Bachelor in Paradise has a whole new vibe — and alum Ashley Iaconetti is not about it.
“Do I wish that the Goldens were there? I wish that they reserved them for a different night,” Iaconetti, 37, told Us Weekly while promoting her partnership with Chicco. “I’m not sure if it’s on Monday and Tuesday, but I would have liked to at least have them do, like, Monday for the youngins’ and then Tuesday for the Goldens. Like, make it two separate shows because I hear that there is a lot less young cast that comes in, so there’s less dating options. And that makes me sad.”
Iaconetti met fellow Bachelor Nation alum Jared Haibon on season 2 of BiP in 2015. They ended their relationship on the show but reconnected in 2018. They got engaged in Mexico in that June on season 5 of BiP and tied the knot the following year at the Rosecliff Mansion in Newport, Rhode Island.
They share two sons, Dawson, 3, and Hayden, 11 months.
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Iaconetti feels that the younger Bachelor and Bachelorette crew mixed with the Golden Bachelor and Bachelorette alums will create some fun friendships but lead to less romantic connections.
“Apparently there’s just, like, not a lot of options,” she reiterated. “I don’t know how it’s gonna be, but I imagine there won’t be any actual romances [between a younger cast member and an older one]. I think that there will be some teased ones, some flirtations. Maybe, like, ‘If I was 20 years younger you [would be my type].’”
The “Almost Famous” podcast host is also disappointed that the show has moved from its original low-key location at Playa Escondida in Mexico to the more luxurious Azura Beach Resort in Costa Rica. The locale was on full display during the season 10 premiere on Monday, July 7.
“I’m kind of sad about the location,” she told Us. “Obviously, [the] Puerto Vallarta area and Escondida were super nostalgic for us. It’ll always be nostalgic for us. It was where [Jared and I] met and had so much emotional turmoil. It was where we got engaged, it was where we made so many friends. So I don’t know that it can ever be the same. We are gonna feel that far more deeply than the audience will [though].”
She added that the whole “glamping or camping” aspect of Paradise is now missing, as well, which was a “big component” of what made the original iteration of the summer reality dating series so entertaining.
“Now there’s air conditioning, everybody gets their own room. We were in bunk beds in sweltering heat,” Iaconetti noted. “There’s something fun about there being like a Survivor-like element while you’re, like, in this emotional typhoon. It just seems too much like vacation right now. Seems like they’re gonna get privacy. So, like, that’s kind of disappointing. But I’m so excited it’s back. I definitely worried about it being gone for that season. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, was that the end?’ I love Paradise. I find it extremely entertaining.”
Iaconetti still can’t believe her life when she thinks about how her kids — and a slew of others — wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for The Bachelor franchise. “It’s the craziest thing,” she said. “I love my little Bachelor babies and the fact that they have, like, this story — it’s so nuts.”
Although Dawson doesn’t know that his parents met on TV, he does love the camera “and knows what we do for work,” Iaconetti said.
“He is very funny. He’s, like, very willing sometimes. He will tell you when he doesn’t want to be on camera, ‘No camera, no camera.’ But then if I’m, like, ‘Hey, can you help me out with this ad? It’s about a kid’s thing.’ He’s, like, ‘All right, let’s do it,’” she explained of her boy band-loving 3-year-old. “He’s just become us in one person and it’s really, really cool.”
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Iaconetti is currently partnering with Chicco in support of their potty training line of products, which she swears by when it comes to Dawson’s toilet trials.
“It’s funny that I’m gonna have to redo that all over again with Hayden, the whole potty training process,” she said. “Then I’ll be, like, ‘Which [toilet] do you prefer, child? Do you prefer the one with the cool little flushing sound that looks like a room toilet? Or do you prefer the topper?’ Every kid has different preferences and now I’m ready. I know what works.”
Iaconetti said Chicco “makes parenting easy,” as she uses their booster seat, stroller, high chair and other accessories — even when she travels.
“We did a trip with Jade [Roper] and Tanner [Tolbert] in Orlando a few months ago and [Chicco] has reliable products that are gonna make your trip a little bit easier.”
Actually, Iaconetti and Haibon, 36, are planning another trip with the Tolberts — a return to their Paradise stomping grounds.
“We’re hoping to do a trip down to Vidanta [in Puerto Vallarta] in November with all the kids. We’re going to show the kids, like, ‘This is your origin story.’ We’re really excited about that, hopefully,” she told Us. “I go down there and, like, you can just smell and feel like you are back in your 27-year-old body. You’re with your husband thinking, ‘How did I actually marry you?’ Like we met on a show here and now we’re married.’ It’s kind of a hard thing to articulate, where you’re just, like, nervous again. All these feelings are flooding back and it makes you feel alive.”
