Secrets from the source! After two stints on Bachelor in Paradise, Bibiana Julian spilled the tea on the behind-the-scenes of the popular spinoff while recapping the season 7 premiere of Us Weekly’s “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast.
According to the 33-year-old Bachelor vet, there’s certainly chatter between Bachelor and Bachelorette alums about who is going to film the Mexico spinoff.
“Because we had last year off because of the pandemic, we saw a lot of people — a lot of the ladies from Peter [Weber’s] season, we saw a lot of the guys from Clare [Crawley] and Tayshia [Adams’] season — kind of doing their thing and meeting one another outside of that bubble, which I think is an advantage for sure,” Bibiana told Us. “Aside from Katie [Thurston’s] guys who really didn’t get to know anyone prior. … The girls probably talked to one another, you kind of hear rumors of, like, ‘OK, this person is going to be there. This person is going to be here.’”
The Bachelor Winter Games alum added that it’s “still a surprise” — especially when someone shows up.
“If you’re there the first week, there is a chance that you’re walking out on day one, but you could be walking on day two or three or even that following week,” she explained. “So it’s basically up to, like, whatever’s happening on the beach and you have an idea, but no, typically you think you’re going in on day one and I’ve heard stories where people literally are locked in their hotel rooms for, like, three weeks and never go.”
As for the season 7 cast, Bibiana is rooting for her friend Joe Amabile, who had a rocky start on Monday’s episode when he was reminded of his past with ex-girlfriend Kendall Long, whom he met on season 5.
“Joe, to me, when you know him off camera, he has this very genuine, like, confident feeling. So to see him kind of be frazzled wasn’t something that, as his friend, I was expecting at all or whatsoever,” she told Us. “I thought he was gonna go back there and be excited, and it caught me off guard. I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is actually getting to him.’ And you know, I sent him a text message and I was like, ‘Everybody’s just falling in love with you all over again. And he’s like, ’It was hard.’ Like, once he stepped on that beach, it was like, ‘Oh, what did I get myself into?’ … But it can show people, like, the magnitude of how much one can actually experience on Paradise.”
For Bibiana’s complete recap of Monday’s premiere, including which couple may go the distance, listen to Us Weekly’s “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast.