Paradise was calm… suspiciously calm after last night’s rose ceremony.
Next minute, Osher appeared out of nowhere and announced a battle for the bachies, where he very consciously uncoupled our duos, splitting the entire camp into two teams.
Alex Bordyukov was gutted. This meant that he wasn’t with Brooke and to top it off, she was teamed with his biggest competition on the island Alex Nation and Nathan.
In Paradise anything can happen and with a group date up for grabs, sabotage and dirty tactics soon arose.
While no red or yellow cards were served, ref. Osher was there to ensure that at least the result was fair. Richie Strahan’s team took home the trophy, which came in the form of two large inflatable lounges for some couch surfing shenanigans across the Pacific Ocean.
Alex and Brooke were pretty stoked and ready to get their flirt on, but Nathan carefully positioned himself in between the girls, making himself a fine Brooke Nation sandwich.
Seizing the opportunity of having Brooke far away from American Alex, Nathan pulled her aside to try to understand where he stood. Unable to give him a straight answer, the last thing she wanted to do was to hurt anyone’s feelings.
In that moment, Nathan recognised, that he was complicating things for her and felt it was time that he’d give this love square one less corner.
The ghost of Davey Lloyd’s past ‘wife material’ speech, was left playing on Shannon mind. With her stomach sinking faster than a lead-filled coconut, Shannon asked Osher if she could bring Davey back. Given Osher isn’t a love genie, he couldn’t grant Shannon her wish but did give her some food for thought.
Zoe O’Brien, the girl with the winning curls from Blake Garvey’s season of The Bachelor arrived excited to find out what Paradise may bring after not being on a date for four years.
While Jules, American Alex and Bill thought she was an absolute babe, they made it clear that they were already taken which was a stab in the guts for Zoe.
When the couch surfers returned from the high seas, Nathan and Ivan were pleasantly surprised with the new and bubbly addition to Paradise. Quick to jump ships, Ivan took a strong interest, making it clear to Brittney that he’d moved on.
Shannon laid her cards out on the table with Connor who was surprised to hear that she wanted to explore Paradise. Knowing that he was no longer tied down, he accepted Zoe’s invitation for a date.
With high hopes, Zoe and Connor headed on a high ropes escapade and after a few jitters and flirting they settled down for a chance to get to know each other. Love was in the air for Zoe, however these feelings became awkward and embarrassing when Connor admitted he had Shannon on his mind.
Back in Paradise, Jules and Alisha Aitken put on their best party shirts and took some time away to explore if these shirts could be made of boyfriend/girlfriend material. When Shannon discovered that Connor was on a date with Zoe, she started to fret.
After the previous rose ceremony, Rachael had convinced herself that Richie kept looking at her which meant that they were far from over. The only thing getting in her way was wearing a teen weeny red bikini and goes by the name of Cass
Meanwhile, wanting Richie to get a move on with Cass, Alisha started quizzing him on where his head was at, and why they hadn’t locked lips yet. When exgirlfriend Alex Nation decided to join in on the chat, things got awkward.
As soon as Zoe and Connor returned from their date, Connor made a beeline for Shannon, leaving Zoe certain that their time together had been a big waste of a date card.
Finally, Rachael saw an opportunity to try to woo ‘her Bachelor’ by stealing Richie away from Cass. Treating him to a not-so-casual impromptu candlelit beach dinner, she preceded to tell him how serious she was about him. Richie thought it was clear that he had no intention of rekindling a romance.
