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Bachelor in Paradise recap: We finally get the first rose ceremony and a bromance arrives on the beach

Bachelor in Paradise recap: We finally get the first rose ceremony and a bromance arrives on the beach

Welcome back to another sunny day in Paradise! Hope you packed your suitcase, because the sun is out, the drinks are cold, and the tears are certainly flowing in Tuesday's episode of Bachelor in Paradise.

Right from the get-go, the vibes at the cocktail party are very Not Okay. For starters, Romeo is openly weeping at one of the tables after the entire Jill/Kira/Brittany situation blew up in his face on Monday night. Thankfully, we have Casey to act as the voice of reason: "I don't even understand Romeo crying. All of these are your own choices and your own decisions. He is his own undoing."

On the opposite side of the beach, Jacob is living his best life. Everyone's favorite one-leafed wonder is currently uncoupled and the girls who haven't found a connection yet — Lace, Hailey, and Kira — are all vying for his rose to stay on the show. Lace lets him know that she's here for the "real s---" when it comes to their relationship, while Hailey's just hoping he'll give her a "Hail Mary" to stay until next week.

Neither of them, however, pull out quite the stops like Kira. The doctor blindfolds Jacob and then, in a callback to his Paradise entrance, strips down to underwear and tapes three large leaves over her… well, everything. Jacob, of course, loves it ("Jane!") and it's extremely important that everyone knows that her lipstick gets smeared all over his teeth after their makeout session. You're welcome!

ABC Kira has become Jane

When Tarzan and Jane head back to the bar, the Paradisians react to Kira's outfit change. As Brandon lovingly puts it: "Kira looked like a lettuce wrap."

Meanwhile, Justin has found himself caught in a love triangle between Genevieve and Victoria after Monday's date. Now, on Genevieve's birthday — her actual one, unlike Lace's fictional celebration last week — she's uncertain about their relationship and her future on the show.

So, in order to "show her I still care," Justin leads Genevieve to a cabana and presents her with a birthday cake. The sweet gesture doesn't help the sour conversation they have about their relationship. Essentially: Genevieve is mad Justin went out with Victoria and calls him "defensive." Justin complains about her being upset that he's exploring "other options."

At one point, Genevieve says that she needs "some type of validation," which causes Justin to despondently look down at the chocolate cake and ask, "What do you mean!?" Cut to Casey, who is watching the fight from a distance and hilariously notes: "That is an unfortunate situation."

ABC Happy birthday, Genevieve!

But Victoria isn't putting all of her eggs in one basket either. Amidst her relationship with Justin, she sidles up to Johnny — who, up until this moment, seemed pretty invested in a relationship with Hunter — and the two start making out instantly, shocking everyone else on the sand. Casey leads a heartbroken Hunter back toward the bar so that she doesn't have to be "in eyeline of the horror."

And just like that, the cocktail party is over. With twelve women and nine men on the beach, that means three women will be packing their bags and bidding a less-than-fond farewell to paradise.

The very first rose ceremony of the season starts out pretty standard. All of the couples — Andrew and Teddi, Michael and Sierra, Brandon and Serene, Logan and Shanae, even Casey and Brittany — give out and accept each other's roses. Then, Jacob steps up to the stand.

Just before he hands out the rose, the BIP editors cut to an interview with Kira where she says that she hopes Jacob "realizes all the other girls in Paradise are crazy and I'm his one and only option." As it turns out, that is not true because Tarzan picks the "iconic" Lace instead. Sorry, Jane.

ABC Jacob gives his rose to the 'iconic' Lace

For all of their arguing earlier in the evening, Justin gives his rose to Genevieve. Then, in the craziest twist thus far, Johnny picks up a rose and choses… Victoria! With one rose left, Romeo steps up and gives his rose to Jill.

"Jill, I want to start off by apologizing for how I treated you this week. I really, really hurt you," he says. "I want this rose to be a fresh opportunity for us to repair our relationship or for you to explore new connections."

Jill's response? "Yes, because I know that nothing in Paradise is guaranteed." Yikes.

Bachelor in Paradise Season 8
Bachelor in Paradise Season 8

ABC

At the end of the night, Kira, Hunter, and Hailey are officially sent home. However, as she tearfully sits in the backseat of the car, Hailey manages to find a silver lining. "Well at least now I get air conditioning," she jokes. "So who's laughing now?"

The next morning, everyone appears to be on solid terms… unless you're Romeo and Jill. That relationship is seriously over and Jill is ready to explore other relationships now that the women are in charge of giving out roses. As she tells it, "I could never go back to that, because [bleep] you, I've given you a trillion opportunities, so I'm going to take this rose and run with it."

After receiving Justin's rose last night, Genevieve appears to have gotten the validation she needed. She tells him that she feels "good" about their relationship and will communicate better in the future: "If I'm upset about something, I will tell you." It seems like things might be getting on track for them, until…

Enter: best friends James and Aaron. Bachelor in Paradise fans will remember that these two are such good pals that they left Paradise and "bounced back to SD" together during season 7. Now, with bromantic love secured, they're back on the beach and ready to find romantic love too.

ABC Best bros James and Aaron

The pair hype each other up by flexing their muscles and aggressively complimenting one another, with Aaron at one point remarking, "Dude, your arms are going to find love themselves." I don't even know what that means, but before we have time to fully comprehend anything, James and Aaron are given a double date card and sent on their way.

With Aaron's arrival on the beach, all eyes are immediately on Genevieve and Shanae. Now, some context is needed here for those who haven't seen Clayton's season of The Bachelor. Essentially, the two women were at odds throughout the entire season and ended up on the dreaded two-on-one date together. Ultimately, Shanae was sent home. However, during the Women Tell All episode, Shanae called out Genevieve for allegedly hooking up with Aaron shortly after she exited the show.

