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‘The Bachelorette’: Reality TV Feud Rocks Rachel Lindsay’s Season With Suitors Who Knew Each Other Before Show

By Victoria Miller
Published on: 03:55 PST, May 11, 2017

The Bachelorette will feature some real-life drama as Rachel Lindsay’s season gets off to a rocky start for two of her suitors. According to In Touch Weekly, Rachel’s Bachelorette contestants Blake Elarbee, 31, and Lucas Yancey, 30, have a reality TV past—on the same show!—and they both dated the same girl. The Bachelorette contestants appeared on the WEtv reality show, Ex Isle, in 2016. The dating show was hosted by Carmen Electra.

“Lucas brought his ex-girlfriend Brittney on the show, but during filming she hit it off with Blake,” a source told In Touch.

Blake was a single guy brought in to Ex Isle to shake things up, and he sure did. Blake and Brittney briefly dated and lived together after filming of the relationship show ended last year. Blake even tweeted about it.

The source revealed that Rachel’s two suitors “do not get along in real life” and added that The Bachelorette producers likely cast Lucas and Blake on purpose because their feud will make for must-see TV.

Blake Elarbee was one of the four contestants Rachel Lindsay met on live TV during Nick Viall’s After the Final Rose special in March. According to Wetpaint, Elarbee has been “circling the entertainment industry for some time now,” after moving to Los Angeles from Florida. As a cast member on Ex Isle, he claimed he was working to “break free” of his ex and move on with someone new.

The In Touch insider also revealed that Rachel “can tell that many of these guys are just there to become famous.” It sounds like Blake and Lucas fit the bill since they both already have a reality TV resume, so don’t be surprised if it’s determined that they didn’t sign on to The Bachelorette for the “right reasons.” Luckily, The Bachelorette has 28 more guys to choose from in this supersized season.

This is not the first time that Bachelorette suitors have shown up at the mansion with a reality TV past. Kaitlyn Bristowe’s contestants Chris “Cupcake” Strandburg and Josh Seiter also logged previous time on reality TV. When he was in college, Strandburg appeared on the Oxygen Network’s Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency, and Josh Seiter was a contestant on the E! reality show, Escape Club, in 2014.

Last season’s edition of The Bachelor also featured a contestant who knew someone before the show, but it wasn’t another contestant. In one of the most awkward encounters in Bachelor or Bachelorette history, leading man Nick Viall came face to face with a woman he had a one-night stand with at Jade Roper’s wedding. According to Us Weekly, Nick’s one-nighter, Liz Sandoz, was cast on the ABC reality show even after the reality star asked producers not to bring anyone from his past in as a contestant because he felt it would be “a waste of a person on the show.”

Ahead of Nick’s season (which also included future Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay), longtime Bachelor and Bachelorette host Chris Harrison teased that he wouldn’t be surprised if someone from Nick’s past turned up during his season of the reality dating show.

“I won’t be shocked if somebody very familiar shows up,” Harrison said, according to People. “We’ve done that in the past when someone’s been on one season. He’s been on basically three. I don’t see how someone won’t rear their head and show up.”

While Sandoz wasn’t a past Bachelor contestant, she was the maid of honor at the wedding of franchise stars Jade and Tanner Tolbert, so eagle-eyed fans recognized her. Nick also had a visit from his Bachelorette ex, Andi Dorfman, last season.

Take a look at the video below to see Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay’s suitor, Lucas, on Ex Isle.

[Featured Image by ABC]

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