Bachelor in Paradise is off to a blazing start with a revamped season 10 after a two-year hiatus. Parade spoke with one of the hot new contestants about the premiere episode and got all the dirt about their match-up, but beware of spoilers ahead if you haven’t gotten to watch the premiere yet.
Jess Edwards is an executive assistant from San Diego who made it pretty far on Joey Graziadei’s season of The Bachelor (season 28). Alas, it did not work out for her with Joey, but that’s OK because now she has found a fast match on Bachelor in Paradise — and she tells Parade that she definitely had her eye on Spencer Conley from watching him on Jenn Tran’s season of The Bachelorette.
“I followed him on Instagram while Jenn’s season was airing because I thought he was cute,” said Jess, adding, “I will say, I definitely slid into the DMs once or twice, like ‘Cute dog,’ or ‘Oh my gosh, I need to make that recipe!'”
So when Jess saw Spencer on day one, he immediately caught her eye, and then they had a real connection right off the bat.
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“Right away, obviously I see this big tall man and I’m like, ‘Oh yeah. Oh yes,'” said Jess, adding, “He was on my radar already, so seeing him there, I was just so excited. He was my No. 1, I was going to immediately talk to him on day 1, so I thought, ‘How do I shoot my shot right now? I’m gonna go see if he’ll give me a tour!'”
And the rest is history.
Now, Jess did get invited on a date by late arrival Sam McKinney, and it seemed like they might have hit it off as well, but she tells Parade that while Sam was perfectly nice, it just wasn’t the same vibe as she had with Spencer, and actually, the whole time on the date, she was worried about Spencer back at the villa.
“Initially, [after] spending almost the entire first day with Spencer, we hit it off so easily, I think that Sam and Spencer just have a completely different vibe,” says Jess. “So on the date, we had met for like 10 minutes and now we’re going into this insane date where we’re talking about our biggest fears with shamen!”
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She continues, “I think that it was just a completely different vibe. Sam is just a lot more reserved … I was definitely comparing and contrasting, so I think at the end of the day, my connection with Spencer was just so much stronger. The entire time [on the date] I was just like thinking about, ‘Oh my god, he’s sitting at home, wondering what I’m doing!'”
We also had to ask Jess about Lexi Young, who is the only other contestant on the show from Joey’s Bachelor season. Jess says that Lexi is a good friend — they actually have been on girls’ trips together long before Bachelor in Paradise.
“Lexi was my girl. In the mansion, our beds were beside each other, so we hit it off immediately back on Joey’s season,” explains Jess. “Then when I found out she was gonna be on Paradise, I was like, ‘Thank god I’m gonna have one of my girls!’ We’ve gone on some girls’ trips in between our season and now, so I was super excited to have her there.”
Bachelor in Paradise airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC, though this coming week, there are episodes on Monday, July 14, and Tuesday, July 15, at 8 p.m.
