Blake just couldn't find the words, 'I'm sorry,' on Tuesday night's finale.
Season six of Bachelor in Paradise came to a close on Tuesday night -- but not every issue was resolved.
As expected, Blake Horstmann hit the hot seat with Chris Harrison to discuss the Stagecoach drama that made its way offscreen. The Colorado native opened up about the lessons he learned throughout his two-timing (three or four-timing?) of women at the music festival and on the beaches of Paradise, but didn't apologize for what some considered his biggest mistake: leaking his private text messages with Caelynn Miller-Keyes.
Horstmann shared their private texts just one day after the Bachelor in Paradise premiere last month, in an effort to defend himself against Miller-Keyes' accusations that he led her to believe they were in a relationship earlier this year, and then asked her to lie about their Stagecoach hookup, which happened just one day after he slept with Kristina Schulman. She said the situation was even more painful given her position as a sexual assault survivor.
While speaking with ET's Lauren Zima after the taping, Tayshia Adams said she wished Horstmann would have just said sorry. After all, Miller-Keyes admitted during his hot seat session that she didn't think he was a bad guy.
"I think he truly feels like he did the right thing in defending himself, but also at the same time, I think he should have seen how hurt Caelynn was and how much we were all like, 'Just say sorry and you could be done with it all!'" Adams, who went on a date with Horstmann early on the season, shared. "It kind of made me disappointed that he didn't say sorry, but I wish him the best."
"I don't know if he changed everyone's mind tonight. It might have been a missed opportunity, to be honest," she continued, adding that Horstmann had been "pretty quiet" on the cast's group chat in recent weeks. "I've reached out, just to make sure he's OK, because the backlash can be really brutal."
Despite their romances fizzling out several times, Schulman continued to have Horstmann's back. "I know a lot of people were saying, 'Say sorry,' but I think for Blake, he had to feel it where it was coming from. To apologize for the text messages, that just doesn't seem right, because I think there's more to it," she offered.
"It's a lot of gray area in that subject," Schulman said. "If I'm wearing his shoes, and somebody told the whole nation, millions of viewers, that I silenced somebody, knowing that they're a sexual assault victim, I would find a way to be like, 'That's not true.' But he had a couple valid points. Sitting in an interview, how can he trust her to say what it is, when she lied?"
Schulman thought Horstmann "started off strong" in the hot seat. "He had the confidence until other people started chiming in and still have an opinion on it," she observed. "I think Blake needs to just let go of his ego, recognize when things are wrong, apologize for them [and] own your actions."
Dylan Barbour, meanwhile, was ready for the whole drama to come to an end. "I think the whole thing is just blown out of proportion. I think everyone involved is wrong in a way. I think it's just time to not focus on who to blame, and just focus on getting past it and coming to a mutual understanding of how we can treat each other better," he suggested.
"I feel like he put it all out there. Maybe it wasn’t received as well, but he definitely put it all out there. I think it's a sticky situation. Is there a winner on either side? I don’t know," agreed Hannah Godwin, who was also romanced by Horstmann early on in the season, before pursuing a relationship with Barbour.
"I think [the texts were] really personal. I don't see a reason to do that anyway. It'd be naive to think that's the only conversation that happened between the two, and if there's people telling you not to do it and then you regret the heat that she was getting even though you knew it was going to happen, it just didn't really line up," Barbour added. "I feel bad for Caelynn. I think she's a really wonderful woman. I'm hoping her and Dean [Unglert] are really happy."
Derek Peth said he offered his support to Horstmann amid the backlash he was getting online, but still has some important words of advice for him.
"Quit with the 'but' part of the sentence. Say the first part, leave it there and people will respect you. They know you're not a bad guy. You did some stupid stuff. I think he just kept digging his hole deeper and deeper and deeper, instead of letting it be where he is, stepping out of it, moving on," he said. "I think he's got some growth to go through and full faith that he actually will... I definitely think Blake can grown from here."
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