Spoiler alert! This story contains rumors about Bachelor in Paradise Season 10 episodes that have not aired yet. Consider yourself warned.
The wait is over. Bachelor in Paradise is officially back, with Season 10 premiering on the 2025 TV schedule on July 7. We know there will be “newness,” as Hannah Brown put it, with a new showrunner, a new location and even challenges introduced to the format. One of the biggest conversations, however, has revolved around the Goldens joining the show and whether there would be any intermingling between the two age groups. According to rumors, the answer is yes. So who was it?
Reality Steve confirmed on his July 3 podcast that the generation gap was breached, and without immediately spoiling who it was, he said:
There isn’t a romantic intermingling, but when they’re all out having fun on a group competition, is there a hookup between a younger and an older? Yes. But I can say it doesn’t lead to, ‘Oh my gosh, these two are now a couple.’ I don’t know if it was a drunk thing, I don’t know if it was, ‘Hey, let’s just have fun,’ but there is a younger/older hookup, makeout session, whatever you want to call it.
This is your last chance to avoid big spoilers, because on his Instagram post that revealed everything he knows so far about Bachelor in Paradise Season 10, Reality Steve named the kissing couple, writing:
At some point during one of the challenges, Sean [McLaughlin] makes out with April Kirkwood. So there is the first ‘crossover’ of the young cast and older cast. However, it doesn’t lead to anything in regards to dating or roses.
Sean McLaughlin, 28, from Charity Lawson’s season and April Kirkwood, 67, from Gerry Turner’s season are the first — and so far only — duo rumored to cross the generational boundaries, but we’ll have to wait to see the context surrounding their kiss.
Reality Steve said he doesn’t know if they were drunk or just having fun, and since it allegedly happens during what he called a “group competition,” I’m wondering if the makeout actually might have been part of a challenge.
Either way, we’ll likely have to wait a couple of episodes for this to go down. Reality Steve reports that the kiss comes between the second and third rose ceremonies. Sean McLaughlin wasn’t part of the first wave of Bachelor in Paradise contestants released by ABC, and the Goldens aren’t arriving until Episode 3 (airing on Tuesday, July 15), according to the schedule on BiP’s Instagram.
I’m interested to see how Bachelor Nation reacts to the whole thing. Jesse Palmer and Wells Adams got some backlash from some former cast members after expressing “hope” for intergenerational love on the beach. The host also said the contestants were encouraged to get to know one another but, “don’t make it weird.” The Golden Bachelorette's Gary Levingston dismissed the idea altogether, saying they wouldn’t date people “the age of our children.”
Maybe he wasn’t part of that competition?
I’m excited to see how this plays out, and I’m looking forward to seeing what other changes showrunner Scott Teti brings to the reality dating show. Tune in for the three-hour premiere at 8 p.m. ET Monday, July 7, on ABC and streaming the next day with a Hulu subscription.
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