Last week was the finale of the most recent season of “The Bachelorette,” so naturally ABC had to right away start up another show stemming from the Bachelor franchise. This Sunday marked the premiere of season 2 of “Bachelor in Paradise,” where 16 contestants try and pair off together to stay in the “game.”
Paradise offers an amped up version of the regular show, where right off the bat there is drama, gossip, fighting and blossoming “love.” The cast is filled with alumni from past Bachelor and Bachelorette seasons. So first, lets do a quick review of who is in this seasons cast.
The women, include:
- Jillian Anderson from Chris Soules’ season
- Ashley Salter from Chris Soules’ season
- Jade Roper from Chris Soules’ season
- Carly Waddell from Chris Soules’ season
- Ashley Iaconetti from Chris Soules’ season
- Juelia Kinney from Chris Soules’ season
- Clare Crawley from Juan Pablo’s season
Tenley Molzahn from Jake Pavelka’s season
And the special addition this season being Ashley I.’s sister, Lauren Iaconetti, who brings a twist to the show with a new rule being that if either she or Ashley gets a rose, they both are safe from the week’s elimination.
In terms of the men in Paradise, there are:
- Jonathan Holloway from Kaitlyn Bristowe’s season
- JJ Lane from Kaitlyn Bristowe’s season
- Tanner Tolbert from Kaitlyn Bristowe’s season
- Jared Haibon from Kaitlyn Bristowe’s season
- Dan Cox from Desiree Hartsock’s season
- Mikey Tenerelli from Desiree Hartsock’s season
- Kirk Dewindt from Ali Fedotowsky’s season
From the very beginning we are re-introduced to some bold personalities, including Jillian Anderson who was known in Chris’ season for her self-proclaimed “rockin’ bod” as she explains her decision to get “two new additions” for Paradise (aka she got breast implants), Ashley S. who is just as weird as she was in Chris’ season when she called an onion a pomegranate, and Mikey who is really bad at introductions (started by calling himself an alpha male and telling all the guys that he will get them ripped during the month they are there).
Before the cast is able to really interact with each other, an impromptu wedding surrounds them. They get to witness Marcus Grodd and Lacy Faddoul wed, who were contestants on the last season of Bachelor in Paradise. It seems the show really wants people to know that sometimes the process actually works, but so does dunking a basketball with your eyes closed if you do it enough times.
Afterwards the cast gets settled into their new setting and this is when the crying begins. It seems the emotional gene runs in the family as right off the bat Ashley I.’s sister Lauren begins bawling because she thinks all the guys “are boring.” This is awfully similar to Ashley’s numerous breakdowns during her time on The Bachelor.
From the get-go, the guys seemed to be drawn to Jade, the girl who was sent home by Chris Soules’ after she revealed she posed nude for Playboy. She is seen surrounded by numerous of the men, who are all vying for her attention. However, she seems to be most interested in Tanner and Jared.
Ashley right away sets her eyes on Jared, but unfortunately has trouble making conversation with him which opens up the opportunity for Jade to swoop in.
The first date card is given to Ashley I., who is tasked with choosing a man “to get dirty with” on her first date. Ashley prepares herself to ask Jared to go on the date with her. Unfortunately, Jared makes it pretty clear to everyone else he is not interested. As JJ puts it, “Jared looks like he would rather take a back-alley beating with a plumber’s wrench than go on this date.”
Unfortunately, Jared’s niceness leads him to saying yes to Ashley’s date proposition, despite his interest in Jade.
Surprisingly Jared and Ashley seem to have a good time on the date, as they go ATVing in the mud. Although Ashley may have won Jared over for the episode, the couple’s different personalities leave me to believe it won’t be a forever match.
The next date card is given to Jade, who everyone recognizes to be the “king pin” of the game, as she is getting the most attention from the men. She tries to decide between Jared and Tanner, however, she eventually chooses Tanner as she sees Jared all cheery when he returns from his date with Ashley.
Lastly, in typical Bachelor cliffhanger fashion, Ashley S. is taken off on a stretcher in an ambulance and it is not revealed why. All we know is Dan went off with her to make sure she is okay.
In addition, Claire shows up last minute to put herself into the mix. She is given a date card and judging by the sneak peak, this allows her to wedge herself in to relationships that have already begun forming (she has her sights set on Kirk, Jared and Tanner).
Unfortunately, we won’t find out what happened to Ashley or how much Claire stirs up the game until the premiere of Bachelor in Paradise continues at its regular time slot August 3 at 8pm.