It’s a new week and therefore, we’ve got a new recap of the latest episode of Bachelor in Paradise. As a reminder, here’s what happened in last week’s rose ceremony:
- Jill Chin gave her rose to Sean McLaughlin
- Parise Shifteh gave her rose to Brian Autz
- Bailey Brown gave her rose to Jeremy Simon
- Kat Izzo gave her rose to Dale Moss
- Alexe Goldin gave her rose to Andrew Spencer
- Kathy Swarts gave her rose to Keith Gordon
- Jess Edwards gave her rose to Spencer Conley
- Natascha Hardee gave her rose to Gary Levingston
- Leslie Fhima decided to give her rose to Kim Buike—she would have given her rose to Gary but Natascha got to him first
- April Kirkwood, surprising everyone, gave her rose to Jonathon Johnson, to give him another chance.
At the end of the episode, Lea Cayanan and Nancy Hulkower joined the group on the beach together.
If you want a more in-depth recap of previous episodes from the season, check that out here.
Day 9
Following the arrival of Lea and Nancy, Faith Martin, contestant on Gerry Turner’s season of The Golden Bachelor, rode onto the beach on a horse. She tells us that she’s never been one to slow down, she’s wild at heart, and she hopes she can find some connections. Adding Faith to the group leaves us with six Golden women and only three Golden men. Kathy calls this “every man’s dream and every woman’s nightmare.”
While the day begins with a quick chat between Kat and Dale about whatever argument they had yesterday, the day really begins with Dale taking a body shot off of April—with Kat encouraging it.
Despite having met before and being friends, Lea starts chatting with Jonathon, shares that she might have a little crush on him, and—despite never having asked a man on a date—asks him to go with her.
Nancy, also receiving a date card, asks Gary to join her on her date. Leslie, still wanting to explore her connection with Gary, is upset about the potential between him and Nancy.
For Lea and Jonathon’s date, they take a Jeep down the beach and end up having a picnic in a little patch of jungle, and they get the chance to talk about what they’re looking for in a relationship.
Lea says that because she’s happy with where she is now—going between LA and Hawaii, seeing her family a lot, working—she wants to “add something to the equation.” She’s looking for a “partner in crime.”
Jonathon echoes that, saying, “I don’t want a sidekick. I want a partner.” He adds that he’s looking for someone with their own ambitions and passions. Overall, the date is sweet, and the two seem to vibe well.
Before we get into the chemistry test challenge, let’s talk about Gary and Nancy’s date. It also happens at the same time as the Birds of a Feather challenge. They arrive at a small cabin and a women who welcomes them to a cacao ceremony. While it is an unusual date, this type of spiritual ceremony is not unusual for Bachelor dates. The couple drinks a cacao drink, and the woman leads them in some sort of meditation. While it doesn’t seem like much builds in their relationship, the two absolutely get high together on the drink. While Na
Birds of a Feather Mating Call Chemistry Test Challenge
In perhaps the strangest “chemistry test” so far, the contestants dress up as birds to perform some sort of mating call and dance. As host Jesse Palmer introduces it, he asks, “Are you ready to heed the call to the wild and demonstrate that you’re the alpha?” However, there’s a catch. Jesse says, “Ladies, if you see a dance you like, get up there and partake. Because Hannah [Brown, paradise relations] and Wells [Adams, bartender] are going to be the judges.” Whoever the duo thought had the best chemistry would be awarded a night in the VIP suite.
While the mating ritual ceremony situation is a bit…strange…the montage of the contestants dressing up and getting ready is sweet. April asks herself what would Cher wear—everyone gets into it, putting on makeup, adding a gimmick or two to their outfits.
Quick detour: As everyone is getting ready, Jeremy and Brian are chatting in their room. Jeremy, conscious of the cameras and the microphones, pulls off his mic to whisper to Brian, “I don’t want to with with Bailey. … Because of Susie. [Bailey is] a great girl, but I think fucked up by not giving the rose to Susie.” Though he took the mic off, the producers still caught everything he said. Meanwhile, the show cuts to Bailey saying that she’d get engaged here. Jeremy tells Brian that he called Susie. Bailey tells Alexe that while Bailey hasn’t told Jeremy that she loves him yet, she would. At the same time, Jeremy says he doesn’t know if he’s ready to commit to Bailey, and if Susie came back, Jeremy would give the rose to Susie.
Brian is shocked and shares in a confessional that he thinks Jeremy is lying to Bailey. Despite Brian’s friendship with Jeremy, Brian thinks Bailey should know.
Another detour: Before the chemistry test begins, another woman joins Paradise: Allyshia Gupta, Grant Ellis’ first Bachelor kiss, and Miss California 2020, is hoping to be “this year’s Miss Paradise. She’s looking for someone who is real and grounded, and preferably someone who is a dog dad.
Anyway, back on track to what Jesse calls a mating ritual.
First up to show off his costume and his moves is Andrew. Andrew is dressed in all white feathers, just as Alexe is. They matched without realizing it. Andrew calls himself the Black Swan. Hannah can tell that Andrew and Alexe are hitting it off. Alexe says, “I would like to dance only with Andrew. If you would’ve asked me that question two days ago, I would have been like, yeah, I was open. But now I got all my eggs in one basket.”
Then comes Spencer, wearing a brown tank top, black shorts, and yellow and white feathers. When he gets to the group, he rips his shirt off to reveal that his stomach says, “Jess, let’s go to our VIP nest.” Jess says that she feels on top of the world.
Next, Kim graces us in his feather skirt—which apparently he did not wear anything under. Multiple women get up to dance with him, and Faith calls him “very smoochable.”
Brian graces the stage next, in orange feathers, and calls Parisa a Victoria’s Secret model. She jumps into his arms, and they kiss.
