Thursday’s Bachelor in Paradise opened with Olivia Lewis feeling like things might finally be going her way on the beach because Michael Barbour asked her on a date.
Olivia, 24, didn’t even care that she didn’t know his name.
Meanwhile, Kat Izzo and John Henry Spurlock continued getting to know each other and cuddled on a daybed.
“I haven’t navigated Paradise the best way possible,” Kat, 27, said in an on-camera interview. “I know I might’ve hurt people’s feelings.”
Then Jordan Vandergriff from Rachel Recchia’s season of The Bachelorette and Taylor Pegg from Charity Lawson’s season arrived. Jordan, who Rachel sent home after receiving the first one-on-one of her season, pulled the former Bachelorette, 27, as soon as he arrived.
“You’re not mad at me?” Rachel asked Jordan, 28, and Jordan said he was not mad.
Rachel admitted to the cameras she always wondered “what if?” about Jordan. “I genuinely want to go on the date,” she added.
Lucky for her, Jordan received a date card and asked her out. They caught up during a tantric yoga class.
On the beach, Aaron Bryant asked Eliza Isichei to be his girlfriend, and she said “yes.”
“It’s giving commitment,” Eliza, 27, said in a confessional interview.
Bartender Wells Adams dug into the Truth Box and pulled out a couple messages about Peter Cappio shaving his legs, which Peter, 33, denied. Wells, 39, also revealed a note to Tyler Norris that stated, “Everyone knows you’re not that into Mercedes. You better come clean because she deserves the truth.”
After hearing that, Mercedes Northup told Kylee Russell and Aven Jones she felt “like neither one of us has been vulnerable really — we’ve both been coasting.”
Aven, 30, encouraged Mercedes, 25, to “push” Tyler, 27, “a little more.”
When Mercedes spoke with Tyler, she asked whether he felt like his failed relationship with Brittany Galvin from the previous summer played a role in why he’d been holding back with her. He seemed ambivalent about that, and also claimed maintaining a long-distance relationship after Paradise wouldn’t be an issue either.
“I’ve done long distance a few times,” Tyler said to Mercedes. “I’ve seen it work with people.”
Mercedes left the conversation thinking “he’s not on the same page as me.”
Aven told Mercedes, “I don’t think the distance thing is something he wants to do.”
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Aven and Kylee, 25, went on a double date with Peter and Sam Picco, during which both couples solidified where they stood.
“I would love nothing more to make the rest of my Paradise our Paradise,” Peter said to Sam, 34.
Sam replied, “I think you know that I feel the exact same way.”
Aven told Kylee “I am falling for you” and she expressed the same sentiment back to him.
Jess Girod and Blake Moynes attempted to play Frisbee on the beach when his ex-fiancée Katie Thurston arrived.
“I don’t think Blake’s going to be happy that I’m here,” Katie, 32, told host Jesse Palmer.
Blake, 32, said “oh my f — -ing God” when he saw Katie walk in, but he agreed to talk to her for the first time since their October 2021 breakup.
“I sent you a bunch of voice memos,” Katie said to Blake. “I don’t know if you ever even listened to them.”
Blake admitted he did listen to them.
“There were six different voice notes and I remember them all pretty clearly,” he said. “I could feel the emotion in those voice notes, but I was super also bitter in that moment, so I didn’t want to respond. After things had happened, you were in a relationship. I wasn’t overly excited about that. It was a bit of a dagger.”
Katie said she wanted to give Blake his space after their breakup and apologized. “I’m sorry that things went the way they did,” she said to him.
Seeing Katie again brought back positive memories of their relationship for Blake. “I can’t think about us in the moment because I remember how real it felt in that moment and during that time and it throws me off,” he said. “So I just don’t f — -ing think about it.”
The longer Katie and Blake talked, the more upset Jess, 24, felt.
“I just want to be in love and happy,” she cried to Rachel. Jess also revealed that she brought an “engagement dress” to Mexico.
When Katie returned to the group, she informed them that she wouldn’t be joining the dating pool, but rather hosting a roast for the cast. So the beachgoers paired off to prepare some material.
Aven did an impression of Rachel; Aaron, 30, dissed John Henry, 31, for not being able to tell a “red flag from a homie hopper,” referring to Kat; Jess got made fun of for her age and multiple people made digs at Tyler and Mercedes’ relationship.
“It’s giving messy and I don’t like it,” Mercedes said in an on-camera interview.
Rachel cried after the roast because she didn’t think Tanner Courtad liked her anymore even though they decided to pursue a relationship, and the jokes pushed Blake to talk to Jess about the future of their relationship.
“I feel like I’ve had a real taste of what love is here,” Blake said to Jess. “And I feel like we’re not getting there at all.”
Bachelor in Paradise airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.
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