‘Bachelor in Paradise’: New Paradise, Who Dis?

by Therese Odell, posted in bachelor in paradise: season 10

Bachelor in Paradise
July 7, 2025

Welcome back to Paradise. Well, not Old Paradise, not Mexico Paradise. We’re in a new Paradise in a whole new country after having taken a year off to collect ourselves. The simplest explanation for the move and the time off is that the location in Mexico where Bachelor in Paradise is traditionally filmed has new owners, and the show needed to find a new home. The longer explanation is … messier.

So, The Bachelor universe, it’s been going through some things lately. In 2023, the creator of the franchise, Mike Fleiss, left the show after Warner Bros. launched a workplace misconduct investigation against him. Staffers accused him of being abusive and of racial discrimination (this coming after years of refusing to cast a person of color in the lead).

Fleiss was replaced by Claire Freeland, Bennett Graebner, and Jason Ehrlich, who produced the 9th and most recent until now season of Bachelor in Paradise. They then paused Bachelor in Paradise for a year in part to focus on the new series, The Golden Bachelor, and as mentioned above, in part because a new owner had purchased the Mexican resort where they filmed Bachelor in Paradise and they suddenly needed to find a new home.

After a successful Golden Bachelor debut, Ehrlich left the Bachelor universe after having worked in it for more than 20 years, and soon after a new showrunner for Bachelor in Paradise was announced, one Scott Teti, who had produced Claim to Fame, Summer House, and various Married At First Sight spinoffs.

And then Jenn Tran’s season of The Bachelorette happened.

First, there were many questions about the casting process on all of The Bachelor series when it was discovered that multiple contestants across different series (including Tran’s final choice) had restraining orders against them, along with other disturbing allegations. The way the producers treated Tran in the season finale, making her watch her proposal live, a proposal that ended for Tran in heartbreak, left many viewers, and apparently staffers, disgusted with the producers’ choices. By March, staffers were accusing the showrunners, Claire Freeland and Bennett Graebner, of fomenting a toxic workplace environment. A  few weeks later, multiple producers had left The Bachelor, including, most importantly, Freeland and Graebner.

So now, Scott Teti, who had been brought in to produce Bachelor in Paradise, is the executive producer of the whole shebang.

And Teti has some ideas about how Bachelor in Paradise can be improved. Notably, he wants to make it look better:

“I really wanted to upgrade things, and take an approach of, how do we make this feel 2025, even more so than what other shows are doing? How do we make this feel cinematic, sexy, stylized, and, at the same time, implement that in a way where you’re using longer lenses? You use a cinematic shooting approach where you’re backing off cast and when you’re not up in their [face], they forget that you’re over top of them. They start to open up and feel more relaxed. It was really about just wanting to elevate everything about the show.”

The result, based on this first episode, is a sleeker, more Love Island-style production, for better or worse. The reception has not exactly been favorable:

Personally, I like the new look, both the resort and the cinematography, but I do understand that people often don’t embrace change.

And I think one of the reasons people don’t like the new stylized look is they fear it is indicative of the show losing some of its hokiness and bitchy sense of humor that came often at the expense of the contestants themselves. And I wonder if that’s not an intentional decision as a means to move the entire franchise away from some of its more toxic elements.

Teti has a big task ahead of him: he is now responsible for one of ABC’s most valuable properties which hasn’t exactly aged gracefully. Moving The Bachelor and its spinoffs into a more sensitive and inclusive 2025 will require shedding its embedded racism, misogyny, and, most importantly, its culture of bullying, both behind the scenes and on camera. And that’s difficult when what could be considered bullying between contestants is exactly the kind of drama that viewers are seeking from the series.

Teti might not be able to keep the contestants from treating each other poorly — and frankly, he may not want to — but it’s clear, at least from this first episode, that he does seem to trying to bring the contestants themselves in on the joke, instead of just making fun of them through the editing, the way previous seasons have. After all, it’s not a far walk from making snarky comments in the chyrons of Bachelor in Paradise to forcing a heartbroken and humiliated Bachelorette watch the lowest moment of her life in front of a gawking America. It’s unclear if Teti’s gentler approach will save the franchise, but you have to start somewhere.

