Previously on Bachelor in Paradise, it was Kat Izzo’s birthday, and Tanner Courtad, Kat’s new “boyfriend,” accepted a date with newcomer Davia Esther. On her birthday, FOR GOD’S SAKE! So of course, all hell broke loose.
Host Jesse Palmer intones, “Will Tanner come back to her? Or will Hurricane Kat blow up the beach?” Welcome back to Paradise! Here’s our Bachelor in Paradise Season 9, Episode 6 recap.
Tanner extricates himself from Kat’s clutches
The next morning, Tanner is sleeping late. Kat is anxious to talk to him about his date. As Brayden Bowers says, “Everyone on the beach is bracing for impact.”
Finally, Tanner wakes up and pulls Kat aside for a talk first thing. Best to get it out of the way.
He tells Kat, “I just want to be open and honest about everything … We had a great first date, and it’s been awesome to meet you. But at this point … I just think that we have very different personalities.” That’s putting it mildly.
Though she takes his rejection calmly, she totally loses her sh*t in her production interview. “Get the f*** out of here,” she says angrily. “He is every ex-boyfriend I have ever dated.” That might be a clue, Kat. Think about it.
“I am literally so much better than you,” she tells the production crew, as if she were talking to Tanner. She’s pissed but not pissed enough to say it to his face. “How dare you think that you get to break up with me? You don’t!” Um, I think he just did, Kat.
Well, that went well. She goes back and tells the girls she broke up with him. Yeah, right.
Blake and Jess are struggling
Though Blake Moynes seems to really like Jess Girod, she’s unclear whether she wants to commit to him. She wants to keep her options open for the time being. It shows a lot of maturity in Blake that he’s open to both of them exploring other people, without having a tantrum about it (I’m looking at you, Kat).
Right about then, Genevie Mayo from Season 26 of The Bachelor comes walking down the stairs. Of course, she has a date card, which says, “Who can you see yourself with?”
After talking with both Blake and Tyler Norris (possibly more that we didn’t see), she asks Blake to go on the date with her. I was hoping she would since Jess told him she wanted to be open. Graciously, he asks to speak to Jess first.
When they sit down to talk, he tells her that it felt good to have Genevie choose him. He felt “wanted” in some way. He also thinks it will be good for Jess to explore other people without him around. And though she’s a little sad about it, she realizes she would be selfish to not let him explore other people if that’s what she wants to do. Good for her. She just didn’t think he’d say yes to the date.
Kat goes “homie hoppin'”
Since Tanner dumped her she broke up with Tanner, Kat needs a new bae. She thinks that John Henry Spurlock is cute, so she decides to steal him from Olivia Lewis.
“Kat is homie hoppin’,” Brayden laughs. “She’s definitely looking for a rose. I’m a little worried about John Henry ’cause he’s a little innocent, and Kat is going in for the kill. She smells blood in the water, and she is a shark swimmin’,”
So Kat starts chatting up the underwater diver. He has no idea he’s the fly, and he’s sitting next to the spider. Though the way she’s obsessively combing her fingers through her hair, she reminds me of a monkey grooming for insects. What is up with Kat and her hair? It’s starting to annoy me.
“I don’t even know what’s happening right now!” Olivia says. “She’s desperate. Kat is so narcissistic, and all she wants is a rose … She’s just kind of inserting and creating chaos everywhere for no reason.”
Another Bachelor Nation alum enters the mix
Here comes another girl down the stairs to Paradise. It’s Becca Serrano. She was on Zach Shallcross’ season but didn’t make it past night one. Maybe this time she’ll get to stay more than one night.
The guys look happy to see her, and she has a date card: “Becca, choose someone and create a recipe for love.”
After talking to the guys, she chooses to take Brayden on her date. Rachel Recchia is sad.
Tyler makes his move
Jess is feeling “very lost” without Blake around to keep her company. Even though she was shocked that he went on the date with Becca, she understands why he did it. Meanwhile, Tyler sees his chance to get to know Jess a little better and swoops in. Jess was someone he wanted to meet when he came to Paradise, so now that Blake’s out of the way, this is his chance.
“I felt like this was the perfect opportunity to talk with you,” Tyler tells Jess, “and see where your head’s at.”
He admits to Jess that he really likes her. If he had a date card he’d take her. “I would kiss you right now,” he says, staring into her eyes, “but I would feel bad about that [because his rose recipient Mercedes Northrup is nearby] … I want to have that talk [with her] first.”
But finally, he just says, “Who cares?” and leans in for a big kiss. And the show cuts to a shot of Blake and Genevie kissing on the beach on their date. Nice editing, guys.
Kat throws a bomb into Aaron and Eliza’s relationship
Aaron Bryant really likes Eliza Isichei. But earlier in the day, Kat repeated a rumor about Aaron to Eliza. Apparently, before Kat came to Paradise, Charity Lawson told her to “stay away from Aaron.” There was a story going around that Aaron had a girlfriend at home while he was on Charity’s season of The Bachelorette.
The fact that Charity would throw shade on someone’s character like that without any proof at all, makes me think less of her as a person. That and hearing Kat say that she and Charity are besties. We all know that Kat is not a nice person, and if Charity is her BFF, sadly, that says a lot about Charity.
Eliza doesn’t have the confidence to figure things out for herself, so she talks to bartender Wells Adams about it. Wells advises her to talk to Aaron and get his side of the story, so finally, she does.
Aaron explains that he broke up with his ex-girlfriend months before he went on the Bachelorette. The relationship was toxic. The ex decided he broke up with her to go on The show, which is not true, and messaged Charity about it. Things got blown out of proportion.
He also was dating someone else later, but they were off and on. That relationship also ended before he went on the show. Aaron’s problem is that he gives too much detail when he’s telling a story. I got it after a couple of tries, but Eliza is still confused.
Eliza wishes Charity could clarify things for her
So Aaron had a couple of girlfriends before he went on The Bachelorette. Who cares? This is the same indecisiveness that caused Eliza to go home alone last year. She wobbled so much between two great guys that neither one of them wanted her in the end.
Eliza wishes Charity was in Paradise. And poof! There she is!
Charity takes all the women off to talk, while the guys gather at the bar to support Aaron. Eventually, Eliza pulls Charity aside for a private chat.
At the bar, Wells tells Aaron he needs to fight for his relationship with Eliza and to make sure Kat is not spreading rumors. Aaron goes to talk with Kat and find out what exactly she said. Kat’s still obsessively finger-combing her hair. What’s up with that? It’s weird.
Aaron asks if he can talk to her and she’s all, “Who, me?”
When Aaron confronts her about talking to Eliza about an unproven rumor, she tells him, “I’m not here to stir up drama.” Oh, really? She’s doing a pretty good job of it.
“These rumors might ruin my life,” Aaron says sadly. “It just sucks that my relationship with Eliza is out of my control … I’m 100% here for the right reasons. I’m here to find love … I have deep feelings for Eliza … but Charity can ruin all of that. I’m spiraling.”
“Charity,” he asks, “how keen are you to destroy my life?”
Next week: It’s a Kat fight!
Bachelor in Paradise airs Thursdays at 9/8c on ABC.
TELL US – WHO DO YOU BELIEVE: AARON OR CHARITY? DO YOU THINK IT’S RIGHT FOR CHARITY TO BE SPREADING UNPROVEN RUMORS ABOUT AARON’S LIFE? DO YOU THINK JOHN HENRY WILL CHOOSE KAT OR OLIVIA?
