Things got messy in Paradise this week — in more ways than one.
Sean McLaughlin and Aaron Schwartzman prayed for a miracle as they found themselves without a rose going into the rose ceremony. And just like that, the Paradise gods delivered as Bachelor in Paradise Canada ‘s Sam Picco walked in.
None of the singles on the beach recognized Sam, 34, but that didn’t keep Sean, 26, from shooting his shot with her. However, she couldn’t see beyond their age difference.
“Age does worry me, I’m not going to lie,” Sam told Sean, calling him “a baby.”
At the rose ceremony, Kylee Russell started things off by predictably giving her rose to Aven Jones. Rachel Recchia followed up by offering hers to Brayden Bowers.
Eliza Isichei extended her rose to Aaron Bryant, Kat Izzo gave hers to Tanner Courtad and Jess Girod’s rose went to Blake Moynes. Olivia Lewis presented her rose to John Henry Spurlock, Tyler Norris scored one from Mercedes Northup and Sam’s went to Peter Cappio. That left Sean, Aaron S., 34, Will Urena and John Buresh heading home.
BIRTHDATES
Kat, 27, wanted the next date card in honor of her birthday, but it went to Rachel, 27. The former Bachelorette invited Brayden, 24, and he happily accepted.
Brayden and Rachel learned that for their date, they’d be transforming one another into piñatas with paint and crepe paper. They embraced the messiness and covered each other in paint.
“In all honesty, I kind of have been a little bit serious since I got to the beach and not even meaning to,” Rachel said to Brayden. “I feel like it’s kind of hard for me to like let loose a little.”
Rachel continued to tell Brayden that he brought the fun side out of her. “I’m having so much fun,” she declared.
Brayden said he “was over Paradise for a second,” but going on the date with Rachel renewed his desire to stay on the show.
“I have so much fun around you and I’m always laughing,” Rachel gushed to Brayden. “You have so much depth that I wasn’t expecting either.”
Rachel and Brayden made out before taking their stab at a real piñata and distributing candy to beachgoers.
“I feel more like myself than I have on a lot of dates I’ve been on, so it definitely, it’s Bryaden, I think, that’s helping me branch out,” Rachel said in an on-camera interview.
Someone else did get to go on a date on Kat’s birthday: new arrival Davia Bunch from Zach Shallcross’s season of The Bachelor. Davia, 32, asked out Tanner, 30, and he said “yes.”
“I can’t believe this is happening on my birthday,” Kat complained to the cameras, referring to the situation “my literal worst nightmare.”
When Tanner approached Kat about going on the date with Davia, though, Kat played it cool. “It’s something you want to do, so you should do it,” Kat told Tanner.
Tanner said going on the date might give him “all the clarity I need” about moving forward with Kat.
“That is a boy. That is not a man,” Kat cried in a confessional interview.
Tanner and Davia left and Kat sobbed on the beach. As she cried, her castmates and the kitchen staff came over with a cake and sang “Happy Birthday.”
“I don’t feel bad for Kat at all,” Aaron B., 30, told the cameras. “This is how karma works.”
When Brayden — whom Kat dumped for Tanner — returned from his date with Rachel, he felt similarly. “To be honest, there’s a part of me that it made me feel really good to hear that,” Brayden said in an on-camera interview of Kat being upset. “As sick as it sounds.”
TRUTH OR DARE CHANGES THE GAME
Bartender Wells Adams told Sam about the Truth Box, which inspired her to host a game of Truth or Dare. She started by asking Aaron B. to eat a hot pepper.
“I can’t feel my tongue right now,” he said after eating it.
Then Jess, 24, dared Peter, 33, to kiss the girl he finds most attractive. He went for Kylee, 25, but she pursed her lips in disapproval. “Basically, she said, ‘Ew, get away from me,’” Peter said in an on-camera interview.
When dared, Mercedes, 25, said if she could make out with anyone, it’d be John Henry, 31. So she did, and Olivia, 24, did not like that.
“Honestly, I’m mad about it,” Olivia told the cameras.
Kat took a body shot off of John Henry and Olivia sucked on his finger to assert her position.
Jess opted for a truth, so Aaron B. asked her, “Is it true that Blake is your №1 right now?”
She hesitated before saying, “He’s the only person I have a connection with so, yes.”
Blake, 32, felt that that answer necessitated a conversation about where he and Jess stood, so once the game wrapped, they talked.
“I’m trying to be optimistic, but I feel the unsureness in you,” Blake said to Jess.
Blake asked her to try to figure out what she wanted.
“The way that I’m taking it is that you’re just not into it enough,” Blake continued.
Jess refuted that point. “It’s not true,” she said to Blake. “I haven’t even like put myself out there ’cause I’ve cared so much about you and my friends. I haven’t even done anything for myself. Not one time.”
Blake decided to give Jess space. She admitted to the cameras, “I don’t know what I want.”
Kat and Tanner still needed to figure out where they stood, but before they could, Davia spoke to Kat about her date with Tanner.
Davia relayed to Kat that Tanner told her “he was open to exploring other things.”
“We haven’t had, like, an exclusivity talk or anything like that,” Kat said.
Kat tried to gauge how the date went.
“Seems like it’s something that he definitely wanted to continue to get to know me a little bit better,” Davia said. “He made it seem like this is something he wanted to pursue.”
We won’t know for sure until next week, though.
Bachelor in Paradise airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.