Back in Paradise, Genevieve shuts down the rumor but doesn't outright deny her interest in Aaron, adding, "That is not true. There's no attraction thus far, but I'm not saying it couldn't get there."

Everything gets even more muddled when Aaron pulls her aside to catch up and Genevieve totally downplays her relationship with Justin. "If Aaron asks me on the date, I think it will put me in a pickle," she tells the cameras. "But a delicious pickle." Speaking of food, Jacob is single handedly munching on an entire pineapple core nearby. And, honestly, good for him.

Jacob eating the core of a pineapple
Jacob eating the core of a pineapple

ABC Jacob is living his best life

James and Aaron pick Genevieve and Shanae for their double date, which makes Justin and Logan upset. "This is like, mad disrespectful to me," Justin comments, as if he didn't do the same thing last episode. "It's hypocritical that she would do that."

After they leave to get ready, the rest of the group gets caught up on their surrounding drama and completely freaks out. "This is so cursed!" Jill yells. Lace speaks for all of us when she says, "I'm here for it. Give me some tea and some popcorn and I'm good."

But, in a twist, the double date isn't really cursed. In fact, it's kind of fun? The four play a bunch of games at a pool party, including chicken, limbo, and an extreme nacho eating contest. Meanwhile, James and Aaron are pulling out all the stops to win over Shanae and Genevieve, including performing some intense body rolling/twerking-esque (???) dance moves in the shallow end of the pool. It's a lot.

Aaron and Genevieve are hitting it off. She tells him that he makes her feel "special and seen" and they end up making out. Similarly, Shanae and James are equally into each other. She repeatedly calls their connection "effortless" and says that she's happy she can "shake my ass in front of you and not, like, really feel timid." And isn't that what we're all looking for, really?

After their makeout session, however, Shanae obviously begins to feel conflicted between James and Logan and begins to cry. "There's just so many emotions," she says. "Dating's scary!"

Logan isn't doing much better. The poor guy is moping around the beach and eating parfait bowls. Justin can be also seen sadly sleeping through the day.

Logan looks sad while eating his parfait next to Casey
Logan looks sad while eating his parfait next to Casey

ABC Logan sadly eats his parfait bowl

Shocking absolutely no one, Romeo and Jill still aren't doing well. When he says that he's not ready to let go of their relationship, Jill lets him know it's over. "The ship has sailed and it's reaching the Middle East by now."

With everyone down in the dumps, the BIP producers decide to invite a couple onto the beach, perhaps to remind everyone that loving relationships can form on the show. They bring down Ashley I. and Jared, who met during season 2 and, many years and tears later, got engaged during season 4. Strangely, it appears that the couple are simply here for "alone time" away from their baby, who they welcomed earlier this year, and to dish out relationship advice. Think hip, cool, relationship lifeguards.

While sitting down with the women, Ashley immediately takes a shine to Jill and promises to "do my manifestation" to help her find love. During their conversation, Teddi admits that Andrew may like her more than she likes him. This is a huge bummer because, so far, the pair have been pretty darn cute together.

Everything takes a turn when a hot new bombshell hits the beach: Rodney, the kind-hearted football player from Michelle's season of The Bachelorette. Date card in hand, he pulls Jill aside for a chat and the rest of the Paradisians are thrilled for her. "Yes! Finally, she gets a good man," Jacob jokes. Romeo does not look impressed.

Rodney and Jill are talking privately in a cabana
Rodney and Jill are talking privately in a cabana

ABC Rodney and Jill have a chat

Jill tells Rodney that she has been "painfully single" and "in the trenches" since the series began, which he finds hilarious. It's his talk with Teddi, however, that unintentionally causes the woman to spiral. She begins to cry as she tells the camera that there's "something missing" between her and Andrew. "I just feel so bad because I feel like he's so amazing."

When she lets Andrew know how she's feeling, he continues to be the sweetheart of the century, telling her that he still gets "a little heart flutter" when he sees her but "doesn't want to force" anything between them either. "Here's the thing Teddi, we gave it our shot," he says. "I'm not mad at that. I wouldn't take back any of the time we had. But this is your choice."

And thus we have our first official Paradise break up. While he puts on a brave face in front of Teddi, Andrew is devastated, telling the cameras: "It hurts because she does feel like we did have something, but it wasn't strong enough."

Teddi and Andrew talking in a cabana
Teddi and Andrew talking in a cabana

Teddi and Andrew break up

After a brief heart-to-heart with Jill, Teddi decides that if it's not Andrew, then it's no one. She surprisingly decides to quietly pack up her bags and leaves the beach without telling anyone — even Andrew. It's not until later, when Serene asks Wells if he's seen Teddi, that she finds out that the girl is already well on her way home.

Serene then tells Andrew who, understandably, does not take her Irish goodbye well. "I really botched that, dude," Andrew tearfully tells Michael. "It's just not fair. She left, dude!"

And, as if it couldn't get any worse, Rodney asks everyone if they've seen Teddi because he wants to ask her out on his date. Oof. His shocked reaction upon learning that she's gone is the biggest mood of the entire episode.

Rodney covers his mouth with his hand in shock
Rodney covers his mouth with his hand in shock

ABC Rodney is shocked by Teddi's departure

Alright, rose lovers, you know what to do: Will Genevieve stay with Justin or go with Aaron? Should Teddi have left? Who will Rodney take out on his date? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Bachelor in Paradise airs Mondays and Tuesdays on ABC.

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