The final days on the beach had no shortage of drama.
Another summer at the beach has come to an end. Bachelor in Paradise aired its season finale on Tuesday, and it was complete with engagements, makeups and breakups, all of which ET is breaking down in the recap below.
Noah and Abigail were still mid-breakup when the episode began, and their shocking final fate was eventually revealed. A canceled cocktail party and the all-important rose ceremony sent Natasha and Chelsea home, before more couples met their end.
A visit from Dean and Caelynn, Fantasy Suites and engagements all followed, but happily ever after couldn't come without a visit from one man's ex.
Keep reading to see how each couple left the beach in ET's recap of the Bachelor in Paradise season finale.
Abigail & Noah
Noah shocked fans last week when he told Abigail she wasn't his person, just one day after he told her he was falling in love. The finale saw Abigail leave the bathroom with a tear-stained face to finish her talk with Noah.
"I wasn’t trying to blindside you. I loved the entire time we've had," Noah told Abigail, before she confessed, "I was actually coming here today to tell you that I was falling in love with you, too."
"I wasn’t even the one that was initiating that conversation. You were. You were pushing me to open up. That hurts," she said. "I know you can't feel how you feel, but it’s just if you were feeling that way, you don’t say that."
Noah insisted that he didn't lie, telling her, "That’s why this is hard. At the end of the day, I just wasn’t your person. You shouldn’t hold that against yourself at all."
An emotional Abigail wasn't comforted by Noah's words, telling him, "You’re right. You’re not my person. I just want to forget about this and just move on. I don’t want to do this anymore. I honestly don’t know what you want me to say. There’s nothing else to say."
The pair hugged and said their goodbyes, with Noah stating in a confessional that he's "not walking away with regrets."
"As far as being each other's soulmates, that's the shame of this whole thing," he said. "We were great, but we weren’t that."
While Noah made his exit without saying goodbye to the group, Abigail went back in to Paradise Prom to break the news through tears. There she told her friends she was "humiliated" by Noah's decision.
"I was blindsided. That’s what hurts the most about all of this... It f**king hurts. Why would he get me all happy and excited just to take that away from? Honestly, I think he’s just scared. He’s holding back and he’s using his gut feeling as an excuse," she said. "I can’t convince him to stay with me and we’ll work it out. That’s something he needs to figure out on his own. I really thought we were going to leave together."
Though Abigail and Noah left the beach separately, an update at the end of the episode revealed that they missed each other when they got home. The couple is currently hanging out together and taking things slowly.
Becca & Thomas
After everyone except Chelsea and Natasha made it through the rose ceremony, Wells Adams brought in Dean Unglert and Caelynn Miller-Keyes to encourage the remaining contestants to have tough conversations with each other. The couple, a BiP success story, met and fell in love on season 6 of the show in 2019.
First up was Becca and Thomas, who, it became clear quickly, were in totally different places. While Thomas told Becca that he felt "so strongly" that they can have "something special," she wasn't so sure.
"I feel like sometimes it’s too good to be true, and that scares me... I couldn’t leave here [and] feel OK about leaving with somebody that I don’t 100 percent fully know," she told him. "And so that’s why, after all of this, I think what’s best for both of us is to not continue, and not go to the Fantasy Suites, and not show up tomorrow."
A confused Thomas told Becca he was falling in love with her, but she said she hadn't "seen any of that" emotion thus far.
"There’s something that’s missing, something more that’s lacking," she said. "I feel like I see a part of Thomas, but I don’t see all of Thomas. I just haven’t gotten that from you."
Thomas started sobbing at that point, telling Becca that he'd trust her decision even though it'd "suck."
"I don’t want you to leave here with a what-if," he said. "I don’t want you to leave here thinking if you saw that side it’d be fine. If this is what you need for you to get to a point where you need to be, I can live with that."
He got up to leave after that, but Becca chased after him to make sure he knew that she cared. Still crying, Thomas said, "I wish you could see the faith I have in us."
As she drove away from the beach alone, Becca began questioning her decision.
"It sucks that I’m now seeing another side to Thomas that I’ve wanted to see throughout this entire time, and now it’s under these circumstances," she said. "When he was like, 'Just leave here with me. Just have faith in us.' I’ve never heard that from a guy before. I didn’t hear it from the last two guys I was engaged to, that’s for sure."
