Wow, what an eventful night of #AYTO television. There’s a lot to talk about here.
But… before we get into it, a little news about the remainder of this season of Are You the One: it’s moving to Monday nights at 11pm. That’s right. Definitely way past my bedtime. On the one hand, I’m excited about this move because it means I don’t have to wait a whole week for the next episode since it will be coming out THIS MONDAY. On the other hand, how bad is this season doing that it’s getting moved to 11PM on a Monday?? Like, why are you people not watching this quality content?
Either way, recaps will be moving to Wednesdays to adjust to this new programming schedule. Mark your calendars accordingly.
On to this week’s episode.
Before the episode starts, Terrence J comes on to remind us all to stay tuned because later on in the episode, they will be revealing on of the Perfect Matches before the people in the show even know they’re a perfect match. Why is this happening? I don’t know. If you follow Are You the One? Math then you already know that the match they’re going to confirm later has been mathematically verified. But we’ll get to that later.
Remember how last week there was a blackout and they lost $250k? Remy is real salty about that. Remy is an even bigger Jax shipper than I am, and he’s dragging Jonathan hardcore for not letting Justin and Max sit together. He’s pretty sure that if they had sat together, it would have been a beam and that the other couples who were matches wouldn’t have been messed up. I am hopeful that he is right, because as we all know, I love Justin and Max together, but the odds aren’t looking great. Either way, Jonathan is still the worst. He is at least 100% correct about that.
Meanwhile, Justin and Max are just in the kitchen watching all the drama unfold and grinning away because they’re pretty sure they’re a match. I hope so, cute babes.
After the blackout, Basit is certain Jonathan is their match. But he’s not feeling great about it. He tells Jonathan, “I’ve been clearly the second choice… I’m not going to fight for you. You’re going to have to fight for me now. I’m glad we had this talk.” Yes queen.
At least Amber seems pretty pleased about the blackout, because it means Nour isn’t her perfect match. Amber says she knew deep inside they weren’t a match, and she should have listened to her gut. Nour says she was rooting for them. It’s clear Nour is really torn up about this, but Nour is also awful, so IDGAF.
Good thing Nour has Kai to commiserate with, I guess. Kai says if Nour needs someone to talk to, he’s willing to talk because he’s still heartbroken over Jenna. Cue all the eyeroll emojis I can find.
Then, of course, Kai goes to find Jenna. He tells Jenna he can’t wait to get out of here so she can actually be with Jenna. Kai tells Jenna he’s obsessed with her and they make out.
Thank God the fucking No Match Police shows up to break this nonsense up. Remy comes in and is like, “Whoa whoa, you should not be speaking. This is toxic.” Again, Remy is RIGHT. Who knew I’d be agreeing with Remy so much this season? Jenna sees this as a wake up call and says, “Oh my god, I look so stupid.” Yeah, you do. Kai can join Jonathan and Nour over in the corner of people who are the worst.
Okay. Challenge Time! This one is all about who has ignored red flags in relationships. I guess. This challenge is convoluted AF, but here I go trying to explain it. So they polled the house, and when it comes to dating, the two pickiest people are Brandon and Nour. So Terrence is going to read Brandon and Nour red flags and they have to pick people in the house who exude those red flags. Whoever guesses the most right gets to pick two people to go out on a date with them. You follow? Yeah, it’s dumb.
Here are some examples:
Who chews loudly? Nour guesses correctly that it’s Jenna (1 point for Nour)
Who has bad grammar/spelling? - It’s Remy (1 point for Brandon) and this is also a deal breaker for me.
Who snores? It’s Danny (1 point for Nour)
Who isn’t into fashion? Justin (1 point Brandon). Justin thought his fashion was okay until he came to this house. LOL.
Anyway, Brandon ends up winning, so he chooses Aasha and Basit. Nour doesn’t win, so she has to go on a date with two people who exude the most of her red flags (that would be Kylie and Jenna).
Their date? They get to drive on ATVs through the rainforest. It looks fun. Aasha wants everyone to know that she’s pumped about this date. She’s really feeling Brandon because she feels like he’s the only one she vibes with on a deeper level. Meanwhile, Basit just wants us to know they are capable of being masculine and riding an ATV even though they’re in touch with their feminine side.
After the activity, the groups get to sit and chat. Nour, Jenna, and Kylie are sitting around in a circle not really feeling each other romantically. Nour says she invested so much in Amber and she was not her match, and now it’s hard for her to open up, but she tells Jenna she has a connection with Kai. Get in line, boo.
