This Is What Blake Has Said About His & Kristina's Relationship Before 'BiP'

When Bachelor in Paradise kicks off on Monday night, there are a couple of cast members on the beach who already have a little history with each other — and judging by their interactions in the trailer, the chemistry is pretty obvious. So what exactly happened between Blake and Kristina before BIP? There have been a lot of rumors out there over the last several months, but there are a few things that have already been cleared up.

Blake quickly became a favorite on Becca Kufrin's season of The Bachelorette, and so many fans fell in love with Kristina on Nick Viall's season of The Bachelor, especially after hearing her heartbreaking backstory about growing up in an orphanage in Russia. When rumblings first began that the two might be dating in 2018, it was easy to root for these members of Bachelor Nation. But decoding what exactly went down when neither of them have shared too many of the intimate details is a little complicated.

Fortunately, Blake actually has spoken out about the time they spent together, and it does sound like they were dating for a little while — even if it didn't last very long.

This all started back in the fall of 2018, when a fan on Reddit spotted Kristina and Blake at a baseball game together — and at the same time, a report from Life & Style claimed that they were dating, although neither half of this potential couple confirmed or denied this news at the time. Then, in October, Blake admitted that Kristina would be his Bach Nation crush... and he confirmed that they were "hanging out" during an interview on Extra.

"We have been hanging out, but you know it's like this weird thing where back before the show when you could date someone before you actually had to 'date' them," she said. "You know, get to know them. It's harder now."

He's right about that — judging by the success rates for relationships that come out of the Bachelor franchise, it's not easy to get together with other people who have been on the show.

But then, it all seemed to come to an end. Later that same month, Blake was on Ashley Iaconetti and Ben Higgins' Almost Famous podcast and claimed that he was single and although there was something happening between him and Kristina, that was over now.

"I can confirm I am single right now. I am single, we’ll just say that," he said. "I mean, [Kristina and I] talked, we chatted, we did hang out a couple of times. She’s amazing, she’s great, and you know, we get along really well. But right now, you know, we are hanging out, but it’s nothing serious right now."

The BIP trailer makes it seem like there were definite sparks between them when they reunited on the show, even though it didn't quite work out the first time they attempted to date. Will it actually work out now that they're getting to know each other in paradise? Guess we'll just have to watch this season to find out.