"I was pretty confident in my decision to walk away, but he kept saying, 'Don’t have any what-ifs,' and then I see a whole different side to him and he’s asking me to just have faith in him," she continued through tears. "I don’t know. I’m torn."
Like Noah and Abigail, Becca and Thomas rekindled their romance after Paradise. They are happy and in love.
Mykenna & Ed
One of Paradise's newest couple's, Mykenna and Ed broke up as quickly as they began. While Ed told the cameras that there was "no question" that he could fall in love with Mykenna, she didn't feel the same way.
"I’ve really had a great time getting to know you... I don’t know if we’ve built a strong enough bond," she said. "I think there’s just something missing for me. I don’t think I can be what you are looking for."
Ed responded by saying that he wanted to "explore" their spark outside of Paradise, but she told him, "I don't think that I'm your person." He wasn't deterred, though, and continued to plead his case. In the end, he accepted it when Mykenna told him that she wanted to "go our separate ways."
Anna & James... and Tia & Aaron
Like Mykenna and Ed, both Anna and James and Tia and Aaron had late connections on the beach.
Nevertheless, Anna told James that she'd "like to see where this could go." He disagreed, telling her, "I don’t think I’m in a place right now where I can see us falling in love." Anna told James that she felt "slightly led on," and he was quick to apologize.
As Anna left crying over how much the whole thing "f**king sucks," James raced upstairs to talk to his true Paradise love, his BFF, Aaron, and ask him to leave together.
"I’m not leaving with any romance, but I got the bromance," James proclaimed. Aaron quickly agreed and raced off to break the news to Tia.
"I know we hung out the last couple of days and it’s been great, and I actually care about you, but James is leaving right now so we’re about to bounce," he said.
"Are you s**tting me, right now?" Tia replied with a disbelieving laugh. Aaron confirmed that he was not kidding, and offered Tia a smile as he said, "I’ll get your number."
James gave Aaron a piggyback ride out of Paradise, before the best bros shared a car home. "I came in looking for a love story, and I just found a best friend," James said.
"F**k this place. F**k this beach. F**k these dudes," Tia said in a confessional after Aaron and James' exit. "I’m never coming here again. I’m leaving single. No more men."
Aaron and James are now roommates and BFFs.
Maurissa & Riley
When it came time for Maurissa and Riley to talk, she confessed her feelings for him, and he briefly made her think he was breaking up with her. While Maurissa told Riley that his fake out made her "f**king hate" him, she shared her true feelings in a confessional, stating, "I love Riley. I love that man."
Before they went to the Fantasy Suite, Maurissa told Riley, "You’re my person. You are my person. I know that. I know that 1000 percent."
Riley confessed that the idea of an engagement made him "nervous," but quickly convinced Maurissa he wasn't scared of commitment as he detailed his longtime dream of waking up on Sunday mornings and spending a quiet day with his wife and kids.
"When I see you, I see Sunday morning, which feels unbelievably good," he told her. "I know for certain that I love you. With no question it’s the greatest feeling ever."
She uttered those three little words too, before stating in a confessional, "It’s almost too good to be true. I wake up every morning wondering, 'Is this real? Is this man real?' This is the man that I’ve been waiting for my whole life. This is my husband, and I don’t want to live life without him."
Maurissa woke up feeling good the morning after her Fantasy Suite with Riley, but he made her nervous when he revealed he had to "think some more" about a potential proposal.
Despite feeling nerves heading into her private rose ceremony, Maurissa mustered up the courage to tell Riley that he made her believe that "fairy tales do exist."
"I really never believed at love at first sight, and you’ve shown me that it truly is possible," she said. "I knew I loved you the first moment I met you... I am in love with you, Riley, and it is truly the scariest feeling in the world, but you make me feel safe, you make me feel protected."
Her fears were put to rest shortly thereafter, when Riley proclaimed, "Maurissa, I love you, and I’ve loved you since our very first date," before popping the question.
The engaged pair is still together and madly in love.
Mari & Kenny
While Kenny felt secure in his relationship with Mari, he worried about their 15-year age gap, and that she was too young for the commitment of an engagement at age 25. Mari alleviated his fears, and the pair agreed to the Fantasy Suites.
