‘Bachelor Canada’ winner back for more in ‘Paradise’
Inaugural season filled with favourite contestants from sister TV series
The Canadian who kept Twitter guessing during the most recent season of “The Bachelorette” is back. So is the woman who won the first Canadian Bachelor’s heart.
Brendan Scanzano and Bianka Kamber are two of the cast members just announced for the inaugural season of “Bachelor in Paradise Canada,” which debuts Oct. 10.
Whereas American “Bachelor in Paradise” contestants frolic at a Mexican resort — that series is still in the midst of a particularly eventful season — the 26 women and men of the Canadian spinoff did their romancing at “a secluded Ontario lakeside love nest” dubbed “Camp Paradise” this summer. Citytv won’t be more specific than that.
The “Bachelor” and “Bachelorette” spinoff ostensibly gives former cast members of those shows another shot at finding love, with the goal of getting engaged, but love triangles (and even quadrangles) are encouraged.
The process can work though. Just ask Kevin Wendt, the Toronto firefighter who appeared on the U.S. “Bachelor in Paradise” in 2018 after stints on “The Bachelorette Canada” and “Bachelor Winter Games.” He and the woman he met there, Astrid Loch, are engaged and expecting a baby in November. Wendt will appear as “Bachelor in Paradise Canada” bartender.
Actor and public speaker Jesse Jones hosts.
Twelve of the “Paradise Canada” contestants are alumni of Canadian and American “Bachelor” series; 14 are “Bachelor Nation” fans.
Kamber, 37, a former Mississauga nurse whose job is now listed as content creator, is the most high profile of the six Canadian show alum.
Back in 2012, she got engaged to Brad Smith after the inaugural “Bachelor Canada” season, but they broke up almost two years later. Before that, her claim to fame was dating basketball player Kris Humphries before he was briefly married to Kim Kardashian.
Her show bio says Kamber, who shares a pillow every night with her mini poodle Milo, “is ready for a real shot at finding her perfect match.”
She’s the oldest cast member at Camp Paradise. The youngest is 25-year-old fan Iva Mikulic from Calgary.
Of the six contestants from U.S. “Bachelor” shows, Scanzano, 26, will undoubtedly ring bells for viewers.
The Toronto firefighter trainee made it to Week 7 of the “Bachelorette” season that just finished and became known for being unknown, with puzzled viewers tweeting “Who is this guy?” His other claim to fame is being a close friend of Blake Moynes of Hamilton, who ended up engaged to Bachelorette Katie Thurston.
Now it’s Scanzano’s turn to put a ring on it — or not.
Here’s a sampling of other “Bachelor in Paradise Canada” cast members in order of notoriety.
á Kamil Nicalek, 33, New York, N.Y.: The real estate investor was a Night 1 cast-off on Becca Kufrin’s season of “The Bachelorette” and something of a “Bachelor in Paradise” villain. His main claim to fame was breaking up with his Paradise love interest on live TV during the after-show, but in his bio he says he’s ready to move on.
á Angela Amezcua, 31, Greenville, S.C.: Model Amezcua went home the first week of Nick Viall’s season of “The Bachelor.” She made more of an impression on “Bachelor in Paradise,” where she was thrown over for another woman in Season 5 and returned briefly in Season 6 as temptation for her ex-boyfriend Clay Harbor.
á Mike Ogilvie, 34, Winnipeg: The firefighter and paramedic got the first impression rose on the first (and so far only) season of “The Bachelorette Canada” and made it into the top three. He seemed like a nice guy who did charity work and had appeared in a firefighter calendar; those abs should come in handy for the inevitable bathing suit footage. á Lisa Mancini, 28, St. Catharines, Ont.: Cosplay artist Mancini made it to Week 5 of Season 3 of “The Bachelor Canada.” She dressed as a mermaid on Night 1 and talked a lot about squirrels. According to her bio, she owns several mermaid tails and her bed looks like a clam shell.
The other former contestants include “Bachelorette Canada” castoffs Chris Kotelmach, 35, a Calgary inventor, and David Pinard, 32, an actor and musician from Toronto; Toronto real estate agent Caitlin Clemmens, 27, who appeared on Colton Underwood’s “Bachelor” season; Vancouver interior design student Stacy Johnson, 29, a “Bachelor Canada” alum; information systems administrator Alex Bordyukov, 32, of Detroit and Rachel Lindsay’s “Bachelorette” season; and Illeana Pennetto, 26, a New York model who appeared on Matt James’ “Bachelor season.”
“Bachelor in Paradise Canada” debuts at 8 p.m. Oct. 10 on Citytv and Citytv.com, followed at 9:30 p.m. by “The
Canada.”