As a reminder, if you are ever looking for recaps from previous episodes, you can find them here.
Who’s left in Paradise?
- Jonathon Johnson and Lea Cayanan
- Kathy Swarts and Keith Gordon
- Kat Izzo and Dale Moss
- Jess Edwards and Spencer Conley
- Bailey Brown and Jeremy Simon
- Andrew Spencer and Alexe Godin
Day 17
To start the day, Hannah Brown, head of “Paradise Relations,” pulls all the girls for a chat and champagne, getting the ladies’ opinions on their relationships and connections.
During this chat, we learn that Kat, following her previous experiences on Paradise, will not be getting engaged in Paradise, and she and Dale “have some work to do.” Alexe shares that she wants to find a true best friend and a puzzle that fits. Bailey calls the journey a “surprise,” and throughout the process, she shares, “all the stuff we’ve been through is making us stronger.”
“I’ve never been with someone who makes me feel so stable and secure and it’s hard because I have to remind myself…” Jess says, tearing up, during this chat. “I don’t want to rush anything. I don’t want to say yes to someone if I don’t know for sure.”
Following this conversation, host Jesse Palmer gathers all of the contestants together. He says that because it’s a much smaller group, they will all have dinner together to do something really special for everyone and celebrate their accomplishments.
In a beautiful moment, everyone sits down for a relaxing (ish) beachside dinner with steak and chicken and … lots of bugs bugging Kat.
However, towards the end of dinner, Jesse comes back to chat with everyone again. Paradise is made to find chemistry, real chemistry at that.
“The real world is not all sandy beaches and blue waters,” Jesse says. “The real world is more real.”
So, the contestants will be…glamping…in the jungle: The contestants will have a bit of a nicer campsite than you might think of when camping, with lights and supplies set up (although Jesse calling it glamping might be Jesse lying to everyone). Following Kat’s reaction to the bugs at dinner, we already know she won’t do well. Bailey shares that she is also not interested in camping. Though everyone thinks this is instead of the traditional “overnights” contestants had with their partners in previous seasons. The most important part of this, according to Jesse, is spending the evening with their partners.
Welcome to the Jungle
However, their evening in the jungle is not just overnight. Instead, this is actually the next relationship test. Each couple will have to build their tent and spend their evening dealing with a series of annoyances designed to break each person. Meanwhile, Dr. Laura Berman, a couple’s therapist, will be watching and listening.
At first, Jesse makes it seem like glamping means each couple will have a tent set up and everything necessary to make their nights easy. But, the couples are not glamping. They are straight-up camping. And the annoyances go further than that:
- There’s horse poop everywhere.
- Because there’s horse poop everywhere, and in addition to the “normal” bugs you might encounter while camping in Costa Rica, there are many bugs everywhere.
- The instructions to build the tents are not helpful. (Kathy says, “If you had never built a tent before, you would not be able to follow these instructions.”)
- Not all of the pieces for the tents are there.
- They have an unreasonably small hammer to hit the tent pegs into the ground.
- The jug of water has a “tap,” but it is super-glued shut.
- The inflatable air mattress they were provided with has a hole in it.
- One of the chairs provided is just broken (the couple’s therapist finds it interesting who took the broken chair, though she doesn’t elaborate on what she means by that).
- They do have a bottle of bug spray.
- However, it is just a bottle. The bottle is empty. They do not actually have bug spray.
Bailey calls this her “personal version of hell,” citing her phobias of bugs and the dark, and therefore, “the worst form of exposure therapy.”
“This is turning into the camping trip from hell,” Spencer says. “I’ll be damned if I don’t turn this into something fun.”
Lea thinks Jonathon needs more deodorant.
“Not gonna lie, my patience was tested,” Andrew says. “But Alexe and I found a way to laugh. We are best friends. She’s my favorite person.”
Keith says he’s in full dad mode and tells Kathy to put away the bug zapper (the one thing that actually works, we think) before she kills herself.
Jeremy brags about having been camping before.
The real main event of the evening is Kat’s meltdown about the bugs, sharing that she can’t stop crying.
“Kat’s kind of having a meltdown and I feel helpless,” Dale says. “Kat might self-destruct, and I don’t know what to do.”
Thankfully, Dale does set up a space for her to take a deep breath and feel safe. In a confessional, she says, “We never know when anxiety takes over. And now I know he’s gonna be there when it does.”
When she finally gets a chance to calm down, she tells Dale, “A house is not a home without you in it.”
At other campsites, Jeremy thinks Bailey is in love with him, and he could see himself getting there. Jonathon and Lea have a nice moment, with Lea complimenting Jonathon about how he’ll make a good boyfriend.
Keith starts getting homesick. In the outside world, he would have been camping with his own family, and he misses his girls.
Finally, the tents were built and everyone started to settle in for the night. Until they hear hissing, and there are maybe monkeys in the trees watching them? Jesse comes back to tell everyone that a Costa Rican zoologist informed him that it is no longer safe for everyone to be there, and their night camping is over…which everyone is ready to do anyway. Jesse takes this chance to say that this was a relationship test.
Day 18
Everyone gets the chance to recap the evening, including the horse poop everywhere.
