SPOILER ALERT! This post contains details from Thursday’s episode of ABC‘s Bachelor in Paradise.
The shakeups never truly end on Bachelor in Paradise.
Last week’s episode ended on a cliffhanger with Charity about to give Eliza the tea on Aaron and his ex (or exes?). Eliza is eager to hear Charity’s side of the story after Kat told her that she’d been warned to stay away from Aaron before heading to Paradise.
Well, turns out that Charity doesn’t really have anything bad to say about Aaron. She doesn’t think highly of his ex-girlfriend though. According to the former Bachelorette, she returned home from the show to find that she had gotten several messages from Aaron’s ex saying that they were still dating when he went on the show. Apparently, she also messaged Charity’s friends and family as well. However, Charity says she was wary of this and that it didn’t align with what she knew about Aaron.
Charity also pulls Aaron aside to chat. Aaron tells her that he never heard from his ex after the show, and he’s upset that she’s been messaging Charity and her family. He assures her that he hasn’t spoken to this other woman since they broke things off in August 2022. Charity encourages Aaron to be honest with Eliza and commit to her while he can.
Aaron then chats with Eliza and explains everything he said to Charity. He tells Eliza that he wouldn’t be trying to pursue her if he wasn’t serious about her. Eliza admits she was feeling unsure about continuing their relationship, but she thinks she’ll be okay as long as they take it slow and are very open with each other.
All’s well that ends well!
Meanwhile, there’s still lots of turmoil on the beach. Blake is still on his date with Genevie, and Olivia is still seething while watching Kat pursue John Henry. Even Wells has noticed that Kat seems to be interested in…pretty much every man who walks down the beach.
But Kat swears she’s all in on John Henry now, and she’s certainly making it known. She tells John Henry that she never really felt a spark with Tanner, at least not how she does with him.
The next day, a rose ceremony is looming. The men are handing out the roses.
Olivia is ready to put in the work to get John Henry back. Aaron sends Eliza breakfast as a way to redeem himself….and that’s all we see until the rose ceremony. It’s quite a fast forward, but there’s plenty of dramatic moments awaiting this group before the roses are handed out.
Aaron asks Eliza to be exclusive and says he’s falling in love. She seems to really appreciate the gesture. Looks like she’s ready to dive back in head first with him!
Jess desperately needs to talk to Blake. Weirdly, we never saw any update on how his date with Genevie went, but it doesn’t seem to matter because he’s still hung up on Jess. He tells her that he was having fun on the date, but he started to think about her again as soon as he left. Jess says she missed him the entire time he was gone, and she can’t get him out of her head. They’re ready to send it and go all in.
Tanner is the night’s eligible bachelor. His date with Davia went well, but he isn’t ruling out any other connections. He also chats with Rachel and Genevie, who are hoping they can lay claim to his rose.
The big drama of the night is, of course, the Olivia-Kat-John Henry love triangle. John Henry admits to Olivia that Kat caught his attention and he’s still figuring out what he’s feeling. Olivia tells him she’ll be patient while he tries to sort through it. That is…until Wells opens the truth box again.
An anonymous note tells John Henry to meet them at the hot tub at midnight. Well, it’s pretty obvious it isn’t Olivia when the group looks around to find her chatting on the daybed. John Henry heads to the hot tub and, what do you know? Kat is there waiting for him. In the hot tub, John Henry admits that he feels a little concerned given Kat’s history over the past few weeks, but she assures him that she feels seriously about him and she’s all in.
When Kat returns from her hot tub rendezvous, Olivia is not happy. She confronts Kat and tells her she feels disrespected that Kat hasn’t tried to have a conversation with Olivia about her pursuit of John Henry. Kat contends that she isn’t good enough friends with Olivia to owe her that conversation. Olivia storms away, and it doesn’t seem like there’s a path toward reconciliation for those two.
The group is gathering for the rose ceremony when they realize Becca is gone. She’s panicking about the rose ceremony and, ultimately, she decides to leave before it starts. As Jesse puts it, she’s leaving Paradise forever. So dramatic.
Brayden is distraught, because she was the only person he wanted to offer his rose to. But the show must go on!
Aven gives his rose to Kylee. Tyler picks Mercedes. Peter offers his to Sam. Aaron seals the deal with Eliza. Blake’s rose goes to Jess. Tanner pulls out the first shocker of the night when he extends his rose to Rachel. It’s a double whammy when John Henry chooses Kat. But then…Brayden picks Olivia. He tells her that he doesn’t want to see her go out like this and wants to give her another week to find her footing in Paradise.
That means Genevie and Davia are on the chopping block.
The next day, both Rachel and Olivia are switching gears. Rachel is exploring her connection with Tanner, and Olivia is kind of in a rut. There’s really no other men that she wants to pursue on the beach (for now).
John Henry pulls Olivia aside to apologize for not speaking with her before the rose ceremony. He says he thinks he disrespected her, and she deserves better. Well, Olivia agrees. But she also tells him she thinks he’s really special, and Kat doesn’t treat him like he is. He doesn’t really align on that, insisting he is having fun with Kat. They seem to be all in on each other now.
Lucky for Olivia, the drought is over pretty quickly. Michael Barbour from Charity’s season is joining them in Paradise.
Michael is eager to get to know these women and shake things up on the beach. He immediately asks Olivia to talk, and they seem to hit it off. She is very hopeful that he will ask her on a date. Before he makes a decision, he also talks to Kylee, Mercedes and Sam.
But it looks like we’ll have to wait until next week to see if Olivia’s wish will come true. That’s all for this episode.
Bachelor in Paradise airs Thursdays on ABC at 9 p.m. ET/PT after The Golden Bachelor.
