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Blake Horstmannsays he andBecca Kufrinwere in contact not long before she joined the current cast ofBachelor in Paradise.
Horstmann, 32, was the runner-up on season 14 ofThe Bachelorette, which featured Kufrin, 31, as the leading lady. During an interview on theReal Life with Kate Caseypodcast on Friday, theBachelorNation alum admitted to speaking with the former publicist prior to her recent stint onBiP.
“We did kind of chat here and there, and we were back in touch within the last, like, six months,” Horstmann said, noting “it kind of came down to if she was going to doParadiseor not.”
Kufrinconfirmed her splitfrom ex-fiancéGarrett Yrigoyenin September 2020 andmoved to Los Angelesfor a fresh start. Hortsmann said he was “actually shocked” to learn that the couple’s romance didn’t last.
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“I always thought they would never break up. 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,” he admitted during the podcast. “When they did, it was, like, this weird thing of, ‘Well, I wonder if there’s anything still there?'”
Horstmann said he “would be willing to talk” to his ex if she ever circled back, though it’s not something he ever anticipated. For now, Horstmann is waiting to see “howParadiseworks out” for Kufrin, though he isn’t sold on the idea thatBachelorproducers would be keen on the idea of them linking back up.
“The show doesn’t like me, the show doesn’t want to see us together,” he said, adding that the franchise is “kind of her life” at this point. “She has, like, the ABC podcast [Bachelor Happy Hour]. That’s kind of her thing. She is very much involved in that show. We’ll see.”
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In a promo for season 7 ofBiP, Kufrin is seen chatting withThomas Jacobs, the villain from Katie Thurston’s season ofThe Bachelorette. At one point in the clip, she is heard telling Jacobs “I can’t stop smiling,” while on an apparent date.
Looking back at it now, he knows he was truly in love with Kufrin, which he suggests makes him “quite unique” as a former runner-up on the ABC reality show.
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“I think there are a lot of, even people who got second [place] look back and are like, ‘She’s an amazing woman, but I wasn’t in love,'” he told Casey, adding there were “specific moments” in his experience where theBachelorettebackdrop briefly faded away.
“I was in love, and I’m not afraid to admit that,” he told Casey. “I think some guys also — and women, for that matter — have a sense of pride like, ‘No, I wasn’t in love because I got dumped,’ or whatever, like, ‘I wasn’t really in love.’ I’m comfortable enough to be like, ‘I was in love. And I got dumped, and that happens.’ But no, I definitely thought she was the one, and it just didn’t work out.”
source: people.com
