‘Bachelor in Paradise’ Host Chris Harrison Talks Blake Horstmann’s Love ‘Octagon’

Bachelor in Paradise kicked off with quite the tangled romantic web for Blake Horstmann, who after placing second on Becca Kufrin’s season of The Bachelorette, may have played the field a bit too much, hooking up with both Caelynn Miller-Keyes and Kristina Schulman on subsequent days at Stagecoach Music Festival in April. With it all coming back to blow up in his face immediately in Paradise, host Chris Harrison opened up about the incendiary situation to PEOPLE.

“He made quite a mess,” Harrison told the outlet. “He created it outside of Paradise, and it followed him in and then it blew up in his face on a grand scale. I’m not really sure what he was thinking or if he was thinking at all. Why would you walk in here thinking it wasn’t going to be an absolute powder keg? Maybe he thought he was bulletproof and he could do no wrong.”

That’s not to say that Bachelor in Paradise producers didn’t know there would be drama going down when they cast this season.

“We knew Blake and Caelynn had history,” he said. “We heard about Kristina, but then we heard he had also been talking to, DMing, Hannah, as well, so he kind of had a love square, octagon thing, heading into Paradise. It really is this ongoing soap opera.”

Harrison did have to give it to Horstmann for sticking around after being confronted by both women he had slept with, going on a date with Tayshia Adams and telling Hannah Godwin he was interested in her.

“Good on him for licking his wounds and getting right back in the game!” Harrison said. “If I was him I would’ve just dove in the ocean and swam away. He gets right back in the game and goes after Hannah and Hannah’s had a little something going with Dylan. Hannah’s a pretty hot commodity. Blake and her have a connection and it’s undeniable. It’s something that is going to linger.”

Harrison added that Horstmann may have gotten a bit of a big head after Bachelor Nation embraced him so heavily during Kufrin’s season.

“Do I think he’s a bad guy? No. He probably got a little full of himself, started believing all the hype and believing he was as good as everyone was telling him, which happens,” Harrison admitted. “Hopefully he can come back down to earth a little bit. We all need to be humbled from time to time.”

Bachelor in Paradise airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Photo credit: ABC/John Fleenor