‘Bachelor In Paradise’ Recap: Katie Thurston Makes Blake Question His Connection With Jess & A Comedy Roast Gets Taken Too Far

SPOILER ALERT! This post contains details from Thursday’s episode of Bachelor in Paradise.

It’s coming down to the wire on Bachelor in Paradise.

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With just a few weeks left, the beach is practically split into steady couples and lost souls. One of those lost souls is Olivia, who has now had her man stolen from her twice. Most recently, the culprit was Kat, who caught the attention of John Henry after Tanner broke things off with her.

But, last week ended on a hopeful note for Olivia after Michael Barbour appeared in Paradise. This week’s episode begins with the answer we’ve all been waiting for. Michael does, indeed, ask Olivia to join him on the date. And it looks like everyone is happy for her, including Kat. At this point, she deserves it!

For as enthusiastic as Olivia is about going on this date, you’d think she would remember his name! In a confessional before her date, she asks the producers to reminder her, after spending minutes going on and on about how he seems perfect for her and she’s ready to give him her ring size. Hmmm. It looks like Olivia’s misfortunes in Paradise are prompting her to jump the gun a bit.

Once they embark on their date though, they do actually hit it off quite well. They join a drum circle on the beach and, after some dancing, take the time to get to know each other better. Michael says he doesn’t want his late arrival to be a disadvantage, and Olivia says she’s trying to keep her guard down despite being burned several times in Paradise now. They both bond pretty quickly, and things just might be looking up for Olivia.

Back on the beach, John Henry is telling Kat about his last conversation with Olivia. He feels fine about where they left things, and now he’s fully committed to Kat. In a bit of a surprising turn of events, Kat admits that she didn’t Paradise in the best way thus far and she hurt people’s feelings along the way. Now, she just wants to focus on John Henry, who she says brings out the best in her. Good for her!

The next day, plenty of couples are cozying up, but Rachel is still unsure where she stands with Tanner. He gave her a rose, but she isn’t sure if that was more of a friendship rose, similar to how Brayden gave a rose to Olivia to keep her around for another shot at love. Tanner has been a bit flirtatious though, which is throwing her off. Before she can get too deep into this spiral, two new men make their way down to the beach.

There’s Taylor, who went home on night one during Charity’s season. Then, there’s Jordan, who got the first one-on-one date with Rachel during her combined season with Gabby only to be sent home without a rose. Only one of these men will get a date card, and that is yet to be decided. For the time being, Jordan is eager to talk to Rachel. That puts a damper on Tanner’s day, because, even though he hasn’t quite said this to Rachel, he does actually want something more with her.

Unsurprisingly (because it makes better television), Jordan gets the date card. He asks Rachel on a redemption date, and the two take a walk down the beach to join a tantric yoga session. At first it’s a bit awkward, but they quickly become comfortable with each other. Before long, they’re making out in the middle of their yoga session. They finish their date with a glass of champagne on the beach, and Jordan says he’s eager to explore things with Rachel and see if they can get a second shot at love.

Meanwhile, Tanner is taking literal shots at the bar with Wells. He’s pretty upset that Rachel is gone. As soon as they get back, Rachel pulls him aside. She says the date was good, but she’s not certain what she wants to do. Tanner thinks Rachel has her guard up with him and is overthinking. They don’t get very far in this conversation and they both leave feeling confused.

Rachel confides in Tyler and Wells, who tell her that she needs to get clear on what she wants and then just be honest with both men about it. She also could stand to let loose a little. She admits she’s been a bit too cautious, so she approaches Tanner for another conversation. She tells him she’s been confused since he gave her the rose, because she doesn’t understand his intentions. He makes it clear that it wasn’t a friendship rose, and he does want to explore their connection. He has a long (and quite romantic) monologue about how he is fixated on finding love, and Rachel is sold. Looks like they’re going to give this relationship a shot!

In a quick aside, Aaron surprises Eliza with a moment to themselves. He tells her that he wants to commit to her and asks her to be his girlfriend. She gleefully accepts. They are now the second super solid relationship in Paradise, along with Kylee and Aven.

