It’s a special two-episode week, which hopefully means we’ll get a jam-packed dose of drama and tears in Paradise. After Chris and Elise left last week, leaving Michelle with a rose and an extra shot at love, the rest of the housemates seemed to be on a high note. The group is starting with one less guy in the house—which you know means another one is going to pop up at some point or another.
After returning from the rose ceremony, there was a date card waiting, addressed to Rob, who was able to take one lucky lady on a date—and after giving his rose to Sarah, he naturally chose her, much to Michelle’s chagrin, who wanted a shot with Rob. Even though she was awarded another shot at dating in Paradise, Michelle was playing little miss drama queen and went to the bathroom to cry after Rob picked Sarah—but Graham was right there going to her rescue and consoling her. Feeling like she has no one—particularly because she’s a single mom—Michelle was feeling really down on herself. Michelle started to help Sarah get ready, but was martyring herself soooo damn much the entire time, but it didn’t seem to dampen Sarah’s spirit who was so excited to be on a date with Rob. While Sarah and Rob were on her date, she tried to get a feel for his relationship with Michelle, which he seemed to brush off immediately, saying that they’re nothing more than friends now. They went sailing and jumped into the water, followed by some snorkeling.
Back at the house, Michelle just kept going on and on about how single she is and how everyone else is all couply and everything. And just when she thought her hopes were lost, Cody walked on up the beach and introduced himself to the group, obviously with a date card. Cody immediately asked Clare, and instead of turning him down outright, she asked to go for a walk to explain herself a little bit. Cody admitted Clare was one of his “favourites” (did he watch the same show we did?!) and that he wanted to know more, but Clare let him down gently that she was crushing hard on Zack. Cody tried to pitch himself really freaking hard, which prompted Clare to go talk to Zack and see if his feelings are reciprocated. Zack said he wouldn’t be jealous if she went on the date, but she didn’t quite get the answer she was hoping for—he said he was on the same page as her, but he said he might actually go on a date with another girl, “depending on the girl.” Clare was having some serious second thoughts, and after Zack failing to “step up” and give her the reassurance she was hoping for, Clare decided she needed to think about stuff. They seemed to be having a super serious talk considering they’ve been dating for like a minute, but Clare was still upset about the lack of emotion she was getting from Zack compared to Cody. Graham went to chat with Zack a bit to see how he’s really doing—he seemed to actually care about Clare, but just didn’t want to tie her down too soon, which makes him seem like less of a jerk when he was talking to her directly (typical boys don’t know how to talk to girls). Learning from his mistakes with not being forward enough with Andi, there was no denying his attraction to Clare and after buttering her up a bit, she still turned him down, not wanting to set something back that “could be amazing.” Poor Cody—always a bridesmaid—took it in stride. After thinking long and hard about who he would take on a date, Cody gave his date card to Marcus, admitting that he didn’t want to go out with anyone else but Clare, but wanted a chance to chat with some of the other girls in the house. Naturally, Marcus took his lady Lacy. This simple act of friendship made Clare crush on Cody just a little bit more, but made her doubt her decision just a little bit more.
Lacy and Marcus went on their date together to a romantic dinner for two. Lacy loved every moment of her time with Marcus and they were actually smitten—though she said that they just hadn’t said those three little words to one another “yet.” Marcus was hoping to “propel their relationship a little further,” but seemed to be a perfect gentleman with her and wanted to be honest and open with her, which she totally appreciated. Having the talk about where they were in their relationship, Marcus let the “I love you” slip in his little spiel, but Lacy wasn’t sure if he meant to say it, so didn’t reciprocate for fear he didn’t quite mean it like that. Back at the house, Zack told Clare he was happy she didn’t end up going on the date and wanted to talk about everything and where they stand. He admitted he felt sick after speaking with her earlier, and honestly wanted to give it a fair shot with Clare, though she seemed a bit resistant after everything. Clare went on a bit of a rant, but after Zack reiterated his feelings, she let it go and they resumed their couply smooching. Michelle opened up to Cody a bit (really just boring someone else with her problems) and wanted to get to know him better, but Cody’s sights were still set on Clare. And—of course perfect timing—another guy showed up. Kalon, whose reputation seems to precede him as an “asshole,” walked on up (if you need a memory job, he was the one from Emily’s season who referred to her daughter as “baggage”) with his date card. He walked right on over to one of the “5’10s with boobs”—Michelle—and asked her to join him, to which she happily accepted—even though moments before she was giving Marquel the rundown on this jerk. Kalon told the camera he was “drawn to crazy” (ie. Michelle) and was looking forward to his date with her. But before they went on their date, Michelle wanted to chat with him and started by calling him out on his shit with Emily and decided she can’t actually go on the date with him after all, since Emily is her friend. After his conversation with Michelle, Kalon went on the hunt for a date, asking Jackie who turned him down, and then moved onto Sarah. She told Kalon she had a bit of a thing going with Rob (which is true, but she is totally NOT attracted to him at all), so he moved onto the next. His jerkiness kept showing through on his comments to the camera, and in the end decided to go on a date with someone he really likes—himself. Kalon went for a romantic swim in a cave and fell in love with himself all over again—really we can’t make this shit up.
