The Bachelor is back, and it’s exactly the same as we left it. Well, not exactly. There’s a new host, Jesse Palmer, and a new leading man in Clayton Echard (who looks suspiciously like some of the previous leading men). And among the 31 new contestants are three nurses, one Bat Mitzvah dancer, and one—wait for it—33-year-old.

Arriving in a vintage convertible, Jane tells our new Bachelor, “I’ve been called a cougar once or twice, but I like to consider myself vintage, like a classic car.” Again, Jane is 33 years old, which you may or may not have caught, because her age literally flashes onscreen three times to remind us. To his credit, Clayton says “She’s a cougar?” as Jane walks away. So maybe she looks only, oh, 32 in person. See the moment for yourself around the 2:05 mark: 

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But lest that be the end of the questionable age moments, immediately following Jane walks out a woman named Holly, age 63. She claims she’s “in the wrong place” and is really there for the upcoming senior version of The Bachelor. It’s awkward for everyone involved, and all I can say is Holly deserves better.

For the record, Clayton is 28. He’s a grown-ass man, or at least should be. And had he ended up with Jane—spoiler alert: she was sent home—they would have a measly five-year age gap. Right now feels like a good time for me to be the zillionth person to say the term cougar is misogynistic and outdated; if the roles were reversed, not a single eye would bat.

Now, I’ll concede that it’s possible—possible—the show was in on the joke by poking fun at the age thing and only highlighting that Jane’s 33 because of how young she actually is. But this isn’t the first time the Bachelor franchise has shown its casual ageism.

During Colton Underwood’s season, a contestant named Elyse revealed on a group date that Colton was the first younger man she’d dated—a move which earned her a rose for being so “vulnerable” and drew ire from her younger competitor (and current Bachelor Nation mainstay) Demi Burnett. Elyse was 31 to Colton’s 26—another deeply scandalous five-year difference. As Glamour’s Anna Moeslein wrote at the time, “Her delivery was off, but maybe Demi was right after all when she snipes, ‘There’s no advantage to being an older woman here.’”

And then there was Clare Crawley’s brief tenure as the Bachelorette, which was marked with a Graduate-inspired poster. Not only was the placement puzzling (In the original image for The Graduate, a younger Dustin Hoffman is framed by Anne Bancroft’s leg. Attention to detail, people!), but it was also accompanied by the tagline “It’s about time.” Clare was 39.

There was a lot I liked about the latest premiere: The women seem, by and large, here to entertain, and I could write a whole other article about contestant Claire who, upon meeting Clayton, used actual human agency to decide he was a no for her. (Although, yes, she could have been a little nicer about it.) And while the show has made some efforts to overcome its problems with race—with varying degrees of success—the other “isms” seemingly have yet to be addressed at all. I don’t expect the show to change overnight, but moving on from the idea that a woman over 30 is the butt of the joke seems like the bare minimum.

Lindy Segal is a writer, editor, and disaster on Twitter. Follow her @lindysegal. 

Things heated up when she heard Weber and Sluss were “having troubles” in January 2020. By February, the pair met up at a Bachelor Nation engagement party and ended up leaving together. “He was like, ‘I have so much to tell you,'” Brown said. 

In her book, she explained that they slept together before Brown learned he was having thoughts about Prewett. “The chemistry just wasn’t there,” she said. “It just sucked. And then, I found out he had another girl on his mind. It was all so bizarre.”

On November 18, Peter Weber responded to Brown’s exposé on his podcast, Bachelors in the City. “I thought we were just going to keep it private, but I guess that wasn’t the case,” he said, per People. “And I’m totally okay with it, it’s all good. I don’t mind any of this.” 

As Weber recalls, Bachelor producers actually warned him not to attend the engagement party because Brown would be in attendance, but he went anyway. “I ended up leaving [the party] and then I was like, ‘I want to talk to [Brown] more,’” he said. “I remember I pulled over, I texted her and I was like, ‘Hey, let’s chat. You want to talk more?’ And so I ended up coming back to the party and she snuck out of the house without anyone figuring out and got in my car.” 

In the end, he agreed that their hookup “wasn’t the same as I think we had originally felt,” but he harbors no ill will. He said, “Obviously I wish her all the success and all the support and I guess now our little secret’s out there.”

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May 22: Well, not entirely. Sluss couldn’t resist the bait when fellow Bachelor Nation alum Nick Viall brought Peter up in her Instagram comments. On May 21, Sluss posted a couple of bikini shots on Instagram with the caption, “Got my eye on the prize.” Viall got cheeky in the comments, suggesting that she should have captioned the photo “Dear Peter.”

