-Lets dive into Paradise a bit, shall we? Now I don’t know if you noticed, but by the time they showed us all the intros and everybody had arrived at the resort, it was an hour into the show. And since none of the arrivals surprised any of us since you’ve known them for over a month, we really didn’t get going until hour #2, which we can now call “The Blake Hour.” Or “Hour of Blake.” Or “Blake in Paradise.” Because lets face it, that was the main focus of last night and will be tonight. Your episode-by-episode spoilers covered the gist of Blake’s transgressions pre-show, but now we’re seeing them play out on the show. Remember during my “Men Tell All” recap column, I had some questions regarding all of the Blake stuff. Namely:
-What was he thinking?
-How exactly did Stagecoach go down?
-How did the trip to Alabama before BIP filming come about?
-Who knew about who and when? Mainly, did Tayshia, Kristina, and Caelynn all know about the other at Stagecoach? If not, when did they find out and how?
-When Blake went to Alabama, did Hannah know about Tayshia, Kristina, and Caelynn from Stagecoach?
-If Blake was all about Hannah (which he tells Tayshia and Caelynn after the first rose ceremony his focus was now on Hannah), why wouldn’t he have asked her out when he got the first date card of the season?
-What did he think his biggest mistake was in all this?
-If he could take one thing back pre-show and during filming, what would it be?
So we got a few answers to those last night, and I’m sure we’ll get more tonight. However, if you were to nail down the biggest question in that group, especially after watching last night, it’d have to be why didn’t he ask Hannah out on the first date when it’s clear he wanted to be with her. Even though it hasn’t come out on the show yet, he did fly to Birmingham to spend time with her pre-show about 2 weeks before filming. And he says in ITM’s last night he was most looking forward to seeing her. Yeah, he said he met Tayshia at Stagecoach and apologized for being drunk, but it was nothing more than that. Hannah was the one he wanted, it’s the one I told you he’d be after months ago, he talks about it on Day 1, pulls her aside first, then when he got the date card, he asks Tayshia? Something is just off about that. I bet there’s a story we don’t know about. I’m not dumb. And I know how production works on this show. They had a built in storyline with two people pre-show who openly said in interviews they were interested in the other. They get there, begin filming, and they’re STILL saying it. Then Blake asks out Tayshia. Makes zero sense.
-Then there’s the Caelynn side of things which, again, something seems off about this. Yes, I know Caelynn feels Blake did her wrong. But the amount of times she told the story, not just in ITM’s, but to others there was just…odd. Like she separately told Sydney, she separately told Onyeka, and she separately told someone else, forgetting who. I realize that production knew the story and were running with it, but the way it was presented, and the way Caelynn kept harping on it over and over and over again made me think there’s more to this. Not that it didn’t happen, because it most certainly did. But Caelynn going so hard on how much she hates him, from the second she stepped foot there, seems forced. Yeah, you don’t like him, we get it. But because it started right away from the moment we see her, it’s almost like she was told “You need to talk about this non stop.” Whatever the case, it was a bit too much for me. And watching her confront him tonight won’t be pretty either. I’m working to find out if there’s more to this story because something is off about all of it.
-I wanna see how Blake defends himself towards Caelynn’s accusations tonight. She claims he treated her one way, and I wanna see what his response is to that. If it’s anything like Jed Wyatt response, then he’s toast. If he’s caught off guard, then something is probably wrong about the storyline. If he apologizes, then he admits his mistake and can move on from it. We all know guys from this franchise sleep around. And we all know they sleep around with multiple women from the franchise. I just think some are better at being discreet about it AND don’t get involved with three of the top 4 finishers of the same season. So yeah, Blake royally f***ed up there. Like, if he would’ve screwed around with Tayshia, Hannah, and Caelynn and NEVER came on Paradise, there would just be rumors about it, maybe some stuff would’ve gotten online, but it wouldn’t nearly have the legs it does now. Now it’s playing out for all of America to see. He HAD to have known those 3 were gonna be cast on the show, right? They were #2, 3, 4 from Colton’s season. We ALL knew those three were gonna be on Paradise. Again, what was he thinking coming on this show? Your guess is as good as mine. So much more to unravel here, I’m looking forward to this playing out.
-The second Blake didn’t ask Hannah on the first date of the season, his fate was sealed with her. Even though we see Blake and Hannah making out in future episodes, and knowing what the ending is, once Hannah and Dylan had their get together last night, it was church for Blake. I guess that’s why the Kristina thing was given another go. Or at least tried to. Seems to me this was pretty much a living nightmare for Blake down there all caused by thinking with the wrong head. We still need to watch the whole season play out, but by the looks of it, has there ever been a contestant on BIP that had more of a miserable experience than Blake? I can’t think of any. What a disaster.