ANYWAY. THAT’S A LOT OF WORDS ABOUT A DUMB BEACH DATING SHOW, I’M SORRY, LET’S GET ON WITH IT ALREADY.

Right. So. The new digs is a fancier resort, The Azura Beach Resort in Samara, Costa Rica, on the Pacific coast. The contestants will have actual rooms with actual air conditioning, and from what I can tell, very few precarious stairs that the Goldens might fall down. It’s nice!

Oh, and right … the Goldens will be joining the show, though from what I understand, the producers urged everyone to date in their own age lanes, which, considering how old a lot of these people seem to think 30 is, I don’t think will be difficult.

Finally, apparently one of other changes for the series is that Jesse Palmer will not be there to greet the contestants as they walk in; they’re just left to their own devices.

Day 1 of Paradise

The very first to arrive to our new resort is Spencer from Jenn’s season, whom I called “Golden Retriever,” in part because he owns a business that puts people’s pets’ photos on phone cases; in part because he is a human Golden Retriever.

Golden Retriever = Spencer (ABC)

Golden Retriever arrives at the resort with no one to greet him, because I guess Jesse Palmer is off golfing with the new showrunner. As he wanders gape-mouthed around the resort, he insists that he knows he’s not going to be to everyone’s taste, but he is tall, so there’s that. Golden Retriever then becomes distracted by an iguana.

Next to arrive is Alexe from Grant’s season, whom I nicknamed “Llama Drama” because she showed up to the McMansion on night one with a llama and some llame joke about not wanting any drama.

Llama Drama = Alexe (ABC)

Llama Drama turned out to be a delightful personality who seemed to be designed in a lab for Paradise. Golden Retriever is thrilled to see her, and after discussing poutine for a moment (he’s had it before), he asks her how old she is. When she reveals she is 28, he “compliments” her by saying she needs to share her skincare routine.

SIR. SHE IS NOT EVEN 30 YET. Now, if you will excuse me, I must return to my crypt.

Lexi is next to arrive, and I called her “Sporty Spice” because on Joey’s season, she told him that she was really into sports. I was grasping at straws, guys. 

Sporty Spice = Lexi (ABC)

Sporty Spice explains that since we last saw her, she has started her own matchmaking business, and that she’s hopeful to find her own match in Paradise.

A Jeep then drives up the beach and deposits Jeremy from Jenn’s season, whom I called “Overcompensating” because he arrived at the McMansion in a sports car and joked that men who drive such cars are overcompensating for something else. (A SMALL DICK, YOU GUYS.)

Overcompensating = Jeremy (ABC)

Overcompensating, living up to his nickname, informs us that he has dated “every type” of woman in New York City since we saw him last — which honestly wasn’t that long ago to have dated “every type” of woman in the world’s most diverse city. Commitment issues, sir?

He’s joined by Jonathan, also from Jenn’s season, who arrived on the first night in nothing but a hospital gown, exposing his grown ass, his face wrapped in bandages that he did not remove until late into the evening. For this stunt, he was nicknamed “Cheeky Mummy.” 

Cheeky Mummy = Jonathan J. (ABC)

Cheeky is a little sensitive about his height, calling himself a “medium king,” and noting that women who are looking for a guy who is 6’4″ need to either “lower their expectations” or “raise their standards.” Which is a good line! But all this talk about how tall (or not) he is and how much he works out so much all the time in the gym oh my god he shaves his legs to show off his calf muscles because he never misses leg day just reeks of insecurity.

Bailey is our next lady to arrive, and her name on Grant’s season was “Selfies” because taking selfies was her entire personality.

Selfies = Bailey (ABC)

Selfies assures us that she is looking for her Ryan to her Trista, her Jazy-Z to her Beyonce, and ma’am, I’m going to stop you right there. You do not need to be looking for your Jay-Z; no one should be looking for their Jay-Z. That man is a menace.

Selfies immediately gets Overcompensating’s attention, who finds her “hot” and adds that he wants to be the honey to her tea. Is that a thing? Is that a saying? Because I do not care for it, and Overcompensating needs to stop.

Hakeem, who arrived on Jenn’s season wearing a harness full of helium balloons for some reason, thus earning him the nickname “The Up House,” is the next to arrive. 

The Up House = Hakeem (ABC)

The Up House is looking for butterflies and rainbows.