Then Dale comes out, wearing black feathers and a red feathered … wig. He calls this his alter-ego and does a back flip. Allyshia is immediately into him, calling him a 12/10, and despite Kat and Dale dancing together, Allyshia steps in. Dale immediately vibes with her, too. At the end, they tell each other that they’ll talk later.
Though Keith looked great, wearing a brown shirt that said “Let’s flock,” the most memorable part of his performance was Wells calling him “Toucan Sam on crystal meth.”
Next up is Jeremy wearing a black harness beak situation on his face and decides to share everything he knows about how male birds mate, including talking about birds peacocking their feathers. Not only does he give a lap dance to Alexe, but he also smashes raw eggs on his chest and then goes to Bailey.
Sean also calls himself a sexy peacock, though it seems like he only has one dance move. He takes off his bottoms beneath his feather skirt and kisses April, really going all out. However, Jill feels like Sean didn’t notice her. In a confessional, through tears, Jill says, “Sean does not care if I live or die.” More on that in a minute.
Jesse sums up the exercise as brave, creative, and really weird. The three finalists are Alexe and Andrew, Brian and Parisa, and the surprise, Sean and April. Ultimately, Brian and Parisa win the competition and get the key to the VIP suite. The rest of the group is left to party, though the partying doesn’t last for long before the drama starts up again. Jill watches Allyshia jump in on Sean and is upset.
She shares, again through tears, that she’s done feeling like a third wheel and being around men who don’t value her.
“I’ve given it a chance, but no one has really given me a chance,” Jill says. “I’m having fun, but I’m not going to pretend that a guy is going to come to me. I’m losing my sparkle, and I don’t want to lose my sparkle.”
While sharing her decision to leave the show, Jill adds, “I know I’m an acquired taste and I don’t want to change for anyone.”
While this seems like the right decision for Jill, the sequence of events and the monologue throughout are incredibly sad.
Meanwhile, Parisa and Brian have made it to the VIP suite, complete with a sauna, a pool, tons of beds, and time to talk more and open up, as Parisa wants to do. However, Brian is more focused on the physical aspects of their relationship. When Parisa tries to keep getting to know him, he snaps at her. The reaction from Brian upsets Parisa and bursts her bubble, despite her just wanting to have fun and get to know each other better.
In other drama, Dale and Allyshia totally vibe from the beginning—whether or not he is in a relationship with Kat. Dale and Allyshia talk about their families and what they want for the future, sharing that they want to be parents and build a family together. However, Kat is not having this and says she’s going to bed. However, Jonathon pulls her aside before going to bed.
Jonathon tells Kat that Dale said, “I really want to go on a date to watch Kat sweat.” Meanwhile, Allyshia recognizes the drama with Kat and voices that maybe she shouldn’t ask Dale on the date. Dale practically begs her to.
Kat, upset about what Jonathon told her, asks Jeremy, and Jeremy says Dale didn’t say that. Dale sees something brewing and comes to sort things out. Dale denies that he said that he wanted to watch Kat sweat (despite the producers showing us footage that he did). Brian also shares that Dale told him he’d go on another date.
While Dale and Kat are having more drama, Allyshia starts talking to Sean. She likes him, but he also feels like her ex.
Finally, Gary and Nancy rejoin the party and are absolutely high on cacao.
Day 10
Everyone starts the day tired and probably hungover, and feathers litter the resort. Leslie expresses that she is sad that Gary went on the date with Nancy.
Paris and Brian have breakfast together in the VIP suite.
In a confessional, she says, “I was thinking it would be a more romantic night, but Brian wasn’t in the best mood.” She might be getting an ick. She also says that she wishes they hadn’t won the chemistry test because everything feels off after the VIP suite.
Meanwhile, Kim, whose heart rate was 150 last night, is sent to the doctor—just to make sure everything is ok—and seems more sad that he might miss out on a date with Faith than he is worried about his health.
Faith, holding a date card, decides to bring Kathy to ride horses with her to help her get over her fear of horses—plus, Faith originally wanted to take Kim on the date, but he wasn’t there. It’s a sweet moment to watch Kathy conquer her fear.
When Kim returns, he’s disappointed that Kathy went with Faith because he didn’t even get an opportunity to be considered by Faith.
Allyshia and Kat chat about who Allyshia is interested in, and Allyshia expresses interest in Dale.
“If Dale goes on that date, I’m going to crash out,” Kat says in a confessional.
However, Allyshia decides to ask Sean to go on the date with her. Though it was a tough decision, she felt like it was more appropriate to ask Sean—plus she adds that Dale needs to try harder.
The date is about testing the five senses: the two guess scents and stare into each other’s eyes, lean into each other, and eat aphrodisiacs. Despite some hesitancy for Allyshia, she seems happy with him. And Sean calls their kiss “electric.”
We move on to the rose ceremony: While getting ready, Parisa shares that she’s still upset that Brian had a “tantrum” the night before. And says again, “I wish we never won last night. It ruined it.” When she tries to talk to Brian, he still seems defensive.
Back to Allyshia’s dilemmas, she is talking about Sean and Dale with a couple of girls, sharing that she is interested in Sean but is more interested in Dale. Kat, continuing to freak out, interrupts this conversation because she knows they’re talking about her.
But…we don’t get to see anything more; the Rose Ceremony is next week (and some of us are terrified because the promo for next week shows us that there might be trouble in Jess and Spencer’s Paradise!)
P.S. If you’ve followed the season, you might recall our recap from a couple of episodes back, explaining that Sam McKinney and Alli Jo Hinkes sparked relationship rumors after they were spotted together in Miami, despite not overlapping in Paradise. Well, they hard-launched on Instagram.
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