Back in Paradise for night 2, things start heating up in Mexico.
During Tuesday’s episode, the Bachelor and Bachelorette alums hit the beach for their first rose ceremony, and Tia Booth and Colton Underwood‘s will-they-won’t–they relationship finally comes to a head.
“Everything here in Paradise has been a lot about Tia and Colton,” Bibiana Julian says. “And there’s still a lot of confusion, and I think a lot of us would be really okay with seeing Colton go.”
When the two come back from their date of yachting and jet skiing, Booth, 26, feels confident things will move forward.
“It felt really f—ng nice,” she tells the camera of kissing Underwood, also 26. “And I hope I made it clear and laid it out there for him that my feelings really haven’t changed. And this could be the start of an amazing relationship.”
Meanwhile, Underwood laid out his feelings to Nick Spetsas, Jordan Kimball and Chris Randone, who confronted the former NFL player over his waffling. “Are you 100 percent involved with Tia right now, moving forward, or are you exploring other options, but Tia is still on the board?” asks Randone, who went on a date with and kissed Booth in the season 5 premiere.
Underwood says he’s set on the latter, but Randone insists that’s unfair to Booth. “What do you mean, you can’t do that? This is Paradise, bro!” Underwood responds.
He also claims that if one of the other men wanted to pursue Booth, he’d tell them to, “Go for it, dude!”
Let the Drama Begin
Although Kimball, 26, is tied up trying to ensure Underwood’s demise, the male model’s nemesis from Becca Kufrin‘s season, David Ravitz, wants to make sure Kimball doesn’t find love this time around, either.
“I was on the two-on-one with him last season,” Ravitz, 25, tells Kimball’s love interest Annaliese Puccini. “I had the opportunity to live with the guy for five weeks. I can’t necessarily say that he’s here to find love. I don’t want you to build a connection with a guy like Jordan who is just here to settle.”
Puccini, 32, decides not to listen to Ravitz and continues getting to know Kimball. “I’m trying to take everything with a grain of salt at this point, and the best thing I can do is if I’m feeling like somebody’s interested, go with it,” she tells the chicken, adding in an on-camera interview. “He’s not just the Zoolander model we get from Becca’s season.”
Even without a date card, Kimball takes Puccini out for a romantic dinner on the beach. The two toast champagne, walk on the sand and kiss under the evening sky.
Later, during the cocktail party, Kimball has another surprise for the event designer, who infamously proclaimed her fear of dogs and her “bumper car trauma” during Arie Luyendyk Jr.’s season.
“You had a trauma with a dog. I wanted to make sure you recovered from that, Kimball tells Puccini before presenting her with a giant stuffed dog. The pair laugh and head into the rose ceremony feeling strong about their connection.
“I Walked Onto a F—ing Swamp”
With the first rose ceremony imminent, the singles scramble to ensure they’re getting a rose. Joe Amabile and Kendall Long reconnect on the beach — and she debuts her creepy demonic voice for him. But she also hangs out with John Graham.
Kevin Wendt isn’t worried about not getting a rose from Krystal Nielson, who he spent time with on the first night and shared a kiss with, even though she went on a date with Kenny King. That’s because he connected with Astrid Loch.
“Astrid and me are probably more compatible,” Wendt, 33, admits. “Astrid’s someone that I actually can see myself building a relationship with.”
Spetsas, 27, tries to lock in a rose from Chelsea Roy. “This is like more stressful than my real job,” the attorney declares.
Once enough of her friends try to convince Booth that she deserves better than Underwood’s indecisiveness, she pulls him aside before the rose ceremony to finally get answers.
“I had multiple girls coming at me just saying how could he not know what he wants? Don’t put yourself in a situation like Kristina and Dean,” says the Alabama native, referring to Dean Unglert’s love triangle from last season of Paradise. “I was just getting overwhelmed.”
Underwood explains, “I came on this beach to be selfish and to figure out what I want and take a chance and take a risk. And I feel like with you here, I don’t want you to see that.”
Booth reveals that she kissed Randone, 30, on their date the other night, and when Underwood doesn’t care, she makes her final break.
“I cannot keep myself in this situation,” Booth tells Underwood. “I’m not your first choice. I don’t want to be a second choice.”
Booth heads back to the beach to Randone, who has sweet tea waiting for her and promises to treat her “like a queen.” Underwood, meanwhile, makes a last minute play to score a rose from Angela Amezcua.
“I didn’t walk on a beach,” he says. “I walked onto a f—ing swamp of drama.”
The move fails, and Amezcua, 26, ends up handing her rose to 28-year-old Graham, also known as Venmo John. Booth gives hers to Randone, or as he prefers to be called, “Goose.”
RELATED VIDEO: Tia Booth Sets the Record Straight About Her History with The Bachelorette’s Colton Underwood
Long, 26, chooses Amabile, 31; Nielson, 30 selects King, 37; and Wendt gets his rose from Loch, 26. With Underwood left rose-less until the final woman, Julian, heads to the pedestal, it seems likely that the ex-football star is heading home.
Until, for some reason, the 30-year-old asks Underwood if he’ll accept her rose.
“This sucks. This freakin’ sucks,” Booth says after Julian makes her selection.
That leaves Spetsas and Wills Reid packing this week — and the other contestants equally confused by Julian’s choice.
“Bibiana just birthed a big upset in Paradise,” Kimball says in an on-camera interview. “I know that the Colton and Tia drama will continue.”
Becca’s Back
Chris Harrison issues one of his first surprises of the season, a special guest he promises will “change your perspective about this forever.” Then he declares that the life-changing visitor is only here to speak with the women, sending the men off to another part of the beach.
Down the stairs descends Kufrin, fresh off of her season of The Bachelorette. She wants to impart her success in the franchise on her friends, in hopes that they’ll leave equally as in love as the 28-year-old is with fiancé Garrett Yrigoyen.
After chatting with the group, Kufrin pulls Booth aside to address the never-ending Underwood situation. “When I sent him home that night, he thought it was ’cause of you, and that’s not the case at all,” she tells Booth.
King sneaks over to identify the women’s surprise guest and reports back to the guys that it’s Kufrin, which sends Underwood spiraling. “I can’t watch this right now,” he says before walking off camera.
“I had the three other guys there that I felt stronger feelings for and that I felt I could actually see a future with,” the Minnesotan continues, adding, “He just wasn’t for me.” Once Kufrin wraps with Booth, she seeks out Underwood.
“This is the tipping point,” he cries to Ravitz. “I can’t be here. I thought I was strong enough to come here and move on but I don’t think I am.”
Bachelor in Paradise airs Mondays and Tuesdays on ABC at 8 p.m. ET.
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