Aaron Clancy makes his return to the beach on the Oct. 4 episode of Bachelor in Paradise. After only finding a bromance on season 7, Aaron is back and ready for love. “The hope is really to find a romantic connection,” he explained to HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY, of his decision to return. “So, I figured, why not give it one more shot.”
Aaron admitted that Genevieve Parisi was the woman he was most interested in seeing on the beach. The two were previously linked after the Women Tell All special on Genevieve’s season of The Bachelor earlier this year. At the reunion show, Shanae Ankney accused Genevieve of hooking up with Aaron after she left filming. Aaron and Genevieve both denied the rumors afterward.
However, all the buzz got Aaron thinking about a potential future with Genevieve. “I had met her, I believe twice, kind of in passing and just completely platonic,” Aaron explained. “But the rumors at Women Tell All..they did spark a little bit of interest where I did look at her differently. So I did want to potentially pursue that.” He also confirmed that the hookup rumors were something that he “wanted to address” on the beach.
Aaron was introduced to Bachelor Nation on Katie Thurston’s season of The Bachelorette in 2021. He then appeared on BIP that summer, which gave him some experience coming into season 8. “I learned everything the first time, just how the whole thing works and the amount of stress that can really happen throughout the process,” he admitted. “And just how certain things can affect me emotionally. Really, the experience of going through my first season of Paradise changed everything for me.”
Now that he’s had time to reflect on that experience, Aaron is bringing a new side of himself this time around. In addition to physical changes — “My teeth are whiter, my skin’s a little clearer, I’m a little more shredded,” he laughed — we’ll also see some emotional growth. “Real emotions are involved this season,” Aaron admitted. “I think you’ll see a different side of me, romantically. They’re going to see a more romantic side to me that they maybe didn’t see before.”
Bachelor in Paradise airs on Mondays and Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. on ABC.