As if the beach needed anymore drama, Wells brings out the truth box again. There’s two slips referencing an inside joke about Peter shaving his legs. Another note says that John Henry and Kat are going to go the distance. The last one, which really shakes things up, says that Tyler just isn’t that into Mercedes and everyone can see it.

Obviously, that sends Mercedes into a spiral. As she thinks more about their relationship, she says she thinks they’ve been coasting and haven’t dug deep enough with each other. She wants to give him the benefit of the doubt, because last season on Paradise, he left in a relationship that dissolved once they made it back to real life. Mercedes talks to Tyler and asks if he is putting walls up because of that. He says yes, but he’s trying hard not to compare. He’s being pretty nonchalant, which Mercedes doesn’t appreciate.

Now Mercedes is more upset, and she thinks they aren’t on the same page. One of her concerns is whether they’ll be able to survive a long distance relationship, which Aven says he doesn’t think Tyler wants. For the time being, we’re moving on from this, though it’s sure to be brought up again before the rose ceremony.

Aven and Peter get a double date card and they ask Kylee and Sam to join them. The two couples go to a day club, and Kylee is hoping this will be a moment for Aven to step outside of his comfort zone. They play a few risqué games, and Aven does try his best to be more playful than he usually is. During their one-on-one time, both couples appear to be on the same page with each other. Peter asks Sam to be official, and she says yes. A third steady couple!

In other news, Jess is trying to move on from her wishy washy situation with Blake and deepen their connection. They seem to be all in on each other. That is, until Blake’s ex-fiancée Katie Thurston makes her way down to the beach.

Remember, Katie got engaged to Blake during her season of The Bachelorette. They broke up a few months later, and Katie quickly moved on to John Hersey. She dated John for about eight months. As she’s walking down to the beach, she admits she moved on quicker than Blake would have expected, which hurt him. Apparently, they haven’t spoken at all since they broke up.

Everyone is shocked when they see her come down the stairs, particularly Blake and Jess. Katie wants to clear the air, so she pulls Blake aside almost immediately. As they’re talking, she brings up the fact that they broke up over the phone, which seems pretty insane considering they were engaged. In my notes, I wrote “WHAT?!” So, that sums up my thoughts on that.

At some point after that, she sent him six voice memos, which he listened to but never responded to. They don’t reveal what was said, but Blake says whatever it was he was too bitter to reply. She says she understands his feelings and didn’t reach out again because she wanted to respect his peace. She apologizes for the way she handled things and says she would do things differently if she could go back. Blake tells Katie about Jess, saying he thought their connection would be easier to navigate but it’s not. Both Katie and Blake acknowledge that there are some feelings between them, but they can’t quite place what they are or how to handle them. Katie reassures Blake that her feelings for him were real, which really throws Blake for a loop.

When a producer asks Katie if she is still in love with Blake, she avoids the question but begins to cry. That’s definitely suspect.

Meanwhile, Jess feels like nothing is going right for her. Watching Blake talk with his ex-fiancée is discouraging, and she starts to consider whether she should call it quits and leave Paradise.

That’s when Katie reveals she’s not actually there to date. Instead, she’s there to host a Paradise comedy roast. Weird, but also hilarious. Everyone is very excited to finally let off some steam and throw some acceptable punches at the frenemies on the beach.

Of course, the roast ruffles some feathers. While there are some light-hearted jokes, some people really go in. Lots of people take digs at Kat, including Tanner who calls John Henry color blind for not being able to tell the difference “between a red flag and a homie hopper.” Tanner also makes a joke about how everyone was hoping for Gabby in Paradise and had to settle for Rachel. By the time all is said and done, both Kat and Rachel are pretty unhappy about the jokes made at their expense.

The next day is the rose ceremony, and the vibes are off. The episode skips straight to nighttime, when everyone is gathering for the cocktail party. Once again, everything has blown up. There’s lots of conversations to be had before most of the women will feel comfortable handing out a rose.

The episode ends with Blake expressing to Jess that, after seeing Katie, he realized their connection should be further along than it is. Yikes.

How that will be resolved, as well as who will make it another week in Paradise, will have to wait. The next episode of Bachelor in Paradise airs at 9 p.m. ET/PT on November 30.

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