‘Bachelor in Paradise’ has most dramatic season yet

Courtesy of Marie Claire

It wouldn’t be a proper end to the summer without new love, heartbreak and Chris Harrison filling up our regularly-scheduled television programs. 

On Tuesday, Sept. 17, “Bachelor in Paradise,” a spinoff of “The Bachelor(ette)” franchise came to a “dramatic and shocking” end. 

This season of “Paradise” brought firsts and fists to the beach in Sayulita, Mexico. Demi Burnett and Kristian Haggerty’s relationship marked the first out LGBTQ couple in franchise history, while Jordan Kimball and Christian Estrada’s epic tumble over a pinata got them both kicked off the show for violence.

But the main lesson from this season: What happens at Stagecoach doesn’t stay at Stagecoach. 

The focus of the season finale should have been on the fate of the final four couples: Dylan Barbour and Hannah Godwin, Clay Harbor and Nicole Lopez-Alvar, Katie Morton and Chris Bukowski and Burnett and Haggerty. Instead, Blake Horstmann was put on the “hot seat” to discuss the drama from this season, ultimately stealing airtime from Harbor and Lopez-Alvar, who broke up on that last day in Mexico.

From day one, “Paradise” was a rollercoaster of emotions, starting when former beauty queen Caelynn Miller-Keyes walked down the stairs to Mexico only to find heartthrob Horstmann already there. 

Earlier this year, before filming began, Horstmann attended the Stagecoach Festival and ran into Miller-Keyes and other contestants, including Tayshia Adams and Kristina Schulman. The drama unraveled when Horstmann admitted to sleeping with Schulman one evening of the festival and Miller-Keyes the next night.

When Miller-Keyes arrived in Mexico, she claimed Horstmann demanded that she remain “quiet about their relationship and lie to anyone who asks about their involvement.” She felt like a “fucking dirty secret,” whereas Horstmann insisted Miller-Keyes exaggerated their encounter at Stagecoach and that he “wasn’t the one who pursued her at the festival.” 

The drama, however, truly unfolded when the season was airing and Horstmann released private text messages between himself and Miller-Keyes to the internet. 

“The reason I released them is because of the allegations you said [about me] were not true,” Horstmann explained to Harrison during the reunion. “If I were to sit on this stage and say I didn’t sweet talk her, [that] she came onto me, I would’ve been laughed off of this stage. No one would have believed me.”

“Your whole point was to discredit me and you’ve done far more than that. You discredited me in every aspect of my life,” said Miller-Keyes. 

In the end, Horstmann refused to apologize to Miller-Keyes.

The events of this season are unique to the franchise, and they could have been avoided all together if cast members didn’t have conversations with each other before filming “Bachelor in Paradise.”

After all the drama and heartbreak, “Bachelor in Paradise” wasn’t all bad. Three couples are engaged and two are happily dating. Stay tuned for the new season of “The Bachelor” starring Peter Weber, even though it should be fan favorite Mike Johnson.