Last night, Mack Reid and Blake Colman – alongside villain Daniel – were both booted from Bachelor In Paradise, after failing to receive a rose from any of their lady mates.
Mack had tried and failed to ~connect~ with both Leah and Ali, and Blake kind of sealed his own death warrant with Laurina after forgetting her name in the rose ceremony. We caught up with both boys for a post-Paradise debrief, and they confirmed the #1 most important thing: that yes, there’s definitely some behind-the-scenes hooking up happening off camera.
Also: both of them absolutely fucking hate Daniel.
What were your thoughts during the rose ceremony?
MACK: During the actual rose ceremony it was quite nerve racking. All rose ceremonies are pretty full on. It’s really intense. And what doesn’t happen, is the music doesn’t play. It’s dead silence for such a long time. And you’re standing there for hours. They condense like three or four hours into a couple of minutes. So you’re actually standing there for such a long time, and it’s so intense, and it just builds up into two or three people leaving. It’s pretty crazy. And obviously we knew the outcome while we were watching last night. It’s never easy leaving. But yeah, I was quite content, and quite happy.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BhNWlQ3j9TP/?hl=en&taken-by=mackane.reid
Mack, you were chatting to Ali and Leah. Blake, you were chatting to Laurina. And then all of those girls did start talking to the American Bachelor boys coming in. Did you see that coming, and how did it feel that suddenly these ‘introducers’ are coming in and chatting in to the people you’d been talking to?
BLAKE: When the guys came in… Argh. Grant and Jared are really nice guys, right, so they were speaking to everyone nicely. There was no arrogance, it was super chill, but then when Dan came in. I mean… Me out of all people, I’m the last person you should be a douche to, because I’ll rip you to shreds. If you’re going to come in and be like, “I’m the godfather of the Bachelor season, I’m going to steal all your women,” you’re not really starting off on the best foot. When he went to talk to other girls, I wasn’t really concerned.
It looked like there was a bit of tension going on between the Aussie boys and the Americans plus Daniel the Canadian. That’s what was presented to us as the viewer, was that what was going on behind the scenes as well?
MACK: Aw yeah, that’s what it seemed like for me, but I’m not one for conflict, which, obviously that one wasn’t true, because of Jarrod and my little spat, but yeah, that’s what it seemed like. Jarrod was obviously quite upset, I know Blakey was a little bit upset. Especially with what this Dan douche guy said, that he’s going to take all our women, which I thought was a bit below the belt.
BLAKE: You knew that there was going to be something coming in. Me and Grant had a sick chat down on the water one night, and then me and him just got along so well. We seemed to be very similar people, and then yeah, Jared was just an overly nice guy, he was a legend of a dude. I just really kept my eye on Dan. I befriended him, because I didn’t trust him. I saw him talking with Nina, and then because Edan was my roommate, and I saw the connection they had, I was very wary with what Dan was saying to Nina. And then after having a chat with Nina, and seeing Nina’s feelings, then she goes to bed and I see Dan going to chat to every other girl, I was so cautious. And that’s when I told the girls the next day, I was like, this is what actually happened and you guys haven’t seen this. I just wanted to have the girls’ back and make sure they weren’t going to get taken for a ride.
You saw Eden and Dan – and massive hats off to Eden for pulling Dan into line. The funniest thing I laughed at so loud last night [was when] Dan replied back about the whole “eye contact” thing. He was like, “Oh, I wasn’t even like, I wasn’t really worried about it”, I was like, mate. When Dan came back he was quivering after that chat with Eden. Dan can’t go any whiter possibly, but he was like, even whiter than Caspar because he was so scared. So yeah, hats off to Eden for pulling him in and doing the right thing by Nina. Overall, that’s basically how we felt about Dan being a douche and making us look like a saint.
Who came up with the “Douche Daniel” name? I’ve heard a few of you guys bandying that one around.
MACK: I mean, I called him a dickhead, but then everyone started calling him a douche. His parting words last night, which none of us were probably aware of what he said, but his parting words last night were pretty strong. Like, “all the women were stale”, “I’ve slept with better-looking women, so I’ll be fine in that department.” Why would you want to leave Australia like that, like a hated man? I’m sure he didn’t do himself a lot of favours last night and probably won himself a lot of enemies.
In saying that, we’ve touched on Dan quite a lot. Grant, I didn’t really get to speak to Grant a lot, but Jared, American Jared, he was no threat to anyone. Lovely guy, really genuine, a great listener, and had a lot of time for everyone there. I’d like to think we were quite similar as well. We only spent a day together, but Leah kept saying it as well, that we were quite similar, and I really have a lot of time for him, and I’d love to catch up with him in the outside world.
Have you guys stayed in contact with anyone from Paradise?
BLAKE: Oh yeah, pretty much everyone.
MACK: Absolutely, without a doubt. I speak to Leah, once or twice a week. Obviously I see Blake a lot. I see Brett a helluva lot. And I speak to Luke a lot. Luke is a very close friend of mine, we shared a lot of the experiences together. Like before we went in to Fiji we were basically locked in a hotel room for two days. And that was with Luke. I don’t know if you remember, but Luke and I came out of the mansion together, we spent seven days together. It just seems like our experiences are in unison with one another. Same with Blake, we finished one and two amongst the Perth guys, and we get invited to a lot of the events together. One of Blake’s very good friends is now one of my dear friends, so yeah – keep in contact with a lot of them, but I couldn’t say all of them. We’ve got a group chat going on.
