From almost paradise to almost done!
Bachelor in Paradise season 9 came to an end on Thursday, but not without some final bouts of drama.
Jess Girod and Mercedes Northup consoled one another after their breakups with Blake Moynes and Tyler Norris, respectively.
Kat Izzo and John Henry Spurlock received a date card and went standup paddleboarding. Afterwards, they opened up to one another about their pasts.
“I do put on an exterior, for sure, that I don’t think people would necessarily understand until you got to know me,” Kat, 27, said to John Henry, 31, on the sand. “I definitely had some adversity. I struggled with a lot of things in my childhood, but I always said like, I want to change that generational trauma.”
Kat also shared that her dad had four wives and that, at 17, she moved out and spent time in a group home.
John Henry responded by telling Kat about his mental health struggles. “Everyone has their inner demons,” he said. “I’ve had things I dealt with in the past. Like probably seven years ago, I dealt with a little bit of depression. It comes and goes in phases.”
Kat and John Henry confirmed their exclusive relationship and started planning a future together. “I don’t have any interest in being with anybody else,” John Henry said to Kat.
In an on-camera interview, he said, “I’m definitely falling for Kat and I think the next step for us is to potentially have an engagement here.”
Eliza Isichei and Aaron Bryant looked forward to life outside of Paradise, too, on their own date, which included a Fire Ceremony and a Temazcal (Mexican sweat lodge ceremony) hosted by a shaman.
“I really, really am falling in love with you more every day. I really am,” Aaron, 30, said to Eliza. “That’s just how I feel about you, honestly. And I definitely see engagement with you. I definitely see myself getting on one knee and asking you to be my wife.”
Eliza responded, “I’m falling for you, too.”
2 BREAKUPS AND A WEDDING
Jess, 24, decided to leave Paradise despite giving Tanner Courtad a rose at the previous rose ceremony. As a result, Tanner, 30, left, too.
Kylee Russell wanted to see where Aven Jones stood on getting engaged.
“Why is it an engagement, specifically, is the only way to where you’re going to believe that … I see a future with you?” Aven, 29, asked Kylee, 25. “Why can’t me telling you that I don’t want to leave here without you…”
Kylee didn’t feel reassured. “If you don’t see it now, I don’t know that you ever will,” she said.
Kylee continued to cry on the beach to her friends, but Aven went to bed. The next morning, Aven tried to talk to a sad Kylee at the breakfast table about where they stood, but she didn’t want to have the conversation there.
All of a sudden, Kenny Braash and Mari Pepin, who got engaged on BiP season 7, showed up on the sand and announced that they’d be getting married back where it all started.
Blake, 32, returned to serve as the best man, host Jesse Palmer officiated and the season 9 cast attended the ceremony.
“I love you now and forever, and I know that together we will be the greatest team the world has ever seen,” Kenny, 42, said to Mari at the altar.
Mari, 27, expressed her love for Kenny, too. “I vow to love you faithfully, always and through everything,” she said.
Olivia Lewis teared up in the crowd and bartender Wells Adams brought up the rings before Mari and Kenny made it official.
They celebrated with a rave that Aaron thought felt “like an end-of-year prom.”
Kylee sought out advice from her pal Blake, who advised her to “follow through [with] what you want and what you came here for.”
Aven asked the newlyweds for their perspective and Kenny told him, “I don’t want you to pass up an opportunity just because everything’s got to be right.”
Then, Aven and Kylee revisited the subject.
“I am falling in love with you at this point,” Aven told Kylee. “But like, as far the engagement goes, I need more outside of this before I take that step right now. And I’m just trying to be as honest as possible.”
Kylee doubled down on wanting a proposal at the end. “I’m too falling in love with you, absolutely, but the engagement solidifies so many things,” she said to Aven. “And then you not being able to fully reciprocate that back, it makes me have doubt.”
Mercedes tried to comfort Kylee, but then she decided to leave Paradise since she didn’t feel a romantic connection with Jordan Vandergriff. That meant Jordan, 28, had to exit as well.
THE FINAL FIVE
Jesse, 45, informed the remaining five couples that they had one day left in Paradise and needed to decide whether or not they wanted to go to the Fantasy Suites.
Kylee admitted she “laid in bed last night and I was just praying” for Aven to change his mind about getting engaged. But when she spoke to him, his stance remained the same.
