He’s best known for being the “villain” on Sophie Monk’s season of The Bachelorette last year.
But as Blake Colman and his snazzy array of Hawaiian shirts depart the island on Bachelor in Paradise, the 30-year-old proves he’s done a lot of growing up since he was last on our screens.
In this exclusive exit interview, Blake talks to Now to Love about the truth behind that infamous Lenora scene, the moment he apologised to arch rival Jarrod Woodgate and why he’s sharing his battle with depression.
Blake Colman, surf coach, 30, WA
Blake, sent packing in the third week – are you disappointed?
Absolutely! I started to get really close to Megan [Marx] and then to go… to be blindsided and dumped by Laurina the day before the rose ceremony, she wasn’t keen on anyone else, that kind of sucked. It would have been good to stay one more week and find someone.
I know Simone [Ormesher], who comes in tomorrow, was really keen to see me and she was really p—-d off that I wasn’t there.
Would you have done anything differently?
With meeting Megan when she came in, all my boys like Sam and Eden, hit up Megan and were like ‘give Blake a chance! Think about going ahead.’
I probably would have broken up with Laurina faster first off. Overall, I had such a good experience and made so many friends. It was cool to be on an island, in board shorts every day!
What about now, are you still single or dating?
Nah, I’m single!
You and Laurina’s almost-romance was one of your big plot lines, how do you feel about her now?
Laurina had to go figure out what she’s into. She’s a super spiritual chick and she wants that whole connection sort of thing. Hopefully she finds what she’s looking for.
On the topic of exes, what about Sophie Monk, do you guys still chat?
Nah!
Were you surprised to hear when her relationship with Stu Laundy ended?
They broke up and then she suddenly becomes the host of Love Island so you’re kind of like, ‘what’s that about?’ Hopefully they both figure things out and find someone again.
Blake is gutted his paths didn’t cross with Simone’s.
We have to ask you about that Lenora name gaffe, but it turns out you weren’t very well that day right? But that was obviously edited out…
For starters, we all thought it was absolutely hilarious! We were all p—–g ourselves.
I had heat stroke the whole day, medics had to come and see me and I was just bed-ridden. I dragged myself out for the cocktail party but I wasn’t there that much.
At the rose ceremony, I almost passed out and we had to stop filming. Then we kept filming and they called me up and I was out of it! When you see me say Lenora, my face is totally out of it. When I said it, I didn’t even know I said the wrong name. Even Osher was like ‘it happens to the best of us, mate.’
We all cracked it, I think we stopped filming for about five minutes because none of us could stop laughing.
Was Laurina laughing?
She was cracking up! She was losing it! When she went across, we had to re-shoot it and do it again and I said the right name.
Were there any other important moments that didn’t make it to air?
I pushed Mikey into dating Laurina because he likes her a lot.
Also when Jarrod rocked up, I pulled him aside and was like ‘bro can we go for a chat?’ And I apologised to him for being a d—k on Sophie’s season of The Bachelorette [last year.] It was good to iron out what me and Jarrod had.
Just a few little things… it would have been good for that to be on the show but we’ve only got a short amount of time with the episodes and they’re still putting up really good content.
What about your so-called villain title? Do you think your appearance on BIP has helped changed people’s perception about you?
Yeah, I think everyone can see the real Blake on Bachelor in Paradise. I just went into Sophie’s season not over-thinking. I would speak my mind but didn’t realise they had to have some sort of villain on the show.
Anyone who speaks their mind is always portrayed as a bad guy.
There were so many good things I did in Paradise that didn’t make the edit. If you want to see who I really am, go and check out one of my vlogs.
Is that’s what’s next for you, more work on vlogs?
I’ve always loved to make videos and now I’m working at Aloha Surfhouse now [as a surf coach in Perth] and we’re going to expand this year. It’s more for me to become better at editing videos. It’s more for me but if people enjoy it, then cool!
You’ve recently opened up about your battle with depression after the death of a dear friend in an effort to help others, what’s the reaction been like to you sharing your story?
It’s been really good! It’s always a scary thing and there’s so much stigma around it… if you talk about depression, people will think that you are weak. And that’s one of the reasons I’ve teamed up with support group The Happiness Co.
It’s all about getting guys together to be like let’s get with each other and let’s lift each other up!
Blake is teaming up with The Happiness Co to help raise awareness around depression.
What would your advice be to people and young men like yourself who are battling with depression and too scared to ask for help?
Send me a DM, send me a message and you can chat to me privately. Or hit up Happiness Co on Facebook, we have 104K fans on Facebook. If you message Happiness Co we’ve got plenty of support.
It’s just a matter of taking that one step, it’s OK. People who go through depression feel guilty and blame themselves, things happen but it’s time that we start forgiving each other and start making our lives a lot better.
That’s really what we’re trying to do and if someone feels like they can’t turn to anyone, they can turn to me for sure. Hit me up and we’ll get you on track.
If you or anyone you know is suffering, contact Lifeline (lifeline.org.au) on 1311 14 or visit Headspace at (headspace.org.au). You can also visit Beyond Blue at (beyondblue.org.au) or call 1300 22 4636.
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