Back at the house, the girls were having a great time making fun of Kalon and his solo date while he made himself look like an even bigger ass. And just as Marquel was going on about how great things were going with Jackie, in came Jesse from Jillian’s season who was known to be a bit of a player. He came armed with a date card and asked Jackie, who immediately said yes, making Marquel a little uneasy. On Jesse and Jackie’s date, they walked down to a crazy Mayan cave (seriously so cool) to have dinner and get to know one another. Knowing he only had one night to secure a rose and a spot for himself, Jesse dove right into buttering Jackie up, but she saw through it and called him out on it immediately. Trying to save himself from seeming like a total jerk and “strategizing,” he denied it outright, even though he was clearly playing the game. During their private concert, complete with slow dancing, Jackie said she could see herself with him—poor Marquel. While some of the couples were massaging one another, somehow Michelle managed to coerce him into massaging her too—but ended up enjoying his muscular abilities more than she expected.
The following day, Clare told Cody that she wanted to see where things went with Zack, but tried to be lighthearted about it, considering how smitten Cody was with her. But AshLee and Zack were having a bit of a chat and AshLee made a serious mistake in bashing Clare to her beau, questioning him on whether he’s sexually attracted to her and whether he wants to appear attached to her (clearly she didn’t see Clare on JP’s season—tsk tsk). Zack tried to laugh it off (clearly uncomfortable with the conversation), but AshLee kept going saying that Clare was “cuckoo” (the jury’s still out on that one) and she “f*cked a guy in the ocean—are you kidding me?!” Oh. Dear. Lord. Zack truly didn’t care what happened in Clare’s past and AshLee didn’t realize there was a camera on them when they were talking and instantly started panicking. AshLee immediately had a guilty conscience and tried to back her way out of what happened by being honest with the other girls, but the damage was done. Lacy obviously told Clare what had been said, setting Clare off—as we’ve seen happen before—especially because she’d looked past AshLee’s reputation of being a bit of a bitch. Knowing a fight was coming, AshLee tried to say that she’d been nothing but nice to Clare, even though her actions clearly proved otherwise.
News of the conversation was passing throughout the group pretty quickly, causing some serious tension. Even Graham was worried—but more about AshLee, thinking that she was so nice and giving. Clare approached Zack to hear his side of the conversation, but he relayed it exactly as it actually happened—AshLee approaching him and making those comments. Zack was clearly sensing some drama brewing, but didn’t want to get involved in girl drama, pissing Clare off even more. Clare just wanted Zack to stand up for her and be the one to tell her what had happened, instead of having to hear it from some of the other girls in the house. AshLee tried to be very sweet to Clare, asking to talk to her and even said she wasn’t sure what Clare was mad about. Clare shut shit down immediately, saying that they’re not friends and she was tacky for approaching Zack with such comments. AshLee was just putting her foot in her mouth so damn far she must’ve been choking on it because it clearly just fuelled Clare’s anger even more. AshLee ended by asking to “hug it out” which Clare rightfully turned down, not wanting that drama in her life, but it offended AshLee because she’d tried to apologize. (You still with me?)
At the cocktail party, tensions were still running high after the AshLee-Clare drama, but it was the ladies’ turns to dole out the roses to the guys, with two of them heading home. Cody took the opportunity to chat with Michelle a bit more, trying to see if there was a connection there—and also hoping to secure a spot for another week. Even though she’d had a rocky week, Michelle was eating up everything Cody was dishing out—even the kiss. Jesse approached Jackie, hoping to ensure a rose from her, especially after their date went so well. Michelle was getting worried about Graham and his relationship with AshLee—and even approached him about it. Graham had been completely in the dark about the whole confrontation with AshLee and Clare, so Michelle broke it down for him. And naturally, because he’s actually a half-decent guy, Graham was put off of AshLee and frankly disturbed. Michelle was sort of playing devil’s advocate (all in the name of friendship), but Graham really should know the real AshLee.
At the rose ceremony, things were seriously tense for all parties involved. The first two roses went off without a hitch from Lacy and Clare, but when it came to AshLee asking Graham to accept her rose, shit went bad. Claiming he needed a minute, Michelle was the one to go after him, leaving AshLee looking like a fool standing up there by herself.
Aaaaaand because the producers love us so, we were left with a cliffhanger. Stay tuned for our double-header recap tomorrow morning!
Coming up roses: Marcus (from Lacy), Zack (from Clare)…
Paradise pairings: Sarah & Rob, Lacy & Marcus, Clare & Zack, Kalon & Kalon, Jackie & Jesse, AshLee & Graham, Michelle & Cody
Kiss count: Lacy & Marcus, Clare & Zack, Michelle & Cody (Episode-3; Season-14)
Late-night date count: None! (Episode-0; Season-1)
Cry count: Michelle (Episode-1; Season-10)
Catfight count: Clare & AshLee—kinda (Episode-1; Season-1)
