If you need any reminders about how this season has gone, take a look at previous recaps here.
Because this season of Bachelor in Paradise will end with a couple taking home $500,000, the focus of the season has changed: Should the couples focus on love and strengthening their relationship, or should they focus on how to win that money? Should couples be strategizing, or would winning the money be a happy extra? Should the strategy be to “get rid” of the strongest couples or the weakest couples (or the “just friends” couples)? And how will the answers to those questions help or hurt any couples’ chances?
That’s where this week’s episode starts, at day 15, and that’s what most of the episode is about.
Relationship Test: Treasure Hunk
But, before finding an answer to that question, the contestants will play “Treasure Hunk.”
The object of the game is for one partner to talk the other partner through a series of clues and hints to find five keys to open five locks. The catch? The clue-giving partner is locked in a treasure chest, and the couple is communicating through walkie-talkies that work… sometimes.
The couple that finishes the challenge fastest will win an exclusive date and the first rose, granting them “immunity” for the week; at the rose ceremony, the whole group will vote out two couples.
“Hopefully no one is claustrophobic,” Hannah Brown, director of paradise relations, says. “What show are we on, like seriously?”
While the challenge aims to find all five keys, its primary goal is to test couples’ communication skills. So each couple decides who will be the “buried treasure” and who will be searching for the keys. Keys are buried in sand under an “X” marking the spot, under certain flags or boats, and hanging hidden in a “forest” of other keys.
Here are the highlights:
First, we watch Andrew Spencer and Alexe Godin compete alongside Parisa Shifteh and Brian Autz. Andrew and Parisa are locked in their treasure chests and walk Alexe and Brian through the challenges. Brian is the first to find a key, and we get a really great shot of him skipping, as directed by Parisa and her sheet of instructions.
In the end, Andrew guides Alexe to two keys, and Parisa guides Brian to three. Neither won because they didn’t find all four keys (although Parisa and Andrew are obviously eventually let out of their boxes).
Next, we see Kat Izzo and Kathy Swarts locked away, while their partners, Dale Moss and Keith Gordon, respectively, search for their keys. Wells Adams, the bartender on the beach, does hand Kathy a flask before locking her in. Kat and Dale find three keys, while Kathy and Keith only find one.
“Why send a man to do a woman’s job, I’ll never know,” Kathy says in a confessional (though she and Keith did decide together who would be in the box and who would search for the keys, so we’re not really sure what she’s complaining about).
Then, Lea Cayanan buries Jonathon Johnson, and Allyshia Gupta buries Sean McLaughlin. The two couples seem to start way more successfully than any of the other couples, and we get a funny shot of Jonathon saying, “What up, ABC, welcome to my crib,” giving us the stats and inside look at his…box.
For some reason, there are now a bunch of dogs roaming around the beach and Lea sits down to pet one of the dogs, instead of searching for her keys, for some reason. She also has to find a key hidden under a flag, among a bunch of flags, and instead of figuring out which one fits the clue, she just starts digging under all of them, saying, “Work harder, not smarter.”
Allyshia is the first person to successfully get her partner out, saying, “I saved my damsel in distress.”
The last couples to go are Jess Edwards, Spencer Conley, Bailey Brown, and Jeremy Simon. Jess and Jeremy are locked away, while Bailey and Spencer search for their keys. It seems that Spencer and Jess work the best together, by far, with Spencer verbally supporting what Jess is doing while thinking things through to help Spencer. (Compare this with Jeremy clearly getting frustrated with Bailey when she accidentally drops one of the keys.)
Spencer and Jess finish first. Then Bailey is eventually able to unlock Jeremy, despite her key-dropping snafu (this might have been helped by a little assistance along the way from Spencer).
When everyone has gone through the relationship test, host Jesse Palmer comes to the group to discuss. Before announcing who won, Palmer does reiterate that supporting each other, patience, and communication are what this was really about.
Luckily, because of patience and strong communication, Spencer and Jess got through the challenge the fastest.
“We finally get a date!” Jess says, excitedly, as she does a victory dance.
“We never turned on each other, which I think is really important,” Spencer says later.
That evening, the group celebrates Jeremy’s birthday with a cake, shots, and a pool party.