On their date, Kenny told Mari, "Coming to Paradise and meeting you has changed the whole course of my life," and she told him, "I’ve found what I was looking for, and what I came here for. I have such a good feeling about this, about us, and I just can’t wait to see where it goes."
Kenny responded by telling her "I know I love you," a sentiment she reciprocated.
"It took me 40 years to find the love of my life, and it’s worth the wait," Kenny said in his confessional, with Mari admitting in hers that she was "in awe that this is happening."
The morning after Fantasy Suites, Kenny wondered aloud if he'd get "cold feet" about proposing, worrying Mari. In the end, though, she had nothing to fear.
"Getting engaged is insane. This isn’t something I ever wanted to do. But what makes the whole thing easier is that it’s Mari," he said in a confessional. "... I just want to be around her all the time. I just look at it and say, 'How could it be any better than this?' I’d be an idiot not to do this. I love the girl."
When Mari made her way to the private rose ceremony, she told Kenny she feels like "the luckiest woman" with him. He, in turn, admitted that he was "blown away" by her beauty at first glance, and has grown to feel "something I've never felt before" for her.
After stuttering and pausing for a bit, Kenny took a breath and exclaimed, "Mari, I am so f**king in love with you. I can’t see my life without you. You’re such an amazing woman. You’ve changed my whole outlook on life. I can’t imagine my life without you, so Mari Pepin, will you marry me?"
She said yes, and, today, Mari and Kenny have an insatiable kind of love.
Joe & Serena
Serena went into her talk with Joe ready and willing to say I love you for the first time. He praised her for how she handled Kendall's arrival, before telling her, "This has been really worth it this time around ‘cause of you... I’m really happy that I let my guard down and I allowed this to happen again."
Serena responded by talking about the "butterflies" Joe gives her, and they agreed to go to the Fantasy Suite. Before they got up, though, Serena said, "Joe, I’m in love with you."
"I was going to say that later! You’re saying that now?" he exclaimed, before stating, "I love you too. Very much so."
Serena was left crying in the confessional over how happy she was. On their date, Serena confessed how "scared" she was at the start of their romance, a feeling Joe was all too familiar with.
"After that first conversation, I thought, 'I could fall in love with this girl.' And that’s why I started sweating and panicking and I got all giddy," he said. "... There was a part of me that wanted to run away from that, because I was probably scared of it. When we said we were falling in love with each other, it was real. It meant more to me than anything that’s ever happened to me."
Both Serena and Joe felt good the morning after their Fantasy Suite, and had their looming engagement on their mind. As Joe waited for Serena on the beach, though, Kendall showed up instead.
"When I first came here, I knew you were going to be here and part of me thought that it would be easy to come here and have a closure talk and work towards finding a new relationship and hopefully love, but that’s not what happened," Kendall began. "I came down on this beach and was completely surprised by how it made me feel and how overwhelming it was."
"I think ultimately what ended up happening was I ended up coming here to fully let you go," she continued. "This beach has so many memories and they’re amazing. I’ve loved every moment that we’ve had and you’re an amazing person. I’m really excited for you and Serena, and I felt like I couldn’t leave this beach without fully expressing that to you."
Joe responded by telling Kendall that he'd "always care" for her and telling her she's "a catch" and "always will be." After a brief hug, Kendall left the beach and Joe started pacing.
When Serena arrived, though, all was right with the world. She began by telling him that he inspired her to leave her "pretty cynical" feelings about love behind.
"After we got through all those obstacles, it just made me drawn to you that much more," she said. "Joe, I’m head over heels in love with you, and I fall more in love with you every single day."
Joe responded by telling Serena about Kendall's visit, before assuring her, "If anything, it just made me more confident in how much I do love you."
"The day you told me you were falling in love with me, you showed me how vulnerable you could be, and after that I was all in... It happened fast, faster than I thought, but at this point I don’t see myself not wanting to wake up with you by my side," he said. "When I think about forever, that’s scary. And then I think about it with you, and, I don’t know, it feels right. You told me you were falling in love with me first, you told me you loved me first, now it’s my turn. Serena Pitt, I love you very much, will you marry me?"
Serena accepted Joe's proposal, and the couple is now happily engaged.
Season 7 of Bachelor in Paradise has come to an end. Michelle Young's season of The Bachelorette will premiere Tuesday, Oct. 19 on ABC. Check out all of ET's coverage for everything you need to know before she starts handing out the roses.
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