How To Prepare Yourself For The Bachelor In Paradise This Season

“Almost Paradise” – Bachelor in Paradise (BIP or Paradise) Theme Song. The spinoff series of ABC’s The Bachelor and The Bachelorette is set to return for its’ sixth season on August 5th. The Bachelor and The Bachelorette host Chris Harrison is set to reprise his duties once again while fan favorite and The Bachelorette Season 12 contestant Well Adams will return for his third season as the show’s bartender.

Former contestants from both shows will compete for a second chance at love in Mexico. While we are at the hometowns stage of The Bachelorette, here are a few things you should know to be ready for the upcoming season of Bachelor in Paradise (WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW!!!):

The BIP Season 6 Cast:

For those who have watched the show previously, you already know that around 25-35 people compete in Bachelor in Paradise each year. However, they all don’t show up the first week. Each week, there are new arrivals who show up and could form and/or threaten new and/or current relationships.

Typically, around two-thirds of the cast consists of those who competed on the most recent seasons of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette (This year being Colton’s and Hannah B’s seasons of each show respectively). The remaining one-third are contestants who were on either show two or more years ago and/or were also was on a previous season of Bachelor in Paradise. While we don’t know all of the total cast, ABC released photos on June 17th of the 19 contestants who will be part of the original cast of season 6.

The girls who will be on Week 1 are Tayshia Adams (Colton’s Season), Demi Burnett (Colton’s Season), Bibiana Julian (Arie’s Season, Bachelor Winter Games Season 1, and BIP Season 5), Jane Averbukh (Colton’s Season), Caelynn Miller-Keyes (Colton’s Season), Annaliese Puccini (Arie’s Season and BIP Season 5), Sydney Lotuaco (Colton’s Season), Nicole Lopez-Alvar (Colton’s Season), Hannah Godwin (Colton’s Season), Katie Morton (Colton’s Season), and Onyeka Ehie (Colton’s Season).

The guys who will be on week one are Blake Horstmann (Becca’s Season), Cam Ayala (Hannah B’s Season), John Paul Jones (Hannah B’s Season), Clay Harbor (Becca’s Season), Kevin Fortenberry (Hannah B’s Season), Wills Reid (Becca’s Season and BIP Season 5), Derek Peth (JoJo’s Season and BIP Season 4), and Chris Bukowski (Emily’s Season, Bachelor Pad Season 3, and BIP Seasons 1 and 2).

Who From Hannah B’s Season Will Not Be On Bachelor in Paradise This Summer:

Typically, Bachelor in Paradise starts filming in early to mid-June and concludes around the end of the month. When contestants go to compete on either The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, producers confiscate their cellphones and they only get it back after they get eliminated. For Bachelor in Paradise, contestants have to surrender their cell phones once again. This means that you will see fan favorites of either show be absent on social media for a period of time during June.

Given when BIP begins filming, the third or fourth episode of the most recent season of The Bachelorette will have just aired. Since the inception of Bachelor in Paradise in 2014, the guys who make the final three on the latest season of The Bachelorette are never cast for the current BIP season. The reason being that if one of the final three were to take part in the current Bachelor in Paradise season, his absence on social media could easily give away the ending. However, it’s a bit of a wildcard for the guy who comes in fourth place. Of the first five Bachelor in Paradise seasons, the guy who finished fourth in the current season of The Bachelorette also participated in the latest season of Bachelor in Paradise four times.

As of the time of this article being published, Hannah B’s season of The Bachelorette is at the Hometowns Stage. At this point, Hannah B has four men left (from top left to bottom right in the photo below: Tyler C., Luke P., Peter, and Jed). Reality Steve, the blogger who has all of the spoilers for all The Bachelor shows, recently stated in his latest blog post that he has confirmed that none of Hannah’s final four guys will be in Paradise this summer. However, assuming that none of the four are named the next Bachelor or in a relationship, it is possible to see any of them participate in Paradise next summer or in a future season, if they decide to.

Veterans To Watch Out For:

While viewers will most likely remember the girls and guys who were on the most recent seasons of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, there are a few veterans mixed in the cast too. From the veterans who will appear in week one, here are three that you should watch for:

Blake Hortsmann:

He didn’t get Becca Kufrin’s final rose last year or become the next The Bachelor (a gig he lost to close friend, fourth-place finisher of Becca’s season, and Bachelor in Paradise Season 5 participant Colton Underwood). As he technically wasn’t ‘allowed’ to be on Bachelor in Paradise last year (see above), the runner up of The Bachelorette Season 14 is back for his second chance at love. Last year, Blake was known as “Mr. Nice Guy”, wore his heart on his sleeve, and formed a deep connection with Becca.

Many fans were truly devastated when she dumped him in the finale for winner Garrett Yrigoyen (Yrigoyen was also a great guy but received t ons of hate from fans due to his controversial Instagram likes). Although there are rumors of him causing drama amongst the girls the first week of BIP this year, hopefully, Blake is still the same Blake he was on Becca’s season and finds his equal match.

Clay Harbour:

Like Hortsmann, The NFL Free Agent also competed for Becca Kufrin’s heart last year. While he and Becca formed a nice connection with each other, Harbour left the show in Week 3 after injuring his wrist while playing football during the week’s second group date (where he happened to win that date’s group date rose). Harbour decided to leave after being told by doctors that he needed to get surgery on his wrist and he didn’t want to risk ruining his NFL Career.

His decision to quit left The Bachelorette in tears as they kissed goodbye. If it weren’t for his injury, I believe Clay could have made it much further than he did initially on Becca’s season. Although he didn’t go on Bachelor In Paradise last summer, he dated Angela Amezcua (Nick’s Season and BIP Season 5) from September 2018 to April 2019. Will Clay be able to find love in paradise?

Derek Peth:

Viewers first met the John Krasinski look-a-like in 2016 when he was on Jojo Fletcher’s season of The Bachelorette. Derek got the season’s first one-on-one date and was able to form a deep bond with Jojo and also got two group date roses over his time on the show before being eliminated in Week 6 on a 2-on-1 date, finishing seventh overall. He deeply cared for Jojo and became a fan favorite for his generally positive attitude. He also won fans over for being one of the few men in the house who had the guts to stand up to Chad, the villain of Season 12. A year later after Jojo’s season, Derek competed on Bachelor In Paradise season four. Despite all of the craziness that went on that season due to the initial production shut down, he formed a relationship with Taylor Nolan (Nick’s Season) and they got engaged on the season finale. Unfortunately, the couple broke off the engagement in June 2018. Hopefully, Peth is able to come back and find his potential wife this summer.