“As far as captions go…‘Dear Peter’…would have been a home run,” he wrote. Sluss replied that he “nailed it.”

September 2: And you thought she was done… “I feel like I’m on my third life now. Prior to the show was one life and then the show was my second life, being engaged included, and now I’m on my third life living in Los Angeles, being single and kind of just making the most out of this new life,” the 24-year-old told Us Weekly in a new interview. “It’s just it’s truly been crazy. To think that I was like, engaged, probably getting married this fall, it just blows my mind. I’m like, ‘Oh, thank you, Lord!’”

She continued, “I think if [Peter and I] would have made it through, you know, the first year, I think we would have made it. I don’t know, I think that’s just me being positive. The show is just really stressful, especially having to watch all that back. I feel like we would have made it through that, we would have definitely gotten married and made it through it because we both have family values, but I think sometimes it’s not about meeting the right person, sometimes it’s about the right time and place.”

She admitted, “We just weren’t at the right time or place. And we’re not the right people for each other either, but you know what I mean.”

November 17, 2021: Following Hannah Brown’s reveal in her new book that she hooked up with Pete Weber while his season of The Bachelor was still airing (and that it wasn’t great), Sluss seemingly took to TikTok to make her feelings known. 

“When the tea officially spills…” she wrote over her video lip-syncing to the TikTok sound, “That was embarrassing. I really hope you’re embarrassed. Wow.”

She captioned the post, “always trust your instincts ladies.”

You recently told Entertainment Tonight that “the biggest thing is that this [experience] comes with the spotlight, and I want somebody who doesn’t care about that spotlight.” Do you believe that you found somebody in your final two or three guys that does not care about the spotlight?

What I learned more and more as we went on is that there were multiple men that were, as clichéd as it sounds, there “for the right reasons.” They knew who they were, and even though they didn’t have the spotlight on them coming into it, I had this level of trust or understanding after a certain point to really see so many of them were going to be maintaining that character once they stepped out of this, whether they ended up with me or not. That’s something that I definitely had in the forefront of my mind since I was navigating the entire journey.

It’s really hard to weed out those people that may be in it for the right reasons, but also still be intrigued by the idea of what this could also lead to. 

The thing is, you can take opportunities. Everybody has different opportunities that they want to take. I’m going to take certain opportunities as well. But it’s the fact of how you embrace those opportunities. Are you still humble? Do you have a level head on your shoulders, or do you have this sense of entitlement now? Or not working as hard, or trying to make as big of a difference because you don’t need to work as hard? So it’s more of “Yes, you can take advantage of opportunities, but which opportunities are you taking advantage of? And do you still have a humble head on your shoulders?”

That is so perfectly said. As we wrap up, if you could go back and tell yourself anything on night one, what would you say?

Stop saying, “I love it.” When you go through this, everybody has that one phrase that they say over and over again, not even knowing that you’re doing it. I don’t necessarily show I’m nervous on the outside, but when I’m seeing myself, I said, “I love it.” Which was very genuine because I did love it. But I could have used a synonym, changed it up. I could have put in my own lesson that I give to my fifth graders about changing words up to make it interesting. [Laughs.] Like I said, “I love it. I love it. I love it.” And then I said, “I like it.” And then I went back to “I love it.” Fully prepared to make fun of myself for that one.

I, for one, don’t think I picked up on it if that makes you feel any better.

Actually, can you spill this story? So I’m making fun of myself before the whole world sees it. That’d be greatly appreciated. Make it a drinking game. Tell everyone to take a shot every time you hear the word love. [Laughs.]

Will do. And then, looking far ahead, how would you describe the finale for us?

The most dramatic, so dramatic. But the final episode is honestly so intense and emotional. It’s going to be a lot.

One more thing, and it’s something I was dying to know as the first episode came to a close: Does Rick wear eyeliner? Because those are some mesmerizing eyes. 

No, he does not wear eyeliner, but he has the most beautiful dark eyelashes combined with these green eyes. So that’s what you were seeing. Rick has the eyelashes that every woman wished she had.

This interviewed has been edited for length and clarity.

Jessica Radloff is the Glamour West Coast editor. You can follow her on Instagram @jessicaradloff14.

Of the three couples that got engaged in the season finale of Bachelor in Paradise, one could argue Kenny Braasch and Mari Pepin-Solis were the most surprising pair. After all, Kenny first arrived at the beach fully nude (although there’s still some debate about that), and there was a moment in the not-too-distant past when Mari threw her now fiancé’s birthday cake into a bonfire. 

But in the end, Mari didn’t give up on the boy-band manager of her dreams, and Kenny sowed his Paradise oats before our eyes. Glamour sat down with the pair to talk about their unpredictable relationship, whether or not they have any regrets after watching the show, and where they’ll go from here.

Glamour: You two may have had the most ups and downs of any of the engaged couples in Paradise. Did you have any regrets when watching the season play out?

Kenny Braasch: No. Definitely no regrets, because at the end of the day, the way the whole thing panned out has put us where we are now. So obviously, I have no regrets for that because we’re in a great spot now.

Kenny, you’re famously 40. What was it about Mari that made you finally want to lock it down?

Kenny: We just seem to match together very well. And I know she, for her age, carries herself very maturely and it just works. She’s not the typical 25-year-old. In general, it’s just really the way she carries herself for me that made me want to lock it up.

Mari, you were the one who wouldn’t give up on your relationship with Kenny. What was it about him that made you realize he was the one after all?

Mari Pepin-Solis: From the very beginning it was such a strong connection and such a strong feeling that I hadn’t felt so intensely, so quickly before. Watching him spend time with other people, obviously, was difficult, but I think that’s what made me realize, okay, this feeling that I had it’s not something that’s silly. I’m not crazy; it’s legitimate. So that’s when I was like, I need to make sure that this is right and fight for what I want.

You’ve now gotten to spend time together outside of Paradise. Were there any surprising things you learned about each other IRL?

Kenny: To be honest, I don’t think so, which is kind of crazy because we have spent a decent amount of time together post show. But maybe it’s because we did spend a lot of time together at the tail end of Paradise. We really did get to know each other very well, and there really hasn’t been any surprises yet.

Mari: Yet. [Laughs.]

What’s next for the two of you?

Mari: I’ll be moving to Chicago early next year. So that’s the first step—we’ll be living together. And eventually, we’ll talk some wedding plans and some kids after that.

Lindy Segal is a writer based in New York. Follow her on Instagram @LindySegal.

In the Bachelor in Paradise finale, Riley Christian shared with Maurissa Gunn his dream of having a family. “When I see you, I see Sunday morning,” he told her. (I’m not crying—you are.) It was a rare moment of true sincerity in a show more known for things like nude volleyball, body tacos, and “vagina dancing”—and that’s all just this season. Since their first date, it was clear Riley and Maurissa had instant and intense chemistry. And while they had their fair share of PDA (can we get these two a whipped-cream sponsorship, stat?), they’ve proved to be one of the most solid couples to leave Paradise, in this or any season. 

Now the couple is turning their attention to the future. They sat down with Glamour to talk about how they got here, what surprised them most about each other after leaving Mexico, and what’s next.

Glamour: Riley, after fantasy suites, you told Maurissa you weren’t sure you were ready for an engagement. Was that just to throw her off the scent, or were you still not sure at that point?

Riley Christian: After the fantasy suites, it was just a moment where [I realized] me being engaged and having a family is everything that I ever wanted. So it was one of those things that it was like, okay, let’s actually stop and make sure you think it through. It was a very short thought process, actually. I kind of knew what I wanted already and where I was leading toward and what was going to happen. But it’s like, you know what? This is a big moment, man. Focus on it, think about it, and then after that, it was all she wrote and it was game time.

Maurissa, you had a couple of other suitors throughout the season. What was it about Riley that drew you in?

Maurissa Gunn: I had no idea who he was before he came down the beach because I didn’t watch his season. So the conversation that we had right away, within two minutes, we had so much in common. We just clicked. So I was like, I know this is going to be a good one. And then after the date everything was smooth sailing from there.

You’re like, “We both like whipped cream…”

Maurissa: Well, he actually didn’t like whipped cream before, but now he loves it.

Joe Amabile has done it all before. He’s been on The Bachelorette, Bachelor in Paradise, and even Dancing with the Stars. So when he returned to the beach for the chance to find love on BiP yet again, he wasn’t quite convinced it was the right place, or the right time. In fact, looking back at the season premiere, it’s somewhat of a miracle he and Serena Pitt made it to the finale at all. (Consider this your spoiler warning if you haven’t watched the finale yet.) 

