Bachelor in Paradise finale: two couples choose love over cash

The tenth season of Bachelor in Paradise ended on Sept. 2 with two couples choosing love over cash, walking away with six-figure prizes, and one engagement after a finale that combined physical endurance tests, a jury vote by former contestants and a dramatic money-or-love ultimatum. The season, filmed in Costa Rica, concluded with Alexe Godin and Andrew Spencer leaving as a couple with a combined $125,000 and Spencer Conley and Jess Edwards departing engaged and with $190,000.

Host Jesse Palmer had introduced the cash element earlier in the season, telling cast members during Week 6 that the most deserving couples would have the chance to win up to $500,000. Producers framed the prize as raising the stakes and testing relationships, and Palmer told the cast that the season would include no new arrivals and would center on relationship tests designed to "test your relationship," adding that the strongest couples would face "a lifechanging opportunity." Finale play, however, presented the cash in the form of individual envelopes containing sums of up to $250,000, a format that left some viewers and commentators debating how the advertised $500,000 ceiling applied.