a block on playing music during filming, 'effective immediately', and said that their own drone footage of the cast at Tresco was 'limited exclusively to the house' and had 'the necessary permits'.

'We recognise this has been a difficult start and we are committed to ... minimising disruption moving forward.

The letter then says 'thank you for your patience and understanding'.

Neighbour Richard Forbat said that he didn't mind the late night belting out of the karaoke music because he was himself an opera and theatre singer.

But he said that other residents in the tiny crescent which Tresco backs onto alongside hundreds of waterfront apartments were 'over sensitive about noise': 'I can't even belt out a song in my own apartment without people complaining'.

Mr Waterhouse and his then wife, Janette, paid $11m in 2004 for Tresco, which is listed on the market with a price guide of between $110million and $120million.

Last week, neighbours described the production as 'beyond disrespectful. They have huge speakers and have even had live bands.'

'The parties are getting worse. After we tried to take it to council and got knocked back, it's felt like a free-for-all,' one said.