And their activity for the day is hearing what the therapist has to tell them.
“[Dr. Laura] was evaluating you all using a series of criteria, including communication, teamwork, respect and kindness, selflessness, body language, amongst a whole bunch of others,” Jess shares, while introducing Dr. Laura.
Here’s what she shares:
- Kathy and Keith did well from a test standpoint, achieving communication and cooperation that was shared deeply and authentically. However, they have a beautiful friendship, not romance, though we knew that already.
- Jonathon and Lea get similar evaluations from Dr. Laura, working efficiently and calmly to support each other, but lacking chemistry. She does add, “I do think, Lea, the chemistry would be there if the chemistry was there for Jonathon.”
- For Alexe and Andrew, the therapist sees laughter and alignment. However, when watching them kiss, Alexe told Andrew how she wanted to be kissed, and Andrew did not do what she wanted (to be fair, the prompt was “kiss me like this is your last make-out ever,” and Andrew took that to heart for himself). Yet, because of that moment, the therapist says, “I didn’t really feel the chemistry.” Though the couple is receptive to that critique, Andrew says, “It’s definitely something that’s going to keep me up at night.”
- Dr. Laura saw tons of chemistry between Jeremy and Bailey, but questioned everything else because of their lack of alignment with each other, sharing an observed moment when Bailey said, “I don’t want to be uncomfortable,” and Dr. Laura saw Jeremy scoff. Jeremy, hearing the criticism, gets defensive. Though we don’t see much more about this, the couple decides that they don’t care how aligned or not they are.
- For Kat and Dale, the big focus was on Kat’s issues with the bugs. Dr. Laura says, “Kat was losing her poop over the bugs. As she was escalating, you [Dale] were doing everything in your power.” However, she also noticed Dale getting frustrated, falling into a hero complex, adding, “When you feel unable to be the hero, you’re going to shut down and get angry,” which can lead to really negative outcomes. But each person was able to diffuse the other.
- Spencer and Jess, in referring to their tent as their “home,” showed Dr. Laura their emotional and chemistry connection. But, in this very controlled environment, with their relationship going so quickly, they should try to take their time. The two accept this, with Jess saying, “We were hoping to get constructive criticism from her.”
After addressing each couple, she awarded Kat and Dale as the winners of the challenge, “given the degree of challenges and the way they were navigated.” This means that they won a date, and they will be safe from elimination at the next rose ceremony. This also means that though one man will be voted to not receive a rose, Kat and Dale will have the chance to stay another week.
“The bugs were worth it,” Kat says, cheekily.
For their date, they have a chance to get away from the group, sit at the beach and drink fancy pineapple cocktails.
This gave them the chance to talk things out.
“How don’t you leave me when things get hard?” Kat says. “This solidified what I needed.”
“I think we’re the strongest couple here,” Dale responds. “It was always you. I just needed to figure things out for myself.”
Kat responds, “You feel like home. This is probably the safest I’ve ever felt with someone.”
In a confessional, she says, “This could actually be someone that I do life with.”
Back at the resort, we get to watch Jess and Spencer’s debrief.
“According to the doctor, we’re perfect, so…” Spencer begins.
But Jess is concerned with what the therapist said about life outside of Paradise, starting the conversation about timelines with Spencer.
“I would like to start a family. My best friends are pregnant and I want our kids to grow up together,” Spencer shares.
“I want to be having children at 30, at the latest,” Jess responds, acknowledging that this is late for Spencer, who is looking at a two-year timeline. (Jess is 26, Spencer is 30.)
“If I push too hard, then it’s going to feel forced, and I don’t want to do that,” Jess says in a confessional.
Then they discuss moving in together in September when their leases are up, but that’s too fast for Jess. They conclude that they don’t need to put a timeline on this and they should take things as they come, while sharing that they are both overwhelmed.
“We don’t have to jump four steps ahead, but part of me wants to,” Spencer shares with Jess.
“I don’t think Spencer and I are on the same page. I don’t think I’m in love with him yet,” Jess says in a confessional, expressing that she also does not know what will get her there.
Later, while getting ready for the cocktail party, Jess rants to Kat and Lea, sharing that she’s made the decision to move for a man and was cheated on. They tell her, “If you tell him where you’re at, he’ll respect you.” They add, “He loves you so much that he’s going to respect that.”
“The last thing I want to do is force something that I’m not ready for,” Jess says.
Andrew and Spencer also chat in their room.
“You know what you should do? [Say] ‘I’m in love with you,’” Andrew tells him.
“I just don’t want to freak her out,” Spencer responds.
The Cocktail Party
In trying to resolve this conversation, Jess and Spencer talk again.
“The thought of having to go back to California and you to Texas makes me sad,” Jess tells Spencer, as he agrees.
Though she wants to spend all day, every day with him, she also wants them to be on the same page about everything.
So, Jess shares with him about her past to explain where she is. And despite Spencer’s “blinders,” as he calls them about what he wants, he knows that he also wants to do this at her speed, bringing them to something of a resolution.
At the end of the conversation, Spencer tells her, “I would love to make it to the very end. But either way, I know I’m leaving here with you.”