Or … hear me out … how about destroyed birthday cakes, screaming meltdowns, long conversations with raccoons, and rejection?

Jess arrives, as she did on Joey’s season, via boat, earning herself the nickname “Starla” because I assume that everyone else is as obsessed with Arrested Development as I am. 

Starla = Jess (ABC)

Golden Retriever is instantly smitten and bounds over, offering to take her on a tour of the resort he has been at for 20 minutes now.

Starla is followed in by a guy named “Kyle” who insists he was on Katie’s season of The Bachelorette. Checking my notes, it appears I nicknamed him “Captain Underpants” because upon arriving at the McMansion, he thought it would be a good idea to tell Katie he was going to be “brief” before reaching into his pants and ripping out a pair of underwear. Somehow, this failed charm our Bachelorette, who sent him home that night. 

Captain Underpants = Kyle. (ABC/Craig Sjodin)

Captain Underpants realizes that you do not know him, but is pretty sure his anonymity will be his superpower.

Captain Underpants is followed by Zoe, who became known as T-Shirt Gun on Grant’s season as she marked her entrance firing into the McMansion T-shirts with her and Grant’s face on them. It was the first and last time she did anything kinda funny on the season. 

T-Shirt Gun = Zoe (ABC)

Upon entering Paradise, she reminds us that she was the girl that no one saw coming, and made it to Hometowns without ever having a one-on-one date. She low-key terrifies everyone.

Ricky is next to enter, and like Captain Underpants, he was eliminated on the first night of Jenn’s season, in no small part because he spent the entirety of his introduction to the Bachelorette staring at her chest, earning him the unweidly nickname, “My Eyes Are Up Here, Buddy.” 

My Eyes Are Up Here, Buddy = Ricky (ABC)

He’s followed in by another Bachelorette short-timer, Brian, who was eliminated in the second rose ceremony on Jenn’s season. He showed up on night one with shots and screaming that it was “SHOTS O’CLOCK!” and with just generally way too much energy, hence the nickname “Too Much.” He also stole Overcompensating’s sports car prop on Night One, which now, at least, he has the good taste to be self-conscious about. 

Too Much = Brian (ABC)

He sheepishly explains that he is going to reel in some of that Too Much energy and try not to immediately chase everyone off. We like a man who has had some growth!

Too Much also immediately sets his sights on T-Shirt Gun because she’s tall and he wants to make little athletes.

So much for that growth.

Finally — for now — in walks the lunatic of Bachelor in Paradise, season 9, one Kat, also known as “Julia Roberts” because she told us during Zach’s season she looks just like Julia Roberts.

Julia Roberts = Katherine

She explains that after getting engaged to that naif, John Henry, last season, it didn’t work out between them.

How shocking. My faith in love is dead now.

But, she insists, nothing will derail her this year: not a birthday cake, not a piñata, not a boy. She does, however, admit to having some PTSD from all the online bullying she experienced last time, which is terrible! And no one should bully strangers online! Just because they act completely UNHINGED on national television! Julia has been to therapy, and I hope for her sake it sticks. Because otherwise it’s gonna be a long summer for all of us.

FINALLY, Jesse Palmer is able to pull himself away from the golf course and do his job, and he welcomes everyone to Costa Rica. He explains that this is a new Bachelor in Paradise: the location is better, with AIR CONDITIONING, and real beds. Additionally, All-4-Wells is back as bartender, and this season they’ve also included former Bachelorette Hannah Brown, who is in charge of “Paradise relations,” a no-thank-you job if I’ve ever heard one.

Jesse Palmer then informs them that the women will be handing out the roses this week, and by “this week,” he means “this episode” because OH NO IT IS THREE-HOURS LONG I DID NOT SIGN UP FOR THIS.

Jesse Palmer also adds that they’re also stealing from Love Island/Too Hot To Handle/Perfect Match by adding new exercises and chemistry tests to help them find the perfect person.

Finally, Jesse Palmer adds cryptically, they hope to offer the strongest couples a “life-changing opportunity,” but he’ll speak more on that later.

The entire cast:

With that, Jesse Palmer dismisses them to explore the resort. But it’s not long before yet another Paradisee arrives: Justin from Katie’s season, also known as Great Face because he gave great face:

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I PRESENT TO YOU THE QUEEN OF GIVING FACE.

Great Face = Justin. (ABC/Craig Sjodin)

Apparently, Great Face was on the one season of Bachelor in Paradise that your otherwise trusty blogger did not watch, season eight, where he was eliminated in the second week, returned in the fourth week, only to be eliminated again that same week.

But who cares about that because the real tea is that sometime after that season of Bachelor in Paradise, Great Face started dating THE Susie Evans, a.k.a. Hannah Brown, Jr., the woman Clayton dumped both Gabby and Rachel for in his shitshow of a season. Great Face and Hannah Brown, Jr. were together for a year, and broke up in March of this year, as in less than two months before filming started on this season of Bachelor in Paradise.

Oh Great Face, what are you even doing here right now? This is a TERRIBLE idea, sir, go home and do some more bed rotting and eating ice cream and talking shit about your ex to whomever will listen and NOT PRETEND THAT YOU’RE READY TO GET ENGAGED TO SOME STRANGER IN FOUR WEEKS, MY GOD.

Jesse Palmer gives Great Face the first date card, obviously.

Great Face asks to talk to Sporty Spice, where they maturely chat about how mature they are. Great Face does talk about how because he’s in his thirties, he doesn’t have a whole lot of time to mess around before he becomes a father and … wait … wasn’t Sporty Spice the woman who had severe endometriosis and might struggle with having children?

But also, I get that he’s trying to prove that he is being intentional, but using “I NEED TO BE A PARENT SO SOON, LIKE, THIS YEAR” is not a great opener for any gender, honestly.

Anyway, Great Face eventually asks Sporty to join him on his date that evening, and she accepts.

Elsewhere, Captain Underpants is trying to woo Selfies by telling her he is good with his hands and can replace a door, because that is definitely something that comes up a lot in your day-to-day life.

Cheeky Mummy tries to engage with Julia Roberts by asking her what the “nerdiest” thing is about her. But because Julia Roberts has no sense of humor about herself, she first rejects the question, before answering that she is a “cat lady.”

Objection, non-responsive.

And Golden Retriever and Starla are already sparking: she tells him about being cheated on, and he reveals that he was two weeks away from getting married when he discovered his fiancée was cheating on him. Bonding over trauma! And sure enough, later on the beach, these two are the first to kiss in Paradise.

As for Great Face and Sporty Spice’s date which was supposed to be dinner and a swim in a private pool, it’s rained out and he promises to make it up to her. I’m sorry, there’s no restaurant we can drive these people to, and allow them to have at least a private dinner? THERE ARE LITERALLY FIVE RESTAURANTS AT THE RESORT, FEED THEM AT ONE OF THEM, DAMN. I mean, honestly, what’s the point of filming at the resort if you’re not going to resort?

Instead, everyone just goes to bed, thus ending Day 1 of Paradise.

Day 2 of Paradise

Selfies is the hot commodity in Paradise, the focus of Captain Underpants, Overcompensating, and our sweet The Up House who is lagging way behind. To that end, The Up House writes her a little note, requesting a conversation. Selfies agrees, but after a few moments of painfully awkward chitchat and discussion of whether or not she would take a selfie on the toilet (she would), they are interrupted by a boat blaring its horn offshore.

And on that boat is one Dale from Clare’s season of The Bachelorette, whom I nicknamed “The One” on account of the way Clare’s tongue fell out of her face as soon as she saw him. It was painfully obvious no one else stood a chance. And, in fact, she and Dale were engaged by Week 3, throwing the season into chaos. 

The One = Dale

The One (who clearly ultimately was not “The One,” as he is now here in Paradise) is well-received by the women of Paradise, who, like Clare before them, can barely keep their tongues in their faces.

Jesse Palmer welcomes The One to Paradise and gifts him a date card, so that he and one lucky woman can return to the catamaran on which he just arrived.

The One chats with T-Shirt Gun, Llama Drama, and Julia Roberts before inviting Julia on the date because he’s “intrigued” by her and feels like they are at similar points in their lives. I will just note here that The One is 36 years old, while every single woman he spent time chatting with is 28. As for Julia Roberts, she notes that she loves a man older than 30 because they have “lower testosterone” and she loves a “tired man.”

Uh-oh, I’m turning to dust, time to return to my grave again.

