It’s safe to say Blake Horstmann and Caelynn Miller-Keyes will never see eye to eye on their past relationship.
“The first time I ever [met her] on FaceTime [with Colton Underwood] was mid-December … We talked until about mid-March,” Blake began while chatting with Rachel Lindsay and Ali Fedotowsky on the “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast on Wednesday, September 18. “We definitely didn’t FaceTime three times a day. We did FaceTime, but it wasn’t three times a day.”
Rachel then pointed out how emotional Caelynn was regarding her relationship with Colton during the Women Tell All, which she taped while she was “talking” to Blake. (Caelynn was eliminated by Colton after hometown dates during season 23 of The Bachelor.)
“I think you even saw it on Colton’s face a little bit. He knew we were talking,” Blake told Rachel and Ali. “It was a little bit confusing for me, too, because the whole time we were talking she was in negotiations to be Bachelorette And wanted to be Bachelorette.”
Blake added that Caelynn was honest about her pursuit.
“She had asked me certain things about the process,” he explained, noting he was in the running to be the Bachelor the year prior. “She wanted to be the Bachelorette and she was ready to leave and do that right away, but suddenly it’s, like, this very serious and exclusive relationship. … Why act how you did on Women Tell All and the fact that you want to be Bachelorette and months later, we’re in this very serious relationship?”
Blake and Caelynn’s relationship made headlines after she arrived in Mexico on season 6 of Bachelor in Paradise. During the August 5 premiere, the former pageant queen revealed the exes had sex during the Stagecoach Festival in April.
“We talked about skipping Paradise and coming out as us. And then he, like, ghosted me,” Caelynn claimed on the series.
After the episode aired, Blake shared text messages between the pair to try and discount her story. In the messages, it’s seemingly revealed that Caelynn agreed not to discuss their past relationship on BiP.
“Things got taken out of context on the show, and a large part of the story is missing,” Caelynn wrote in a lengthy Instagram post after the text messages were released. “The reality of the situation is that Blake was not a one night stand at a music festival and the 5 am text exchange that Blake chose to share is not an accurate representation of our past relationship.”
Blake and Caelynn faced off over the situation for the first time during the BiP reunion, which aired on Tuesday, September 17.
“The reason that I released these text messages is because of the allegations you said that were not true,” the former sales rep said. “If I were to sit on this stage and say, you know, ‘I didn’t sweet-talk her, she came onto me,’ I would’ve been laughed off the stage. Nobody would have believed me.”
The former Miss North California, who was visibly emotional, fired back: “I’ve never felt so exposed or violated in my entire life. I truly feel disgusting that everyone has seen that s–t. That to me is the lowest of the low.”
After Caelynn eventually apologized to Blake, admitting she “overreacted,” the cast encouraged him to do the same.
“I didn’t want to hurt you,” Blake said. “I’m so sorry that you got attacked and I’m so sorry that you are feeling the way you are. And I want to apologize to everybody because I feel like my actions before Paradise ruined some of your guys’ experiences and that is not what I meant to happen. Clearly I made some mistakes and I’m going to learn from them.”
