Everyone is wondering why did Kristina Schulman give Blake Horstmann a second chance on Bachelor in Paradise. Even Schulman admitted that it was a good question.
Horstmann and Schulman had one of the strangest romantic arcs in six seasons of Bachelor in Paradise. They were together in Mexico for nearly the whole time - Schulman was one of the first women to join the original crew - but they were only romantically involved shortly before they both left. Even then, Schulman didn’t seem 100 percent into it. Upon arrival, Schulman took Horstmann on a date so she could grill him about his past decisions. Once Hannah Godwin chose Dylan Barbour over Horstmann, he received a friendship rose from Schulman. The gesture didn’t appear to be a part of some grander plan to court her former lover, because he continued to date, taking Caitlin Clemmens up on her offer for a one-on-one. When Horstmann returned the favor and handed Schulman the rose, sending Clemmens packing, there still wasn’t any romance to speak of. It wasn’t until later when Horstmann’s realized that Schulman was the one for him all of a sudden, that the two tried to make things work. But Schulman concluded that if Horstmann’s feelings for her were really that strong, he would have wanted to be with her from the start of the season. A broken-hearted Horstmann told the cameras that it felt like the time Becca Kufrin turned down his proposal on her season of The Bachelorette.
So fans have wondered why, exactly, did Schulman give Horstmann a second chance in the first place, when she knew he had gone off and slept with Caelynn Miller-Keyes a day after being intimate with her at Stagecoach and then paid Schulman little romantic attention in Mexico until the very end. She told Us Weekly, “I think it’s because I have been there. I came down day two, and I’d already heard and seen everything that was going on and I saw him so broken already that I thought he didn’t deserve what he was getting to that magnitude.”
Schulman reiterated what she had said on the show, claiming, “He wanted to find someone, and I think he deserved the chance to stay and find that.” He did stay and found his way to Schulman in the most roundabout way possible, but she wasn’t willing to commit due to being burned by Horstmann in the past.
While some didn’t like the fact that Schulman gave Horstmann a rose to let him continue on his journey, the onus should have been on Horstmann to remove himself from Bachelor in Paradise once he realized the opportunity to fall in love wasn’t there. Instead, he tried to force those feelings with Schulman, determined to ensure that he left Mexico in a relationship. If he had come in less bent on finding someone, like Dean Unglert was, maybe he wouldn’t still be single.
Next: Bachelor in Paradise: Dean Unglert Was Terrified About Meeting Caelynn’s Ex
The Bachelor in Paradise finale airs Tuesday at 8 p.m. on ABC.
Source: Us
