A warm welcome. Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt were embraced by their Bachelor Nation family after getting engaged on the Bachelor in Paradise season 7 finale — but they didn’t open their arms when Kendall Long showed up.
Blake Horstmann, who competed on Becca Kufrin‘s season of The Bachelorette loved seeing Joe and Serena, 34 and 23, cry out of happiness and get together, so he was not thrilled that producers sent Kendall, 30, in to rain on their parade. “I might’ve turned around and ran into the ocean. Joe handled this so well,” Blake, 32, said via his Instagram story on Tuesday, October 5.
He continued, “When I saw Kendall was coming down this week, I knew she wasn’t gonna come down there and try to break up Joe and Serena. I guess she kind of went down there to give Joe her blessing. Now did Joe need her blessing? No.”
The Bachelor Nation member was, however, very happy to see Serena’s reaction after Joe told her about Kendall’s appearance. She asked if he was OK, and Blake felt that said a lot about who she is as a person.
“I love their relationship so much! Yeah, Joe! Yeah, Serena! Cute AF!” the Colorado native shouted.
Fellow Bachelorette season 14 alum John Paul Jones was on the same page. He didn’t share many BiP opinions during Tuesday’s finale, but he couldn’t hold back his shock that Kendall showed up right before Joe proposed. “Who thought it would be a good idea to have Joe’s ex show up before he expects to propose to his future wife?!” he wrote via Instagram Story.
Natasha Parker, who was sent home during week 7 of BiP, took to Twitter to vent about the forced love triangle, writing, “How they going to my guy joe like that before he proposes 🤯 #BachelorInParadise.”
Everyone seemed happy that Kendall’s surprise visit didn’t result in any trouble for Joe and Serena’s relationship.
“I came down on this beach and was completely, like, surprised by how it made me feel and how overwhelming it was,” Kendall told Joe during the finale. “And I think ultimately, what ended up happening is, I ended up coming here to fully let you go. … I’m really excited for you and Serena, and I felt like I couldn’t leave the speech without fully, like, expressing that to you.”
The grocery store owner went on with his proposal to Serena as planned and she accepted the Neil Lane diamond ring. Check out the congratulations they received from other Bachelor Nation alums below: