The Bachelor In Paradise guest hosts, ranked from worst to best

David Spade, Lance Bass, Tituss Burgess, and Lil Jon all tried to commandeer the drama-filled Bachelor In Paradise this season, but how well did they do?

By Gwen Ihnat | September 28, 2021 | 1:00pm

TV Lists Bachelor in Paradise

The Bachelor In Paradise guest hosts, ranked from worst to best

From left: Lil Jon, Tituss Burgess, Lance Bass, and David Spade (Photos: Craig Sjodin/ABC) Graphic: Natalie Peeples

When perennial Bachelor Nation host Chris Harrison was ousted some months back, the Bachelor powers that be scrambled to come up with replacements for such an integral part of the franchise. The Bachelorette hit it out of the park by having former leads Taysha Adams and Kaitlyn Bristowe step in as not only co-hosts, but confidantes for the season’s new Bachelorette, Katie Thurston. (The two will co-host again when the dating competition returns in October, guiding season 25 runner-up Michelle Young.)

Bachelor In Paradise has always been the more laid-back and volatile jewel in the Bachelor crown, as it involves not just one lead and many suitors, but a variety of Bachelor/Bachelorette heroes and villains tossed together on a beautiful Mexican beach to see what develops, helped along by BIP bartender Wells Adams. Instead of one (or two) permanent hosts throughout the current season seven, Bachelor In Paradise decided to rotate through four men: David Spade, Lance Bass, Tituss Burgess, and Lil Jon. Apparently the gig is tougher than it looks, as Spade said on his way out: “I thought it was gonna be easy, but you know what? Doing barely anything was a lot harder than I thought.”

Even while doing barely anything, the guests hosts all made some sort of impression, but with various levels of success (although we suspect the series producers had a lot to do with most of these machinations). So which one should become the permanent BIP host, living life in paradise while cracking jokes with Wells and hopefully staying a safe distance from all the drama (and the crabs)? Let’s find out.

6. Lance Bass

As with his brief catfishing cameo on , the former NSYNC-er’s appearance on Bachelor In Paradise can only be classified as disappointing. (He and his husband were pretty fun as guests on Lisa Vanderpump’s new dinner party series, Overserved.) Bass had a heart-to-heart with Natasha about her tepid relationship with Brendan (which we now know should have culminated with him urging her to run far, far away), and hosted Riley and Maurissa’s strange dinner party, which included items like deep-fried tongue, breaking Connor The Cat’s heart in the process. And that was about it. At least Bass introduced Becca on his way out, as the first former Bachelorette/BIP contestant. But frankly the most fun part of Bass’ tenure was when all the contestants were singing along to NSYNC songs upon news of his arrival.

5. No one

Some of these hosts were so forgettable, it seemed like there were large swaths of time when there was no host at all. New BIP participants like Tia and Blake just showed up on the beach unannounced, date cards in hand and ready to party. Even the arrival of Grocery Store Joe’s ex-fiancé Kendall, built up as a major plot twist, didn’t get so much as a hearty handshake from any of the hosts, which brings up the question of whether anyone really needs to be there at all. After all, final host Lil Jon departed with two full weeks of the show still to go. These guest hosts didn’t even take on the arduous task of running the rose ceremony; that job was left to the always-welcome Wells the bartender. Which makes us think…

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4. Wells Adams

Bachelor In Paradise veteran Wells was a saving grace this season, as the only piece of continuity left (well, at least since season four). This gave Wells the agency to comment on the fact that there were more immediate pairings on this season than he’d ever seen (although, in typical Paradise fashion, many of them quickly fizzled out). But Wells not only had the comedic chops to unfurl a string of descriptive one-liners about Connor’s terrible orange shirt, he also had the compassion to talk things over when needed, like lending Kendall an ear when she was obviously distraught about seeing Joe with Serena. As Wells said in one pivotal rose ceremony, apparently he’s also the “master of ceremonies,” so he was able to make sure that Natasha got a rose to be able to stick around after being duped by the scheming of Brendan and Pieper. Wells has demonstrated that he has the compassion and charisma to make a fine BIP host. Although he lacks the star power of some of these celebrity guests, there are worse choices that the franchise could make (Lance Bass, for one).

3. Tituss Burgess

Tituss Burgess gets what makes shows like Bachelor In Paradise work, and committed to throwing himself into the drama as much as possible, even though it seems like the show could have used him a lot more. Upon his arrival, he announced his own “Tight-Ass” party, to which only a select number of contestants were invited, leading to all sorts of immediate hurt feelings and speculation from those left behind about what was going on at the (ultimately unimpressive) shindig. When Alanna showed up and expressed reservations about breaking up Chris and Jessenia, Burgess encouraged her to go get her man, which wound up getting Alana kicked off the island in less than 24 hours. He also thankfully called out the elephant in the room as Pieper and Brendan remained on the island (but not for long): “If you’re already in a relationship, that defeats the purpose of coming here.” As always, Burgess was a hilarious over-the-top delight to witness in his much-too-brief glimpses; the worst part of his visit was when one of the women had to explain to her date who he was. He deserves to be a household name everywhere, and maybe a more permanent Bachelor gig could help make that happen.

2. Lil Jon

When Lil Jon showed up on episode eight, the group was rather deflated after ousting not one but two couples for their devious underhandedness. The rapper paid no mind to the tense vibe, instead shaking the group out of it. He even cheered up Natasha by having her help him spray everyone with champagne. Lil Jon said he wanted the contestants to get closer together, and then proceeded to deliver on that promise by setting Tia and Blake off on a treacherous ATV ride. He even was able to steer everyone back into party mode post-storm evacuation in episode nine. Bachelor In Paradise can often get bogged down in pointless drama, finding itself in desperate need of a bolt of energy, which Lil Jon never failed to provide. He also offered a helpful reminder for all the relationship-obsessed contestants: They’re at a glamorous resort on the beach, for god’s sake, so why not have some fun with it?

1. David Spade

The former /sitcom star seemed like an unlikely, possibly obnoxious choice at first, but as it turns out, his trademark snark is just what a ridiculous outing like Paradise requires. As the first host out of the gate, David Spade had to do most of the heavy lifting in the premiere, greeting all of the initial guests on the beach (and displaying impressive knowledge of their Bachelor Nation pasts), then sitting back and watch the romance drama unfold. But he was game enough to help famous champagne drinker Kelsey open the bottle she’d brought, ask Grocery Store Joe if he was going to “double-bag it” if he hooked up on the beach (while winking at the camera, no less), and explain his Paradise presence to Tammy by saying that he lost a bet. Of all the new BIP hosts, only Spade seemed to recognize what a ludicrous spectacle this show really is, and was determined to have fun with it despite (or maybe because of) the plethora of romantic/dramatic showdowns on the beach. As he said through his fake tears on the way out: “I’m just looking forward to seeing a lot of those people on Cameo. I’m going to make them say happy birthday to me for nine bucks.”