It’s this moment, while watching all the couples making out and hanging out, Lea and Jonathon talk this out.
“I just didn’t think it would go like this. It’s really hard not to compare in this environment where the goal, the prize, is to be in love,” Lea says, through tears. “I want to be in love.”
Jonathon comforts her by basically saying that even if they’re not in love, they can get the cash instead.
Day 16
Though the contestants have same-gender roommates (like Bailey and Alexe sharing a room), we do get a glimpse that some of the couples have been sleeping and waking up together, including Brian and Parisa, possibly Jess and Spencer, and Alexe and Andrew (Andrew tells Kathy and Keith that morning that they went to bed late because “Alexe likes to talk”).
However, since there will be a rose ceremony later in the day, the contestants return from fun pool party land, back to strategy.
Sean explains that because his dad is a politician and he grew up around politics, he thinks he has a good strategy for the next steps. Allyshia seems to be down. So Sean starts conversations with everyone, scheming and strategizing, very openly sharing what his plan is, making everyone else very uncomfortable. Brian pulls him aside at one point to tell him to stop aggressively lobbying, and everyone has something to say about Sean, his strategy, and who should or should not stay in Paradise.
We also see that Kathy and Keith have very different opinions about what to do; Kathy wants to play the game and win the money, whereas Keith thinks it should be about finding the strongest couples. Keith even, momentarily, suggests that he’s thinking about voting Kathy out because their relationship is just a friend relationship.
After everyone starts freaking out about Sean’s strategy, Allyshia pulls him aside to tell him to calm down, that he’s coming across as the politician of Paradise, and no one likes politicians.
Amid all the chaos and drama of voting two couples out of Paradise, we get to watch Jess and Spencer’s first official date, and Jess tells us that she wants to tell Spencer “how I feel about him.”
The two are brought to tantric yoga to focus on intimacy, sexual energy, and deepening their bond, with Spencer reminding us that it’s not just about sex, it’s about connection.
For a few moments, we get to see what everyone’s been asking for: more of Jess and Spencer deepening their relationship, being the happy couple that they are.
And then it’s right back to politics, with Sean introducing the “Parliament of Paradise,” made up of himself, Dale, Andrew, and Jeremy. He goes to each guy individually, including Andrew, who clearly wants to nap, to present this idea and have an official meeting. Sean also mentions seeing Jess and Spencer as a threat, without realizing that Andrew and Spencer are roommates.
But then we do get back to Jess and Spencer’s date; in a confessional, Spencer says, “With every day that passes, it becomes less scary and more exciting,” talking about the nature of his relationship with Jess.
For the first time, we get to see them talk about life outside of Paradise, including a conversation about moving to be with each other.
Finally, Spencer says, “I am absolutely, 100% falling in love with you.”
To which Jess responds, “I was gonna say that, I wanted to say that first!”
“Rewind!” Spencer says, allowing Jess to also tell him that she’s falling in love with them.
Aaand back to the “Parliament of Paradise Proceedings.” Sean is in their “secret location,” aka the front driveway of the resort, waiting for the other guys to come. At first, it seems like they won’t, but then Dale and Jeremy show up (Andrew is napping).
Sean presents the alliance and says that Jess and Spencer will be their biggest threat, that no other couple could beat them. But Dale pushes back because of how confident he is in Kat’s relationship.
“This is like the worst political campaign,” Dale says in a confessional. “He shouldn’t run for office anytime soon.
When Spencer finds out that Sean was talking about him and Jess, Sean is in for it, saying, “The moment that Jess’ name left your mouth, you’re done.” He also says, “I think Sean thinks he’s smarter than he is.”
But Sean’s politicking doesn’t just affect him; everyone is also talking about Allyshia behind her back, upsetting her so that she can’t trust anyone, even some of her close friends.
Despite Sean taking a lot of heat, Brian and Parisa still think they’re in a risky situation. Yet, Parisa says, “We’re gonna hold hands and walk out of here together. I don’t think any amount of money is worth getting in between two people.”
Brian, looking to push votes away from him and Parisa, approaches Jeremy to apologize about all the drama last week (although, hot take, Brian maybe doesn’t have anything to apologize for? The people are split about this.)
