And it's already begun. Just 40 minutes into Bachelor in Paradise , Lacy Faddoul is already getting slut-shamed. Scarred by her being booted first on Juan Pablo's season, Lacy determines to stand out from everyone the moment she arrives in Tulum. After all, the crazy complicated rules of Bachelor in Paradise demand that everyone is paired up at the end of each episode, for whoever isn't is sent home. It's only the first day, so Lacy gets to know a few of the men on the trip, including her rumored now-fiance Marcus Grodd and Desiree Hartsock's rejected "Spinventor" Robert Graham. And just like that, one girl is already talking about how she "was raised better than that" — "that" being Lacy's scandalous behavior.
Of course, these women never had any hope of behaving kindly towards each other. While each week, the upper hand changes from one gender group to another, right off the bat in the premiere, the women are the ones who outnumber the men, breeding an instant sense of competition. It's no wonder that it takes mere minutes before the women are trying to mildly shame each other — "maybe she's a free bird or maybe there's alcohol involved," says one woman. Another onlooker quips that Lacy is like "a little ping pong back and forth." At this point, all Lacy has done is go swimming with two men at this insane, scantily clad sexually tense mixer built by the insanely cruel Bachelor producers to create jealousy.
And because this series is just built that way, Lacy isn't the only target. Later, Juan Pablo's ex Clare Crawley gives up her date with Graham Bunn to be nice to AshLee Frazier, who feels she has claim. She naturally picks another person for her date — because let's remember, this is an insane realm where your ability to stick around depends on making a connection — and immediately incurs the wrath of everyone. "It's like a soap opera," says one woman (who's probably going home soon) while rolling her eyes. YES, IT IS. AND YOU SIGNED UP FOR IT TOO, JUDGY MCGEE.
Basically, the first episode of this nonsense show (which is still better than the cesspool that is Bachelor Pad, if you ask me) is serving one very integral purpose: desensitizing us to the heightened expressions of jealousy we're about to dive into. Because if some of the women on The Bachelor said nasty things about each other when they were competing for one man, imagine what will happen when some are competing for multiple men and everyone is fighting for the chance to avoid being humiliated as the only woman without a dance partner. It's going to get ugly. Hold onto your butts.
Images: Francisco Roman/ABC
