Blake Horstmann Was Talking to Becca Kufrin Before She Went on ‘Bachelor in Paradise,’ Says ‘The Show Doesn’t Want to See Us Together’
Blake Horstmann was Becca Kufrin’s runner-up in her season of The Bachelorette back in 2018. She ended her time as the lead engaged to contestant Garrett Yrigoyen. But Kufrin announced their split in Sept. 2020. When the former bachelorette became single again, some fans wondered if she and Horstmann would rekindle their connection. It seems, according to the Colorado native, that they were exploring just that right before Kufrin headed off to film Bachelor in Paradise.
Blake Horstmann admits when Becca Kufrin and Garrett Yrigoyen broke up, he wondered if they still shared a connection
When Horstmann ended his season of The Bachelorette and Kufrin got engaged to Yrigoyen, he didn’t think there was any hope for them in the future.
“I always thought they would never break up,” he said on the Aug. 20 episode of the Reality Life With Kate Casey podcast. “So like, I completely put her out of my head. It was never something, like, ‘When they break up …’ because I never thought they would.”
But, when they did break up, Horstmann naturally wondered if he and Kufrin still shared a romantic connection.
“When they did, it was like this weird thing of, ‘Well, I wonder if there’s anything still there,’” he said.
Blake says he and Becca were talking before she started filming ‘Bachelor in Paradise’
“We did kind of chat here and there, and we were back in touch within the last, like, six months,” he said. “It kind of came down to if she was going to do Paradise or not.”
In Bachelor in Paradise previews, Kufrin can be seen getting to know Thomas Jacobs, from Katie Thurston’s season of The Bachelorette. What does that mean for Horstmann and the former lead?
“I would be willing to talk, of course,” said Horstmann. “But we’ll see how Paradise works out because she’s going to Paradise. And I don’t know, that show can change you and those producers get a hold of you. The show doesn’t like me, the show doesn’t want to see us together.”
Since Horstmann’s time on Paradise, he’s been pretty vocal about his negative feelings toward BIP and the show’s producers. Kufrin, though, is still connected to the franchise.
“She has, like, the ABC podcast [Bachelor Happy Hour],” he said. “That’s kind of her thing. She is very much involved in that show. We’ll see.”
How Blake addressed previous rumors that he and Becca were dating
Back in Nov. 2020, Horstmann did a Q&A with his Instagram following. One user asked if there was “any truth” to the rumor “that you and Becca are chatting.”
“OK I’m gonna go ahead and answer this once,” he wrote. “Me and Becca are friends. Let the woman be single for a while she don’t need no damn man to be happy. She is living her best life. We put so much pressure on women to find a man (especially in BN) and it’s ridiculous.”
Another fan asked Horstman if he wishes he would have done anything differently on The Bachelorette. He said, “No.”
“I gave everything I had on Bachelorette,” he said. “Always honest and open and made incredible friendships.”