In the other group, Brandon gives Basit and kiss and says, basically, I love you but I want to talk to Aasha because we’re really into each other, so bye. Basit very graciously gives the happy couple their alone time. This is very cute and mature and sweet and I ship it. Aasha likes that Brandon takes her seriously and they have a strong mental connection. Brandon wants them to take time and get to know each other before they get committed. Heart eyes.
So, obviously, Brandon and Aasha get sent into the Truth Booth. There was no real contest here. And let’s just cut to it. They’re a Perfect Match! This is so great, and I’m happy for them. So is the rest of the house.
While everyone is celebrating, Kai is (once again) hitting on everyone. Jasmine is not into it, and good for her. Not only is Kai hitting on Nour, but he’s also wrestling with Danny in the closet. They share a small peck.
Thankfully, Danny’s no fool. He wisely observes, “He knows how to make me feel good, but I don’t feel like that’s unique because I feel like Kai works really hard to have that kind of relationship with everyone.”
I am wondering if this editing means Danny and Kai are a perfect match though. Which would really get on my nerves because Danny deserves better.
So basically it looks like Nour, Amber, Kai, and Jenna are doing a wife swap. Amber and Jenna are now feeling each other, and this feels like a much better fit. For one, Amber said she wanted someone who is as obsessed with Harry Potter as she is, and Jenna has a Harry Potter tattoo. Bam. Soulmates. Also, Amber makes a good point when she says, “Why wouldn’t everyone want to see the two most hottest girls in the house together? I know I would.” I mean. I would like to see it too.
Let’s hop on over to the next day. Jonathan knows he’s been a real douche canoe to Basit, so he’s set up something really nice for them. He’s made Basit a sweet little flower crown. That might seem dumb at first, but a flower crow DOES NOT SEEM LIKE IT WOULD BE EASY to make; however, I’m also just not an arts and crafts person, so I’m impressed. Basit is too.
Jonathan tells Basit, “I just wanted to say I’m sorry. It’s never my intention to hurt someone I’m willing to grow with and get to know.” He says he was so distracted by the sequins and glitter that he didn’t really take time to get to know who was underneath all that. “And what’s underneath all that was a beautiful person. I was distracted by someone else in the house and also distracted by your costume.”
Basit says they realize he wasn’t trying to hurt them. But he also fairly points out that if they had gotten one beam last week, Jonathan probably would still be pursuing Justin. And that’s a scary thought. Basit is open to reconciling with Jonathan, but he’s also no fool. He tells the cameras, “We’re a work in progress. I’m not gonna say we’re fixed, but we’re putting the pieces together.”
Basit and Jonathan kiss, and MTV reveals to viewers that they are a perfect match.
Again, if you’ve been following the math, you already knew this one. I guess we’ll see why they decided to reveal this in upcoming weeks. Will it add to the drama? I will admit I did feel a little emotional getting this information relayed to me in this way. It was very dramatic, and there is some sweet dramatic irony in knowing they “belong together” before they know it. But yeah, we’ll see what this means in the coming weeks I guess.
Let’s get to the Match Up Ceremony. Brandon and Aasha are a confirmed match, so they sit next to each other. They still have to get at least one more beam for it to not be a Black Out. Let’s see how they did:
Jenna picks Amber. No surprise there.
Basit picks Jonathan. Basit says this week, Jonathan made him feel seen and valued. Jonathan says, “Coming in to this experience, a person like me needed time to grow, and someone that has extreme patience. So I am extremely honored to be standing by them tonight.” Remy, who is basically becoming a stand-in for the viewers, squees a little bit and says, “My icy heart is melting.”
Jasmine picks Kylie. Most people expected her to pick Kai, but Jasmine says she didn’t ask for somebody who’s going to put her second.
Danny picks Kai, and Nour is annoyed. Whatever, Nour. You annoy me every day.
Paige and Kari pair up. Y’all. I forgot Paige was here.
Max and Justin pair up.
Last up are Nour and Remy. Remy’s like, “I’ve never been chosen last for anything in my entire life.” This is clearly not going to be a beam.
But how many beams did they get? Drumroll please. 3 beams total. So two extra beams aside from the perfect match beam. They still have a long way to go. I’m still shipping Jax, so I’m going to have to say Justin and Max and Basit and Jonathan are those beams. Here’s hoping?
My standout this week is Remy, which is surprising, considering I wasn’t all that hot on him earlier in the season; however, he spoke a lot of truths this episode. He seems like he’s probably one of the smarter people in the house. Also, he’s clearly a secret Are You the One? stan who is enjoying witnessing and responding to all of the drama. And who can’t get behind that?
See you at our new recap time on Wednesday, AYTO fans!