What happens in between seasons of The Bachelor/Bachelorette never stays a secret for long thanks to Bachelor in Paradise.
It’s rare for a season of the beach spinoff not to include offscreen drama and season 7 is no different. During the second week of BiP, Brendan Morais came under fire for his relationship with Pieper James.
Bachelor Nation met Brendan during season 16 of The Bachelorette, which aired in the fall of 2020. He ultimately broke up with Tayshia Adams after the day portion of their fantasy suite date included looking at engagement rings.
“It freaked him out a little bit. He does want a wife and he wants kids, but the whole process took him by surprise, and he didn’t realize how quickly he was being asked to get down on one knee. It just wasn’t something he was ready for in the end. It was a lot for him to take in. Marriage is something he doesn’t take lightly,” a source told Us in December 2020, noting that he’s been married before. “He was being super honest to Tayshia about how he wasn’t ready for marriage and how he was still broken over his last marriage — that’s not something he would lie about. He was really young when he first got married. His divorce was something he took very seriously.”
Pieper, for her part, appeared on Matt James’ season of The Bachelor in early 2021. She was eliminated before hometown dates.
The ABC stars subsequently connected during the spring of 2021. That June, Us Weekly exclusively confirmed their relationship wasn’t strictly platonic.
“They both are super into each other and are getting to know each other and are just having fun going on dates,” a source said at the time.
That same month, Brendan left to film Bachelor in Paradise — and based on the trailer, Pieper appears to arrive in a red swimsuit later on in the season.
During the August 23 episode, Demi Burnett questioned Brendan’s relationship with Pieper after he told her he wanted to keep his options open following their date.
“Pieper and I, we’ve hung out. We spent some time together, we’ve communicated, we’ve enjoyed each other’s company and that’s that,” he said on the show. “There’s no relationship.”
Scroll through for everything we know about Pieper and Brendan:
