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."

Turnbull denied to Daily Mail Australia on Monday that he was attempting to extend his 15 minutes of fame by setting up images and slammed Nation for "sending private messages to the media for a few dollars".