“I want to be in a relationship with you and I’m falling in love with you,” he told Kylee. “And this is going to really hurt if you decide it’s not worth it because of that.”
Kylee decided, “I can’t see myself walking away from you,” and she and Aven left Paradise together holding hands.
Kat and John Henry chose to go to the Fantasy Suites, as did Aaron and Eliza.
Peter Cappio hoped he and Sam Picco would follow suit, but Sam, 34, had another idea.
“To me, based off like, what I wanted out of us, I feel like we should’ve been further along when it comes to our connection,” Sam said to Peter, 33. “And to be honest about it, I want like, an intense, unwavering love. And I’m so grateful for our time together, but it doesn’t feel right to continue this relationship really at all for me.”
Peter cried on the van ride out, lamenting that he had 12 weddings to go to in the past year: “I want one of those 12 weddings to be my wedding.”
Olivia Lewis and Michael Barbour suffered a similar fate. While Olivia, 24, hoped to move forward, he told her “our worlds are in two very different places right now” and they each left single.
FANTASY SUITES AND 1 LAST DECISION
Aaron began his time in the Fantasy Suite by telling Eliza, “I can confidently say, Eliza, that I am in love with you.”
Eliza told Aaron she was “in love with you, too.”
“I’m glad we’re on the same page, especially with what comes next, which is an engagement,” Eliza continued.
Eliza admitted engagement “scares me,” but it didn’t scare Aaron. “You freaking out, it just makes me want to protect you,” he said to Eliza.
They toasted with champagne before spending the night together. When they woke up, Aaron said he could picture a life with Eliza.
“Eliza and I are both in love with each other, which I couldn’t be more ecstatic for,” Aaron told the cameras.
When they met again for the final rose and a possible engagement, Eliza showed up in a white dress.
“I’m so happy right now to be standing here with you and to talk about the future as well because your mom — had a great conversation with her — I see where you get it,” Aaron said to Eliza.
Eliza couldn’t believe Aaron spoke to her mom.
“She is very proud of you,” Aaron shared. “She thinks the most of you. You truly have great parents, and I am just so lucky and grateful to be here.”
Then Aaron teed up the big moment. “Eliza, I want to do this right with you,” he said. “I understand what this means for both of us. Eliza Manola Isichei, will you marry me?”
Eliza said “yes!”
“I put a ring on it!” Aaron gushed afterwards.
Eliza added, “It’s giving fiancée!”
As for Kat and John Henry, she felt relieved when they woke up that John Henry didn’t snore. “Last night really showed me who he is and where we could be,” Kat told the cameras. “I see him as a husband. I see him as the father of my children.”
But John Henry harbored some doubts. “My heart’s telling me to get engaged, but my guts telling me, don’t do it,” he said in an on-camera interview.
When they arrived at engagement day, Kat admitted to John Henry that she didn’t see their relationship coming.
“It’s because of you that I am standing here right now, happy and incredibly at peace,” she added. “I am fully, whole-heartedly in love with you, completely, and that’s so crazy to say. Being with you, it feels like it’s a love that only comes once in a lifetime. Just know that I love you, John Henry and I want to forever.”
John Henry expressed the same hesitancies from earlier to Kat, telling her that “my gut’s telling me it’s too soon” to get engaged.
“But you know, right now, I’m going to try something a little different, follow my heart today,” John Henry continued. “My heart’s telling me that you are amazing, you are everything that I’m looking for. I really do see a future with you. I’m not falling in love, I am in love with you, too. That being said, Kat, will you marry me?”
“Yes, yes of course!” she replied in disbelief.
John Henry slid the diamond ring on her finger and accepted her final rose.
John Henry and Kat then met up with Eliza and Aaron to toast to “finding love in Paradise.”
In a post- Paradise update, fans learned that Kylee and Aven’s relationship has “blossomed” since filming ended, while Eliza and Aaron have been working on some “speed bumps” in theirs. Kat and John Henry remain “happily engaged” and are planning to start their lives together in San Diego.
Perhaps this biggest surprise, though, came in the form of learning that Brayden Bowers began dating Christina Mandrell from Zach Shallcross’s season after Paradise wrapped.
Bachelor in Paradise can be streamed on Hulu.