So Julia Roberts and The One climb into the catamaran and The One attempts to open a bottle of champagne while hollering “PURA VIDA!” about 18 times before the cork finally pops. I feel like this is a metaphor for something.

And then, as part of the new dramatic choices the show is making, we are given what can only be described as a fantasy sequence wherein Kat narrates about The One being the “captain” of “her ship” while The One, now wearing a captain’s hat, sprays himself down with sunscreen, including inside his pants? What is even happening?

They then continue to bounce around Bahia Samara until Julia Roberts becomes seasick and threatens to vomit all over The One. She manages to not vomit all over The One.

Back at the resort, Llama Drama is being chatted up by My Eyes Are Up Here, Buddy, and Cheeky Mummy whom she jokes she can’t date because he’s younger than her, and she doesn’t like thinking about him being in diapers while she was potty training.

Elsewhere, T-Shirt Gun is pouting about not being picked by The One for the date, before deciding to put all her eggs into Too Much’s basket.

And that’s when the production crew comes out with life-sized cutouts of people, which are adorned with “fun facts” about each anonymous individual. The Paradisers are then given two different kinds of stickers: one to suggest they would be interested in that person based on their “fun facts” and one to suggest they would not. They then tag each cutout accordingly.

At some point, My Eyes Are Up Here, Buddy, who it should be noted has 3 “Red Flag” tags on his profile, points out that The Up House has only one “Red Flag” on his and calls him “vanilla.” For some reason, this absolutely INFURIATES Up House, who CAN’T BELIEVE his FRIEND is calling him VANILLA! Buddy and Up House begin screaming at one another while everyone else looks on in utter confusion, including Llama Drama, who, if you recall, does not care for said “drama.”

Jesse Palmer arrives and reveals each of the cutouts’ identities, until there is one left unaccounted for. At this point, someone rides up the beach on a motorcycle: Sam from Jenn’s season, whom I nicknamed “Breakfast Shots” because upon meeting the Bachelorette, he imagined himself making her breakfast for one day before screaming “SHOTS O’CLOCK” in her face. Had I had a little more time, I obviously would have nicknamed him “The Main Thing” thanks to this man’s irritating habit of uttering “I keep the main thing, the main thing” over and over again like a Zen koan, even though it doesn’t mean anything at all.

Breakfast Shots = Sam M. (ABC)

Jesse Palmer gives Breakfast Shots a date card, and unleashes him into the crowd. Breakfast Shots, keeping in character, heads over to the bar for a drink where he tells All-4-Wells that he rode in on a 1968 Harley, “the oldest thing [he] has ever been on.”

“There’s still time,” All-4-Wells jokes, “the Goldens are coming.” ZING!

Eventually, Breakfast Shots invites Starla on his date, mostly because she liked that he said he loves “Tennessee whiskey” as one of his “fun facts” and she’s from Tennessee. That kind of connection: kismet. The universe in action, folks.

As for the date, the producers make the hilarious decision to send these two Southern belles out into the jungle for a native purification ritual, and Starla, she is SCURRED, Y’ALL. Never mind that nothing actually happens to them, other than having a couple of Ticos speak a little Spanish at them while waving some sage around, and then leaving them alone to sponge each other down for some reason.

Once they are good and fully damp, they start chatting about their past relationships and what they are looking for: she complains about giving more than she receives from people, and he longs for “the kind of love they had back in the day,” the kind that he worries doesn’t exist anymore. And all I’m saying is I bet I know who he voted for.

They kiss.

Back at Paradise, Golden Retriever has his own little worried fantasy about what is happening on this date which involves a cowboy hat-wearing Breakfast Shots and Starla slow-dancing and making out.

Elsewhere in Paradise, Overcompensating and Selfies make out on the beach.

Later, Captain Underpants takes Selfies aside and tells her that he likes her energy and vibe. He does not shove his tongue down her throat. “I think there’s a chance for your boy!” this stranger confidently declares to the camera.

Too Much and T-Shirt Gun have an evening picnic on the beach which ends up with them rolling around on top of one another in the sand.

Meanwhile, Llama Drama chats with My Eyes Are Up Here, Buddy, whom she is not so sure about following his weird argument with Up House. She tells him that she is attracted to him, but lets him know that other people are showing interest in her, too, clearly in an attempt to ease him down gently.

