Bachelorette star Michael Turnbull has hit back at fellow Bachelor contestant Alex Nation after she shared screenshots of a conversation in which he allegedly asked her to be involved in set-up paparazzi shots.

Woman's Day broke the story on Monday by publishing the screenshots of their private Instagram messages in which Turnbull, who came runner-up on Sam Frost's season of The Bachelorette in 2015 and also starred on this year's Bachelor in Paradise, appeared to ask Nation: "Did you want to do some pics? Just a coffee or something? That could be good? (sic)."

Nation, who won Richie Strahan's heart on The Bachelorette in 2016 (but dumped him for a woman last year), replied: "Thanks for the offer but I will decline this one. Enjoy Melbourne and maybe I'll see you around at some events and we can have a drink or something then."

Nation has not explained how the tabloid got a hold of screenshots that came from her account and Turnbull wants some answers.