What’s your group chat called?
BOTH: Legends.
Blake, I have to ask: what was going through your head when you got Laurina’s name wrong?
BLAKE: Death. That’s what was going through my head. The truth is I was super sick all day, I had heat stroke. I was in bed, dead. I dragged myself [up] after having a few goodies from the medic, dragged myself out of bed and got to the cocktail party. Wasn’t really there, bit dazed, but when I got to the rose ceremony I actually almost passed out. Then they asked me to go up and “Lenora” is what I came up with.
Did you guys chat about it afterwards?
Blake: Yeah, we were all in hysterics, hey. We had to reshoot it. But we were all cracking up hey, it was the funniest thing. ‘Cause everyone knew how sick I was, and next minute–.
Did Laurina say anything afterwards to you about it?
Blake: Ah… yeah.. she… she was alright about it. She paid me back by braiding my hair terribly the next day.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BhQslvpnWJ1/?hl=en&taken-by=blakecolman
So one of the most unexpected couples who have come out is Tara and Sam, who at least from the viewers perspective, none of us really saw coming. Are they as loved up off camera as they seem to be on camera?
MACK: Yeah, they’re like very similar people. Similar sense of humour, they bounce off one another, they have a similar energy. Blake was saying before, they’re like two little toddlers running around, and we started to see like, wow, there could be a genuine connection happening, flourishing from this. I think they’re very well suited.
BLAKE: They’re both so funny as well. You can be having the worst day, and as soon as you hang around one of them for a minute, you’re already in tears, because there’s something funny that one of them has said. So when you have two of them together, all the time, it’s the best time to be around.
Is there any hooking up off camera that we aren’t seeing?
[Both laugh.]
BLAKE: Not at this point.
MACK: We can’t comment on that sort of stuff, I don’t think we’re allowed to, to be honest. Yeah, there is, but we’re going to name any names.
So one of the things that people have commented about Bachelor In Paradise – which is obviously the first time Australia has gotten to experience it – is that we never, ever see anyone eating. They are only ever drinking.
[Both laugh.]
MACK: You know what? I actually thought that last night! They don’t show any banter around the dinner table whatsoever. All the intense conversations should have happened around the dinner table, if we knew that. But none of us eat. We just drink the whole time. Nah, just joking.
Are they filming you during meals?
MACK: Oh yeah. 24/7. The cameras are 24/7. We even have a camera in our bedrooms.
So there’s nowhere you can retreat to?
MACK: Zero. Like, no where at all.
What does that do to your mental health, just to know there’s no where to hide?
BLAKE: I mean, I like being naked anyway, so. If you’re going to film me, film me.
MACK: For me, I struggled a bit, a couple days after I gave Ali the rose. Because I sort of realising that the rose – not the rose, but the feeling wasn’t reciprocated, and that she wasn’t liking me back. And that was a bitter pill to swallow, knowing that Ali and Leah had rejected me. So I wasn’t in the greatest frame of mind, but to have a camera thrust in my face 24/7, I did really struggle with it. I like being on camera, I like performing when I need to, having a camera in your face 24/7…. it wasn’t the best for my mental health, only because I wasn’t really happy in the last day that I was there.
Have you guys found love, or are you seeing anyone after the show?
MACK: No.
BLAKE: It’s hard. If you’re coupled up, it’s a lot easier, but for example, me and Mack, we have to keep our single lives very private, because if people see us with a random chick, or a dude in Mack’s case… [both laugh].
MACK: Zing!
BLAKE: You know, so now it feels like there’s a lot of pressure off. We can actually go out and be seen, or meet someone at an event, that sort of thing. For me, I’m single, but we’ll see what happens over the next few months.
Blake, you’ve recently opened up about your experiences with depression, you’ve been working with Happiness Co. How has it felt being so vulnerable in public like that?
BLAKE: I’ve never really talked about mental illness and depression, because it felt like, if you talked about it, you’re weak. So coming out now, and look – the guys like Robbie, Beck and Julian who are behind Happiness Co, they give you the biggest support, and they understand my journey and things that have happened. It’s just been a breathe of fresh air. It feels like a concrete block is off me, knowing that I can talk abotu it, and everyone’s coming back saying, oh thank you so much, I go through the same thing, and to see that you’re actually talking about it, it’s making my life a helluva lot better. When I talk to people now, it’s not just what you’ve seen as a villain on Sophie Monk’s season, it’s not what you’ve seen on Bachelor In Paradise, there’s actually a little bit more to me. But yeah, my main focus is just helping. Every eight minutes a guy tries to end his life in Australia, it’s the biggest killed for men under 45, I’m just trying to do my best to help others get through it and get a plan to get back on track.
I read recently that you said at some point, you planned to set the record straight on your assault conviction, and I just wanted to give you the opportunity to do that now, if you felt comfortable.
BLAKE: Nah, it’s not the right time. My focus is helping other people with their mental illness, so when the time comes, the time comes.