Buddy is like, “Cool, have fun, talk to whomever, but can I have a kiss first?” Llama Drama agrees, and finds herself impressed by his kissing: “dazed and confused” is how she describes it, in fact. And that’s how My Eyes Are Up Here finds himself back in the running.

And sometime later that night, Selfies and Overcompensating find themselves together again and immediately begin chewing on each other’s faces while Captain Underpants looks on, clutching his pearls.

Meanwhile, The Up House: “These chicken fingers are bangin’, no cap!”

Day 3 of Paradise

The next day is the morning of the Rose Ceremony, and the producers, realizing that Great Face and Sporty Spice still haven’t gone on their date, send them to spend the morning in the private pool.

Great Face, unlike The One, is able to successfully open a bottle of champagne, and he goes on to tell Sporty Spice what he likes about her: she’s obviously beautiful, she has a good head on her shoulders, she has depth and ambition, and her funny side “is coming out … a little.”

Great Face then Brings Up The Ex: He explains that he and Hannah Brown, Jr. were friends for a year before dating very seriously for a year, and he adds that he still has “love and admiration” for her. He just wants to be honest and transparent about where he is and that he would not be in Paradise if he didn’t have “the purest intentions.”

And that, Sporty Spice, should be all the heads-up that you need to know that Hannah Brown, Jr. is going to be showing up in Paradise within the next 24 to 48 hours. These producers are MESSY, girl.

Instead, Sporty Spice burbles that Great Face is reassuring her, and this could be the man she marries, and she and he get into the pool and make out.

And then it’s the Rose Ceremony Cocktail Scramble Time. The women have the power; four men are going home; OK EVERYONE FREAK OUT.

Starla finds herself torn between Golden Retriever and Breakfast Shots, despite having presumably watched Jenn’s season of The Bachelorette and seeing “KEEPING THE MAIN THING THE MAIN THING.” Ma’am, this shouldn’t be a contest at all.

Elsewhere, Sporty Spice is beginning to wonder if Great Face really IS over Hannah Brown, Jr. — after all, they’ve only been broken up for a couple of months now — and she wonders how much she wants to get in the middle of that mess.

Meanwhile, Llama Drama is trying to decide between My Eyes Are Up Here, Buddy, and Cheeky Mummy, whom she clearly is more attracted to, but who has not made much of an effort to woo her or get his tongue into her mouth. Cheeky Mummy assures her that he is very interested and excited to get to know her better, despite spending absolutely no time doing so. WHAT TO DO?

As for our sweet nerd Up House, he’s made no connections with anyone, and he begins completely melting down. Between panic attacks, he attempts to pump himself up and to talk to the women, telling Llama Drama that she’s gorgeous; calling Selfies a “boss bitch”; and complimenting Sporty Spice on her independence, while insisting there is no such thing as being “too independent.” Sporty Spice disagrees.

Up House panics.

Meanwhile, Captain Underpants chats up Selfies again, pointing out to her that he and Overcompensating are different people. Indeed!

And while this conversation is happening, Overcompensating is out here telling people with his FULL CHEST that he’s keeping his options open, because he doesn’t know who else might show up as if his pasty little ass could do better than Selfies.

Alright, everyone, line up. It’s time to pass out some roses and make some bad decisions:

Sporty Spice: Great Face
Zoe: Too Much
Julia Roberts: The One
Starla: Golden Retriever who, upon receiving the rose, kisses her while some other man cracks a joke about Golden Retriever’s pants “being tight.” SIR. YOU HAVE SCANDALIZED JESSE PALMER. HAVE SOME DECENCY.
Selfies: Overcompensating
Llama Drama: Cheeky Mummy

Which means we are saying goodbye to Breakfast Shots; Captain Underpants; My Eyes Are Up Here, Buddy; and our sweet Up House, who was never going to survive in Paradise, let’s just be honest.

Breakfast Shots = Sam (ABC)
The Up House = Hakeem (ABC)
Captain Underpants = Kyle (ABC)
My Eyes Are Up Here, Buddy = Ricky (ABC)

The contestants who remain in Paradise, along with their silly little nicknames:

Bachelor in Paradise airs Mondays on ABC at 7/8 p.m. and streams on Hulu.

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