(ABC/Craig Sjodin)
Previously on Bachelor in Paradise, Kylee Russell and Olivia Lewis were having a tug of war over Will Urena. Olivia kissed him first (once), but Kylee got a date card and asked him on a date, so now it’s war. I just don’t get it. He’s not that attractive. Am I the only one who finds Olivia super annoying and immature?
But at the end of last week’s episode, Kylee’s original crush arrived on the beach and Olivia’s got her eye on him, too. Will they both drop Will like a hot potato so they can fight over Paradise newcomer Aven Jones?
Adding to the chaos is former Bachelorette, Hannah Brown, who sends all the other women into a tizzy when she shows up with a date card. “I can never compete with Hannah Brown,” says Jess Girod. “Never in a million years.” Why not, Jess? What’s so special about her?
Will tries to smooth things over with Olivia (ABC/Craig Sjodin)
As we saw last week, Will sat down with Olivia and apologized to her for making her feel disrespected, but at the end of the day, they’re both there to pursue their options. It’s early days, and it’s not like they had any kind of commitment. It was one kiss.
Will finds Kylee and tells her he just spoke to Olivia. He says she had a little “attitude.” But he told Kylee, “There’s not anyone else here that I’d rather spend my time with than you.” Will’s got a huge crush on Kylee. But again, it’s early days. Cool your jets, Will.
In a confessional, Will says, “There’s nothing you can do to ruin my day!” Oh, dear. That’s a challenge this show can’t resist. You’ll regret that comment, Will.
Olivia predicts, “Kylee’s gonna ride that wave until Aven comes … and then, Will’s gonna get pushed to the wayside.” Olivia says Will’s a “placeholder” until Aven comes.
So guess who’s already on his way down the steps to Paradise? And we know he’s got a date card because we saw Jesse Palmer give it to him last week.
Aven’s comin’ in hot Paul Archuleta/Getty Images
When Aven comes into view, Kylee interviews, “Oh, my God! This is exactly the moment I’ve been waiting for. Aven has arrived in Paradise.” Sadly for Will, I think Olivia called it.
“Aven’s my number one guy,” Kylee confesses. “There’s so much buildup around us meeting. And I’m just so nervous ’cause I’ve never met Aven before in my life.”
Kylee only knows Aven from social media. There’s been “liking of pictures and a fire emoji.” Not a lot to base a relationship on, but she’s got hopes. When she goes to say hello and give Aven a hug, he doesn’t seem overly glad to see her. He says, “Nice to meet you,” and moves on to greet the next person. Does he not know he’s on her list?
But Kylee was “literally having an out-of-body experience” when she hugged Aven. She calls Aven “fine,” and Olivia agrees with her for once.
“Aven is fiiiiiiiiine,” Olivia declares. “If Kylee gets to take Will, I get to take Aven.” I think our BIP triangle is about to become a rectangle … or maybe a square.
After greeting everyone, Aven reads his date card. “Get ready to make some waves,” it says. Will doesn’t get the meaning, but the rest of us do. And the first person he asks to talk to is Kylee. Surf’s up! Will looks sad, while Olivia looks pissed off.
Aven weighs his options (ABC/Craig Sjodin)
Kylee tells Aven about her date with Will. “First date?” Aven teases. “You’re popular!”
“I am a hot commodity around here,” Kylee says playfully.
Meanwhile, Will and Blake Moynes are talking by the pool. Will is stressing about his new girlfriend and hopes she’ll choose him. “The best case scenario is [Aven] takes Olivia on the date,” Will says.
Olivia is doing some plotting of her own. She is currently “manifesting” that Aven will choose to take her on the date and sees it as payback for Kylee “stealing” Will from her. She thinks she deserves it.
After talking with Kylee, Aven pulls Olivia for a chat. Kylee says it feels like a “gut punch,” though she admits that if Aven chooses Olivia for the date, it would be karma.
As Aven tells Olivia she’s “very cute,” Kylee is back at the picnic table with Will. “I’m just scared,” she interviews. “My mind is really playing tricks on me right now … I’m thinking she might sabotage me.” You think?
When Aven asks about who’s coupled up already, Olivia tells him it’s only Will and Kylee. “Interesting,” he responds.
“Kylee disrespected me,” Olivia confesses. “Knowing that Aven was on her radar and she was waiting for him,” makes him fair game in Olivia’s book. She’s down for the steal.
But despite Olivia’s best efforts, Will asks Kylee on the date. What’s that sound you hear? That’s the simultaneous sound of Will’s heart shattering as steam erupts from Olivia’s ears. “I would love to go,” Kylee tells him, as Will watches from the side of the pool. Poor Will.
And Kylee walks off with Aven without so much as a wave goodbye. Harsh.
Sadness in Paradise (ABC/Craig Sjodin)
“Deep breaths,” Blake reminds Will, who says, “My soul left my body” when Aven called Kylee’s name. Will says he wants God to “take me with you right now.” It was one date, Will. Settle down.
Oliva admits, “I’m not gonna lie. That one hurt, ’cause I wanted to go on the date.”
Some of the other women advise Will to “keep your options open.” There are other babes on the beach. Although he agrees in theory, he wants to have a talk with Kylee first.
In a confessional, Will says, “I had a great time with Kylee the night before, but then Aven came down [and] decided to take her on the date.” It’s not like he kidnapped her, Will. Kylee also made a decision to go with him.
Before leaving on her date, Kylee has the common decency to pull Will for a chat. “What we had yesterday was real,” she begins. “You are so kind to fully choose me and want to be with me. It makes me feel so good that you’re all in for me. I want that.”
He assures her that he’ll still be “true” to her, even after she goes on this date with Aven. She responds, “If we have a future together, this’ll be like a little ‘wrench’ in our journey, but I feel like it’s only gonna build us stronger.” I feel like she’s stringing him along in case things don’t work out with Aven. It doesn’t seem fair to me.
And with that, Kylee hugs Will goodbye and goes off with Aven.
The saga of the unopenable champagne bottle Craig Sjodin/ABC via Getty Images
As Aven and Kylee head off for their date, she interviews, “I’ve been hyping this up in my head from, like, the start [two days ago],” so she hopes it doesn’t turn out to be a “big letdown.”
Then she doubles down by saying a quick prayer, “Please, give me the confidence … for my chest not to break out in hives. Give me the words to say, and let him want to just marry me right after. Amen.” She’s not asking for much.
They’re on a beautiful yacht with champagne. When Aven tries to open the champagne, he can’t get the cork to pop. You’ve got to twist it, Aven. You can’t just shove it out with your thumb. That’s gauche. He ends up breaking the top off the cork and has to resort to a corkscrew. How embarrassing.
And he’s just as bad with the corkscrew as he was with his thumb. He screws it all the way down, so the part that’s supposed to grab the lip of the bottle is too low. He’s just trying to muscle it out, which isn’t a good plan. I just want to jump into my TV and show him how to do it. Jeeze Louise, Aven. The camera crew is having a ball filming his attempts to open this stupid bottle. Longest bottle-opening sequence ever. Save it for the bloopers, guys.
Finally, FINALLY, the cork pops out! I’ve never seen someone take 20 minutes to open a bottle of bubbly. That’s just pathetic.
Out at sea (ABC/Craig Sjodin)
While Will wanders the beach at Playa Escondida hoping that Kylee comes back to him and looking like a “deflated helium balloon” (per Aaron Schwartzman), Kylee and Aven are out in the middle of the ocean drinking champagne. It’s not a very nice day for a boat ride. The water is choppy and the sun is behind the clouds, but they’re just enjoying being together.
Aven says he was surprised and happy to see Kylee there when he arrived in Paradise. “I’m not surprised by how much I like you, meeting you in person for the first time, but I’m definitely happy.” He tells her he came down “super interested” in meeting her, which has to make her happy.
She tells him that she was the one who chose Will for the date last night, but to have someone (especially Aven) pick her feels good.
“I’ve been building this moment up in my head for a long time,” Kylee tells him. When she went on The Bachelor, she was hoping he would be the lead, but it was Zach Shallcross. But she’s glad she and Aven are finally in Paradise together. Things are not looking good for Will.
“Finally we kissed,” gushes Kylee, “and it was so good! It was amazing … 10 out of 10 for sure.” Kylee’s got “all the feels” and she’s “giddy.” She’s already planning to marry him and make babies. Slow your roll a bit, girl. A lot can happen.
New couples are forming (ABC/Craig Sjodin)
At last, we can turn our attention to someone besides Will, Kylee and Olivia. Blake and Jess are chatting in the pool. “You’ll notice I have a potty mouth sometimes,” he tells Jess.
“What I like about Jess,” Blakes admits in a confessional, “[is that] she’s very sweet and very well-mannered.” Jess seems like such a girly girl.
But when discussing their favorite curse words, Jess lets fly a string of profanity that’s apparently so shocking that the smile disappears from Blake’s face. He looks shocked and taken aback.
But then he laughs and says, “I kind of like it. You’re naughty!
Brayden Bowers and Kat Izzo are developing a relationship. Blake says they’re getting “tight and cozy, which is super interesting, since I did not see that coming.”
“Right now, Brayden is, like, everything I want,” Kat says. “I’ve already developed deep feelings. I’m not gonna want to explore someone else. That’s just who I am.” Let’s hope Brayden’s feeling the same.
“There are lots of new couples on the beach,” Kat adds. “Me and Brayden, Blake and Jess, Aaron S. and Sam [Samantha Jeffries], Sean [McLaughlin] and Rachel [Recchia]. Up until last night, I thought Aaron [Bryant] was with Mercedes [Northrup], but today he’s hanging out with Eliza [Isichei], which is so strange.”
“It’s going pretty good so far,” Eliza says. “I didn’t expect to hit it off with Aaron, but … we’re basically attached at the hip, pretty much throughout the entire day. It’s nice not to be at the center of a very stressful triangle, like Paradise last year,” when she dated both Rodney Matthews and Justin Glaze. That didn’t end well.
Mercedes thinks Aaron B. is playing games (Craig Sjodin/ABC via Getty Images)
Mercedes is confused. Last night she and Aaron had a good conversation and even kissed. She thought everything was going great, but today he’s hanging out with Eliza. He hasn’t even tried to talk to her, which makes her wonder, “What did I do to make you feel that way?” Nothing, Mercedes. He’s just being a guy. That’s what they do sometimes.
“Aaron B…
