The “Behind the Rose” podcast host, 32, weighed in on the Monday, August 23, episode, during which Brendan, 31, was called out for his history with season 25 Bachelor contestant Pieper James before arriving in Mexico. While plenty of viewers were quick to compare Brendan’s situation to Blake’s season 6 scandal, the Colorado native pointed out a key difference.

“I’m seeing a lot of s–t out there about Brendan getting kind of the edit or whatever [that] I did last time,” Blake said in an Instagram Story video while watching Monday’s episode. “I want to just be very clear. I was in zero relationships two years ago. Zero. Not any, for the record.”

Blake made his Bachelor Nation debut during Becca Kufrin‘s search for love in 2018 and ended the season as the runner-up to Garrett Yrigoyen. The next year, he returned to the franchise for the summer spinoff, where his past plans to hook up with fellow season 6 contestant Caelynn Miller-Keyes at Stagecoach Festival — days after he had sex with Kristina Schulman — landed him in the hot seat.

While his BiP journey aired in 2019, Blake released screenshots of text messages between him and Caelynn, 26, in an attempt to clear his name. Earlier this year, he revealed he had no regrets.

“I’ll never really apologize for that,” he told Us Weekly exclusively on the “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast in March. “I’m never gonna regret [or] apologize for defending myself.”

Brendan, for his part, was introduced to Bachelorette fans during season 16. Though his chemistry with Tayshia Adams was strong, he eventually realized he wasn’t ready for an engagement ahead of the December 2020 finale. Six months later, Us confirmed the Massachusetts native moved on with Pieper, 23.

“Pieper and Brendan have been dating for a few weeks now,” a source exclusively revealed in June, adding that the reality stars were “keeping their relationship under wraps” in its early stages. “They both are super into each other and are getting to know each other and are just having fun going on dates.”

When news of Brendan’s off-camera romance made its way around the beach, he was forced to explain himself to Natasha Parker and Demi Burnett, who had just invited him on a one-on-one date.

“I don’t understand where that conversation came from,” the season 23 Bachelor alum, 26, said in a confessional on Monday. “This has never happened to me before. Except for Colton [Underwood] and that was brutal. But he was gay.”

Bachelor in Paradise airs on ABC Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET. Scroll through for more Bachelor Nation reactions to the second episode:

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This story originally appeared on: US Magazine - Author:Meredith Nardino