But not only did the Prom King and Queen of Paradise get engaged, they made it through the season relatively unscathed—despite a number of obstacles thrown in their direction (see: ex-girlfriend returns to the beach not once but twice). Now, they’re putting the past behind them and focusing on spending all the time they can together—away from the cameras. 

We caught up with the endlessly likable couple to see what was going through their heads on that beach, what’s next, and more.

Glamour: Joe, you almost left paradise on day one. What was it that kept you there?

Joe Amabile: I’ve said it multiple times: I really did almost leave that day, but I think it was my connection with Serena. I knew there could potentially be something there. So after I panicked and freaked out and sweated and did everything that I was doing, she kept me there.

Serena Pitt: I know, thankfully so.

Joe: Couldn’t ask for a better ending, right?

I’m sorry to bring it up, but what were you thinking when you saw Kendall walk down the beach as you were about to propose to Serena?

Joe: I was so nervous in the moment to begin with, just because it’s such a big moment in my life. And I was really just focused on the ring in my back pocket and Serena. So obviously Kendall’s timing wasn’t the best; it was a quick conversation, and I was just ready to see Serena.

Serena, you stayed remarkably calm when he told you Kendall had been there. What was going through your head when you found out?

Serena: I was really shocked, to be honest. Because obviously, I had thought she left with everyone else. But I was just worried about him, and he seemed completely fine and super steady with it all. It was a big day for us and a big moment. And as much as I wanted to acknowledge what had just happened, I was happy that we both just kind of continued forward with our special moment.

Joe, you also have a podcast, Clickbait, with Natasha outside of the show. What was it like watching your friend deal with her ups and downs on the beach?

“That is the last refuge of so many men,” Daniel Radcliffe spits, partway through his tour-de-force guest role on the Bachelor Nation recap podcast Love to See It. His tone is slick with disdain, mimicking a male contestant on Bachelor in Paradise: “You’re entitled to your opinion.” 

Daniel Radcliffe: recovered child star, versatile performer, and armchair psychologist to Bachelor Nation.

Very few things right now provide pure, potent joy, but we have here an exception: 101 minutes of Bachelor in Paradise analysis from Daniel Radcliffe and his longtime girlfriend, actor Erin Darke. Together with Love to See It hosts Emma Gray and Claire Fallon, they spend an episode dissecting the seventh week of the summertime Bachelor in Paradise series. 

It’s hard to convey the sincerity and enthusiasm with which Daniel Radcliffe goes frame-by-frame through the two week-seven episodes of Bachelor in Paradise. He sighs, groans, releases yelps of passion, and finishes the other hosts’ sentences. At several points, he hearkens back to plot lines from earlier seasons to scaffold his complex theories and arguments. Most importantly—at risk of setting the bar at toe-ring level for male celebrities—he doesn’t interrupt. He listens actively. He shares genuine laughter with the other hosts and Darke. 

His investment never seems feigned. After all, who better than a person who has been watched every moment of his adult life to weigh in on a reality show, a genre about people submitting to being observed? Radcliffe also mentions, several times throughout the episode that he is a devotee of the dating show Love Island. This is not a man who dabbles. Daniel Radcliffe loves reality TV. 

“There were moments where it got so awkward that Dan had to cover his ears and duck out of the room,” Darke says, of watching the episodes as a couple. Darke, who should not be discounted just because she was never a wide-eyed boy wizard, is also a worthy critic and important member of the Bachelor Nation intelligentsia. 

Cementing his status as “one of the only celebrities it would actually be nice to spend time with in real life,” Radcliffe gives a gorgeously thorough breakdown of the state of affairs in Paradise. Here are some of his best points: 

On Grocery Store Joe, Serena, and Kendall: 

“I can’t think of another three people off the top of my head that you could shove into a love triangle who would have dealt with it that well. Everybody did the best they could in a really, really awkward situation.”

On Demi’s attempt to seduce Kenny: 

“To be tearfully asked if you want to have sex…[regretful sigh].” 

On Brendan and Pieper’s machinations: 

“They were talking like two criminals trying to get their story straight!” 

On the twin love triangles (Chris, Jessenia, and Alana, vs. Brendan, Natasha, and Pieper) 

“Clearly no one likes Chris. For whatever reason, the people have taken against him—they have no loyalty to him. Because the vast canyon between how they treat Chris—and who knows, maybe the next episode is going to start with them [confronting Brendan and Natasha] being like, ‘You guys have to leave, too.’ But Joe and Riley, I loved that whole conversation when they [confront Chris], but the fact that there was none of that for Brendan can only be because, yeah, there’s nobody that has any loyalty to [Chris].” 

