Bachelorette alumni Blake Colman is reportedly back to film the premiere season of Bachelor in Paradise, and we have to ask a huge, resounding: what the actual fuck?
We’ve already had confirmation that a mix of fan faves and (fave) villains were returning (Tara Pavlovic, Forence Moerenhout, Keira Maguire, Apollo Jackson and Michael Turnbull), but now a bunch of others have been papped at the filming site in Fiji.
But now New Idea is reporting that a number of others, including Colman, Sam Cochrane, Een Schwencke, Luke McLeod and Davey Lloyd are all back to film the Bachelor spin-off, with Richie Strahan being a possible intruder.
All fine, whatever – except Colman. To call him a ‘villain’ would be to underestimate the enormity of his douchebro-ness. When Sophie gently dumped him on The Bachelorette – not a nice task, but one most people manage to take with a bit of grace – he went off his rocker.
“I came into this going, ‘I just need to feel protected and safe’,” said Sophie. “I need your backing. Like I really do. And those guys in there, I know they’ve got my back.”
“I’ve told you I’ve had your back,” he responded furiously. “I don’t really have anything else to say, hey. Have fun with the other boys. Ciao.”
As he stormed away, he ranted: “Seriously, she gives me that bullshit answer?” And then later on his way home, he continued: “The fact that, like, apparently I didn’t protect her. Yeah, that’s just BS. Best guy for her is in this limo on his way home. She’s got the second-best guys in the house now.”
Shortly after his elimination, it emerged that he’d assaulted a man during a night out in Perth in 2015.
The man, Tristan Cooper, described how Colman “just came running up and with all of his body weight, sort of grabbed me in the back of the head and threw me into the side of the Hungry Jack‘s,” later bragging and laughing to his friends about the attack.
The attack was so vicious that a female companion was sprayed with blood, and Cooper required four staples to close his head wound.
Almost two years after the 2015 incident, Colman pleaded guilty and was given an $850 fine and ordered to pay Cooper compensation.(Colman later released a statement via Channel Ten publicity that he was “truly remorseful” for his actions.)
“Australian television executives are complicit in giving platforms to abusers for the sake of good ratings, and they have a lot to answer for,” feminist writer Clementine Ford wrote at the time. “Putting forward a man with a violent streak as a potential partner shows either a remarkable lack of awareness about the issue of men’s violence against women, or cavalier disregard for the consequences of it.”
She continued that its casting also “demonstrated a gross dismissal of the issue of men’s violence against other men”, and detailed the alarming number of men who’ve died in similar attacks.
Channel Ten made a mistake casting Colman the first time round. To cast him a second is just a blatant ratings grab with no care in mind for the safety of other contestants, and excuses male violence to boot.
We repeat: what the actual fuck.
Channel Ten refused to confirm or deny if Colman had been cast, but provided PEDESTRIAN.TV with the following statement:
“Laurina, Keira, Tara, Davey, Michael and Apollo have been confirmed as the first six Bachelor in Paradise participants. Ten will neither confirm or deny further speculation, but can reveal that many more of Australia’s favourite Bachelor characters are ready to head to the tropical resort in Paradise. Let the games of love begin.”
So uh… that’s probably a yes, then. Great.
