Blake Horstmann is revealing The Bachelor franchise’s secrets, including the fact that producers buy the gifts contestants give to each other. Blake got his start in Bachelor nation on Becca Kufrin’s season of The Bachelorette, where he was the runner-up. He’s since become somewhat of a controversial figure in the fanbase, largely thanks to his Stagecoach music festival scandal, where he hooked up with two other Bachelor contestants. All their drama played out on screen when Caelynn Miller-Keyes and Kristina Schulman, the two women he slept with, along with Hannah Godwin and Tayshia Adams, whom he flirted with, all showed up on Bachelor in Paradise season 6. This caused Blake to fall from grace in Bachelor Nation and quit the season in week 5.
Blake has talked about producers’ involvement in the show before, implying that they’re keeping him apart from Becca on Bachelor in Paradise season 7. While Blake claimed the producers aren’t his biggest fans and don’t want him to rekindle his romance with Becca, the former Bachelorette denied his statements. Becca believes that whatever happens between her and Blake is their own doing, not the producers’ decision to keep them apart. Both Becca and Blake have said they stayed in contact with each other sporadically, but nothing that would be considered taking another shot at their relationship. Even though Becca denied Blake’s claims about the show, fans will still be interested in how their storyline plays out in the current season.
Blake is possibly outing the producers’ secrets again by claiming the necklace cast member Chasen Nick gifted Deandra Kanu was given to him by producers. Blake took to his Instagram Story to let fans know what the producers were up to. “Producers bought all of these gifts before Paradise even start[ed]. And then they kind of have them in, like, a box and they, like, give them out to people. So that’s how that worked,” Blake said. Karl Smith, another cast member who previously gave Deandra a bracelet, got into it with Chasen on BIP, so it’s not outside the realm of possibility the producers gave Chasen the necklace to cause drama.
He also went into what his relationship was like with producers during The Bachelorette, and Blake reflected on the infamous Stagecoach situation in March 2021. He told Us Weekly that because of how crazy the environment is during the filming of a reality show like this, “it’s very emotional and is easier to get manipulated.” However, he also owned up to the fact all his decisions are his own and that the producers can’t force him to do anything. Editing is out of his hands, though, and he stated how scary it can be to have the show “frankenbite” what he says and put it together. On the Stagecoach scandal, he doesn’t regret the things he’s said on camera, but he has had some second thoughts about the situation after becoming more passionate about mental health. “At the end of the day, like, all those people that were, like, ‘hurt’ by me, they’re freaking all happy … and in relationships. … So no, I don’t necessarily regret it.“
The Bachelor is full of drama and is still a reality show at the end of the day, so it’s not too crazy to think some of Blake’s claims are true. While producers may not go as far as to keep certain contestants apart, since both Blake and Becca said their decisions are their own, it’s probably true that the show sets up little things like giving someone a necklace. Being on a The Bachelor franchise show and having your love life broadcast to so many people must be difficult, regardless of what the producers are doing behind the scenes.
Sources: Us Weekly, Blake Horstmann/Instagram