Other couples must also think about what feedback they got from the therapist. Andrew and Alexe agree that they have their guards up, and Alexe tells Andrew that she doesn’t know if what she’s feeling is love. And Andrew agrees, both sharing their nervousness about this.
“When I say ‘I love you,’ I will mean it and I will always protect you,” Andrew promises Alexe.
That moment gives Alexe the confidence to agree that they’re falling in love with each other.
“The fact that he took my hand and said it first, that means the world,” Alexe says later in a confessional.
(By the way, there is a sweet/funny moment after this conversation where Alexe gets up to go back to the group and turns around because Andrew isn’t following her. Andrew, without using words, tries to indicate to her that he has a boner. Alexe, without thinking, says, “Oh you have a boner.” Andrew responds, “Say it for the whole fucking world.” And Alexe dissolves into a fit of laughter and can’t stay standing.”)
Now, it comes time for the group to vote on who stays and who goes, and the decision is basically between Kathy/Keith and Jonathon/Lea.
Lea and Jonathon decide that they’ll make the decision hard for everyone else by showing the others that they don’t want to vote out their friends.
Meanwhile, Keith tells Kathy that though the experience has been great, he misses his daughter and he’s homesick. He then tells her that he’s decided he needs to go home.
Kathy, still set on half a million dollars, talks to Alexe about this, scheming that that’s his purpose in still being there. Alexe agrees that after Keith talks with everyone, he might want to stay.
Keith then chats with Jess, Alexe, and Bailey, sharing that he’s burnt out. Alexe and Bailey try to explain that his purpose in Paradise is to serve as the father figure to everyone there, giving everyone else confidence and showing that they want him and Kathy there because of the role they play.
“I found out tonight that the Goldens bring a lot more to this party than I thought,” Keith says in a confessional, admitting that he wants to stay.
Following the vote, we get the Rose Ceremony.
The Cocktail Party
Dale gives his rose to Kat, Andrew gives his rose to Alexe, Jess gives his rose to Spencer, and Jeremy gives his rose to Bailey.
Before being able to determine who the final rose goes to, Jesse shares that there’s a tied vote and Dale, winning the challenge, gets to choose who the rose goes to. Because of his own personal beef with Jonathon, Dale chooses to give the rose to Keith and Kathy, and send Jonathon and Lea home.
Though Lea is happy to see her friends in happy relationships, she’s sad she has not found her own relationship.
All the contestants left in Paradise are sent to get some rest. But, before the commercial break, we see little dolls made of fruit of all the contestants and a bunch of daggers stuck in the beach.
Day 19
Wells starts the day by dropping something off for the group. Jess reads a very weird (and kind of confusing) riddle from Jesse, and pulls out a dagger wrapped in a red bow. Kat tells everyone that she thinks the riddle is about people talking sh*t.
This is where the fruit dolls come in.
Jesse gives a little speech: “Opinions: Everybody’s got one. Some people are very open about their opinions and are not afraid to share those with everybody. Other people like to keep their opinions to themselves. Now, those opinions become even more important when you’re in a relationship because other people’s opinions of your partner ultimately end up reflecting on you. You could be the sweetest person here in Paradise, but if your partner isn’t emitting some of the same values and the same vibes, it could bring you down in the eyes of some of the others.”
So the next test is called “Sharp Opinions.” Jesse will ask a series of questions. Everyone will get to anonymously stick a dagger in the back of one of the fruit dolls, and then they will get to see what everyone thinks. The least amount of combined daggers for a couple will win the challenge, giving them immunity during the vote for the rose ceremony, because two couples will leave in the rose ceremony at the end of the day.
Some of the questions include,
- “Whose childish antics are most likely to turn their partner off?”
- “Whose trust issues will eventually sour the relationship?”
- “Who has the biggest co-dependency issues?”
- “Who is most likely talking to an ex or still secretly has an eye on someone else?”
- “Who is keeping the most secrets or something big from their partner?”
- “Who is more motivated by money than love?”
- “Who is most likely to cheat on their partner when they leave Paradise?”
Before we really get an understanding of the contestants’ daggers, they have to go inside because of an impending storm.
After debriefing the activity, the couples discuss the voting strategy. Bailey, Jeremy, Alexe, and Andrew form a alliance, while Spencer, Jess, Kat, and Dale do the same. They all decide to vote out Kathy and Keith, but are unsure about the second couple to go home and know that the Golden vote will be the deciding factor.
Kathy and Keith determine that they want this to be about falling in love and also discuss which couple may need the money the most.
Before they get to vote, Jesse shares that Andrew and Alexe won the challenge with the fewest daggers between them.
Then we arrive at the Rose Ceremony, and Jesse shares that this will be the last Rose Ceremony.
The episode then ends there, and we get a promo for the season finale next week; “The Parliament of Paradise” will come back, bringing back contestants who were previously voted off, including Sean McLaughlin and Allyshia Gupta.
Jess also tells us that the final test will be during the season finale, and they will have to choose money or love. Choosing love means forgoing the money. While we have no idea what that means, we’ll find out next week.
The season finale will air on Tuesday, September 2, not Monday night like previous episodes.
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