Though anyone talking behind her back is really about how Sean is working, Allyshia is very upset about the situation, including that Bailey and Alexe are making her question where they stand as friends. She pulls Sean aside to tell him that she’s upset with him (to which he does very maturely say he should have listened to her…though he does go back to politicking soon after).
In another moment to interrupt the drama, Kat “passes a note” to Dale, asking him to be her boyfriend. Dale says, “I’m not going anywhere,” and the two pinky promise.
Back to the drama, Allyshia then pulls Alexe and Bailey, with Parisa as support, to say how upset she is about everything; the four agree to focus on keeping people in Paradise who are there for a love connection and voting out those who are just there for platonic friendships.
After Allyshia tells Sean that Kat denied that she and Sean are friends, Sean then, of course, has to pull aside Kat to explain that he was upset. But instead of apologizing and mending things, the two just get more upset about everything, with Kat walking away from him and Sean saying, “She doesn’t give a shit about anyone but herself.”
Spencer then tells Sean to chill because he’s doing more damage than good.
Dale then flips out at Sean because Dale thinks Sean overstepped the boundaries when he talked to Kat, and Dale yells at Sean (Kat finds it very hot to have Dale protect her and stand up for her).
Spencer tells Sean that he should be focused on his relationship and his girl (and repeats in a confessional, “The second her name comes out your mouth, the second you threaten this, you’re fucking done.”
Despite all the politics, Sean is still convinced that they are the strongest couple there.
And with that, the group votes; some voted individually, some voted as a couple.
Rose Ceremony
The voting leads to the rose ceremony, with Brian telling us that he’s wearing red, “’Cause it’s going to be an absolute bloodbath.”
Jess, in giving her rose to Spencer, says, “I had the best day ever. I’m hoping that was the last first date either of us ever go on.”
Alexe gives her rose to Andrew, says that she’s confident of where they are, and is hoping that they’ve chosen couples that will work in the long term, through their votes.
Bailey gives her rose to Jeremy, and Kat gives her rose to Dale.
In a surprising turn, Kathy gets a rose to give to Keith, despite many people saying they were going to vote them off, leaving one last rose and two couples who were voted out of Paradise by their peers.
But before Jesse can present the final rose, Allyshia interrupts.
“Sean and I came into Paradise looking for love. And the one thing we’re not going to compromise is our character. We would like to leave here together of our own accord,” she says. “We are leaving here together with something much more valuable than money would ever buy, and will continue our relationship back in Tampa. And get a big fat bucket of popcorn to watch this all back.”
In a confessional, Allyshia shares how upset she is that people she considers her friends voted for her to leave (despite Alexe and Bailey both telling us that they didn’t vote for her).
Sean, as he and Allyshia are walking out, turns back and says, “Dale, I love you, but Kat, don’t call me crying when this one ends.”
To which Jess says later, “So much for you guys leaving with integrity,” and Kat calls them fake. Sean says, “i can’t wait for Karma to come full circle.”
However, after all of that drama, Jesse Palmer says, “Sean and Allyshia were going home anyways.”
But there still is another couple going home; Lea gets it, telling Jonathon, “Just because it’s not a romantic connection, doesn’t mean it’s not a connection,” and Jonathon plants a fat kiss on Lea.
This means that Brian and Parisa will go home.
“I came to Paradise to find my person, and I feel like I did,” Parisa says in a confessional. “I’m going home with my head held high.”
“At the end of the day, Parisa and I are strong and happy and excited for the future, so that’s all that really matters,” Brian says, later.
And with that, we got a preview for next week, including Spencer suggesting he and Jess move in together, and Jess saying she’s not ready for that, Keith telling Kathy he’s homesick and going home, and the rose ceremony interrupted with Jesse saying, “There’s just one problem,” whatever that could mean.
But the big question remains: Are Brian and Parisa and Sean and Allyshia still together? According to speculation, rumors, and Reality Steve, the answer is no, and Parisa might even have a new boyfriend (we’re linking the post from Reality Steve, but be warned, the post has a lot of spoilers, so you might want to just take our word for it).
In other, happier news, it seems that Faith Martin and Kim Buike are still together, posting about each other and introducing each other’s families. So, we’ve gotten our second successful couple outside of this season of Paradise! Hopefully, we’ll add to that total!
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