‘Bachelor in Paradise 2’ review: Did Jared Haibon – Ashley Iaconetti, Joe Bailey – Samantha Steffen break up?

“Bachelor in Paradise” tried to “break the rules” tonight in so many ways. JJ Lane got triumphant hero music, we saw Juelia Kinney manage to get Mikey Tenerelli back on the show, and there were several breakups to go along with it.

Ultimately, though, it was hard to be all that surprised by many of them. Take, for example, Jared Haibon and Ashley Iaconetti. Did anyone really think that this was going to work out long term based on what we’ve seen from these two? She was very much into him, but at the same time he was not showing much of an interest in her. The two of them have now made their feelings for one another fairly clear and can move forward … but not without more crying of course.

Now, breakup #2: Joe Bailey and Samantha Steffen. Given the way that these two started, this is not a surprise at all … but it is still for the most part really interesting how the show is now shifting ever so slightly into making her the real villain for spending time chatting with Nick Peterson before the season. The worst part for Joe is that this was his birthday!

As for some other highlights tonight, Jade Roper and Tanner Tolbert are still together, Carly Waddell had another big moment where she was convinced Kirk DeWindt was the right guy for her, and Ashley Salter and Nick (who chose her instead) had a pretty boozy night. This episode was marginally fun, but mostly stuffed full of nonsense. Grade: B-.

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