Jenny Singer is a staff writer for Glamour. You can follow her on Twitter. 

In the first episode of the season, each cast member introduces themselves and shares what they’re most known for from their Bachelor or Bachelorette season. Some of this year’s hits include: being smacked by a vibrator, spilling champagne on one’s own face, profuse sweating, and most of all, being rejected.

In their shared rejection, the castmembers are the most like us. Yes, these people were able to take off the summer, buy 400 bikinis, and spout lines about true love like they are doing an eye exam in a greeting card aisle. But before that, they faced romantic disappointment. The glaring, naked desire for fulfillment that we often see on reality shows is turned down on Bachelor in Paradise. These people have—if not loved and lost—been at least fairly embarrassed on television. The result is a mixture of “fuck it” and adult summer camp.

“I’ve started to learn to actually love myself,” says Kelsey, the champagne spiller, of her growth since Peter’s season. “And I’m not looking for someone to fill my holes”

“Did you expect…for you…to be working with us…in paradise?” Tammy asks guest host David Spade, trying to suss out his identity. (She later guesses Dave Chappelle.)

In Monday night’s episode Demi, a Paradise second-timer with manic Elle Woods energy, brings up the Colton Underwood revelation in the best way. “This has never happened to me before,” she says, after getting rejected by another participant. “Except Colton, and that was brutal. But he was gay!” Which—accurate, brief, fair! In another scene, Jessenia, who was on Matt’s season, shares the racist harassment she experienced after co-starring with the first Black Bachelor. 

This season also marks the return of Tahzjuan, the people’s contestant. She, more than any other cast member, behaves how I think many of us would if we were filming a dating TV show in the summer in central America: She overheats, sweats extravagantly, and gets something in her eye and can’t blink it out. In this season, she starts a romance with Tre, after revealing that she has gone on a date with his uncle.

This. This is what reality TV is for. Join me on the digital daybed this August. When Bachelor in Paradise releases new episodes, days feel sunny, life is simply easier to bear.

Jenny Singer is a staff writer for Glamour. You can follow her on Twitter. 

Back in July 2019, Sarah Hyland announced that Bachelorette star Wells Adams, her boyfriend of two years, proposed during a romantic beach vacation. The happy couple shared tons of photos on Instagram that showed exactly how their sweet engagement went down.”That can’t eat, can’t sleep, reach for the stars, over the fence, world series kind of stuff,” Hyland captioned a photo that shows Adams kneeling next to her.

The couple started planning the wedding, slowly but surely. They’ve both talked a bit about what the planning process has been like, and some of the details about the big day are finally starting to emerge. However, everything is currently on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic. Here’s everything we know so far: 

The date: Originally, Adams said on the Your Favorite Thing podcast with Brandi Cyrus that they wanted to take their time. He‘s said that it’ll definitely be a lengthy, traditional wedding planning process. “It will be, like, well over a year. I mean, we haven’t figured out anything, you know?” he said shortly after the proposal. “Phase 1 was just, like, get engaged. We’re still in Phase 1.”

But then the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S., and much of the country shut down in March 2020. Many couples, both famous and not, had to adjust their wedding plans accordingly. During an appearance on The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons Ever! on June 29, 2020, Adams and Hyland gave fans an update. “No plans as of right now. We’ve put all planning on hold,” Hyland told Chris Harrison. “All of my family is mostly on the East Coast, so for them to fly out…and just ages and of course with my health risks, we want to be as safe as possible.”

Now, it’s looking like nuptials won’t occur until 2022. “We were supposed to get married obviously last year, that didn’t happen. We were supposed to get married this year, that didn’t happen,” he told People on August 13. “So now we are hoping next year, or we’re gonna go to Vegas, or the courthouse, I don’t know — well, we’re not going to do those last two things, but I don’t know. 2022 is gotta be our year, right?!” 

Not only that, but they’re rethinking the entire wedding plan. “We’re going to do it all over again,” he continued. “we’re going to go on a nice vacation to where we got engaged, we’re going to re-plan the entire engagement party again, we’re going to re-plan our bachelor and bachelorette parties, we’re going to kind of like, start a new one doing the wedding stuff.” 

The rings: Adams proposed to her with a massive oval diamond ring made by Lorraine Schwartz, per E! online.

Check back here for more updates on Sarah Hyland and Wells Adams’s wedding plans as they come in.