Love is in the air in Tulum, Mexico. Fourteen former contestants of “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” are back for ABC’s new reality show, “Bachelor in Paradise.” The first episode aired on the network on Monday, Aug. 4, introducing viewers to an entirely new series – based on steamy hookups.

“Bachelor in Paradise” is slightly different from “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette.” While date cards and rose ceremonies do exist, the rules of getting a card are slightly different. Four women will be gifted with date cards in episode 1, which will give each of them the opportunity to invite one of the men for a romantic rendezvous. But that doesn’t mean that they hold the power in their hands – it’s the men who will be handing out the roses during the premiere ceremony. And with more women than men in the house, fans were just waiting for fights, love triangles and tears.

The cast members came one-by-one, starting off with Clare and moving onto Marcus, Sarah, Marquel, Daniella, Graham, Lacy, Ben S., Michelle K., Robert, Elise and AshLee. As each contestant arrived, the group began to make connections and revealed to the cameras who they were attracted to – and who they weren’t interested in.

For the most part everyone was attracted to each other. However there were two cast members that left a bad taste in a majority of the group’s mouth. Ben S. of Desiree Hartsock’s season of “The Bachelorette” was one contestant who had both the guys and girls talking behind his back. A large part of the crew appeared to remember his “villainous” antics on the 2013 season, and was afraid that he was on “Bachelor in Paradise” for all the wrong reasons. Meanwhile Michelle K. of Jake Pavelk’s season of “The Bachelor” made contestants uneasy when she refused to admit to host Chris Harrison whether she was single or not.

With seven girls and only six guys, Lacy immediately went to work trying to make a connection in order to stay in Paradise. The rest of the girls in the house were shocked when they discovered her in the water with her arms and legs wrapped around Robert. And their surprise grew when they found her later on in the water with a “tighty orange” (very similar to tighty whities) clad Marcus – who revealed to the cameras that he was still struggling with his recent break up with Andi Dorfman of the 2014 season of “The Bachelorette.” But no one was more surprised than Robert, who was disappointed with the way that Marcus and Lacy were interacting in their late night swim.

Lacy wasn’t the only one making moves on night one. Elise and Dylan shared a steamy kiss in the water while AshLee confessed to Graham that she came on the show hoping to meet him in paradise.

AshLee’s wish to make a connection with Graham came true, but unfortunately for her, Clare was also interested in him. After receiving the first date card, Clare extended the offer of a romantic day out to Graham. The bachelor accepted, which lead AshLee to have a tear-filled freak out – despite meeting him for the first time less than 24-hours ago.

The girls in the house found AshLee’s antics to be a little “crazy.” And AshLee didn’t help her cause by talking to herself, calling Clare ugly and saying that she’s a “s***” for sleeping with Juan Pablo.

Clare didn’t hear her, but shed her own tears over the drama. Instead of continuing on with her date with Graham, she decided to confront AshLee about why she was upset. When AshLee opened up about her connection with Graham, Clare decided to take someone else instead of Graham – so she chose Robert!

Clare and Robert embarked on a trip through ancient ruins and a romantic swim in the ocean. Meanwhile back at the house, Graham was trying to patch things up with AshLee, who refused to talk to him about her feelings. AshLee thought she was doing the right thing, however Graham was uncomfortable and not interested in playing AshLee’s games.

With Robert out of the house, Lacy planned on using that time to get to know Marcus. But unfortunately she never got the chance to because Sarah decided to ask Marcus out on the second date card. The pair jumped into an underground watering hole where they shared a first kiss.

To make things a little more complicated, “Bachelor in Paradise” had another new arrival – Michelle M! Everyone finds Michelle attractive which makes the girls even more nervous about eliminations.

Michelle’s the third woman with the date card and despite a history with Graham, decided to ask Marquel out on the date. Marquel accepted and the pair embarkd on a romantic horseback ride beach-side. Meanwhile, Lacy got the fourth and final date card. While she felt a connection with Marcus and Robert, she ultimately decided to choose Robert after finding out that Marcus kissed Sarah on their date.

Marquel was the first one to hand out a rose during the “Bachelor in Paradise” premiere rose ceremony. But before he had a chance to hand out the rose, Michelle K. interrupted to announce that she didn’t make a connection with anyone and wanted to leave. Michelle K’s departure meant that only one other woman was going home. When Marquel finally got the chance to hand out a rose he gifted it to Michelle M. Graham followed, giving a rose to AshLee. Dylan gave his rose to Elise, who accepted. Marcus handed his rose over to Lacy, and in a surprising move, Lacy accepted. Lacy’s move threw off Robert, who decided to offer his rose to Clare. The sixth and final rose was all up to Ben S., who decided that out of Sarah and Daniella, he wanted to get to know Sarah better. Daniella was the first girl to be eliminated in the premiere episode of “Bachelor in Paradise.”

Were you surprised about who was sent home? Tweet your thoughts to @AmandaTVScoop.

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