A perspective straight from the beach! While ABC has officially named Jesse Palmer as the host of season 8 of Bachelor in Paradise, several former stars were rooting for Wells Adams to take over the gig.
“Wells was more interactive with all of us than the host was just because he was there every day at the bar. And he really had a sort of host role in talking about actual, real emotions, giving advice,” Kendall Long, who appeared on seasons 5 and 7 of BiP, said on the Tuesday, May 17, episode of Us Weekly’s “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast.
After Chris Harrison stepped back from the franchise in 2021, the network enlisted a series of celebrity guest hosts to help guide the show. Wells, who has been the bartender since season 4 in 2017, also had a larger role on season 7. In addition to being behind the bar, he was the “master of ceremonies” and hosted the final week.
“The hosts themselves, we don’t really see that often. We see ’em during rose ceremonies and they help guide that,” Kendall continued. “Wells — he’s been through it, he’s experienced it, having that more friend[ly] role and being able to have conversations with him. I found [Wells] to be really helpful. And I’m not sure if he’d be able to fulfill that role. Not as the bartender, maybe, it would just kind of rearrange the show a bit.”
While the Just Curious author noted that she’s confident Jesse is “really good at what he does or else he wouldn’t be there,” she concluded that Wells could “definitely” balance the roles of host and bartender. “I think they’re, maybe, trying to tie Paradise and Bachelor and Bachelorette together more by having one single host,” she told Us. “Maybe that’s what their goal is.”
She then joked, “I haven’t seen anything with Jesse Palmer being the host. I have kind of not watched things since I was on. PTSD, I guess.”
Tammy Ly, who appeared on season 7 of BiP, told Us last month that she “really think[s] Wells should just be the permanent host.”
“I think he’s killer. He has great commentary. He’s funny. He’s also sympathetic and, like, really relatable,” she told Us. “He’s been on the show before. Jesse is great and I think that if they just wanted him for a hosting position, that’d be great. But Paradise is so much more in depth and personal with the cast. I think that Wells would just kill it.”
Fellow season 7 alum Jessenia Cruz agreed.
“I do love the idea of the celebrity guests coming every now and then — or celebrity hosts. I love that. I thought that was great, so if they wanna continue that? Perfect. Or if they keep Wells as the host and, maybe, have someone kind of take up the mantle of the Paradise bartender, that’d be cool too,” she explained, “But, you know, Jesse Palmer — I don’t have anything against him, I think he was a great host for The Bachelor, but he doesn’t need to be in Paradise.”
Bachelor in Paradise is set to tape this summer and air on ABC this fall.
