When Jess Edwards arrived in Costa Rica for Bachelor in Paradise season 10, she had her eyes on Spencer Conley thanks to his “golden receiver energy” — and a few weeks later, she happily accepted his proposal.
“It is super surreal. We are just so grateful to be here,” Jess, 26, told Us Weekly during an exclusive interview with Spencer, 32, ahead of the Tuesday, September 2, finale. “It’s more than we could ever have imagined. Obviously, going into Paradise, the goal is to find love. We found that we got to do these cool challenges. We got to go to a new location. We won money. Like, what is life!”
Jess, who appeared on Joey Graziadei’s season 28 of The Bachelor, and Spencer, a contestant on Jenn Tran’s season 21 of The Bachelorette, connected on day one of season 10. And despite what appeared to be some disagreements about when to move in together and a timeline for kids, they assured Us that they are on the same page.
“I’m currently in San Diego, and he’s in Dallas. So we had some back and forth conversations and at the beginning of 2026, I am going to be moving here to Dallas. I’m really excited about it,” Jess gushed. “He has family here. He has a business that is thriving here. We just want to start our life here and see where the wind blows us after that.”
When it comes to starting a family, Spencer clarified, “She’s 26. She was saying [on the show] she wants to have kids before she’s 30. I was saying, ‘Probably in the next two years,’ in which she’ll be 28 or 29 so it’s literally splitting a one-year difference,” he told Us. “If you’re very into math, it’s not that much of a delta.”
Jess added, “And we know, realistically, it’s gonna happen whenever it happens — God willing.”
The twosome also aren’t rushing down the aisle.
“We don’t want to put a set timeline. We’re focusing on us right now,” Jess told Us. “Ideally, like, when I’m thinking about it, I do [think] this time next year, we’ll be starting the wedding planning process, but who knows? We might want to do it earlier. We might want to take a little more time. We’re just going to see where we’re at in our relationship and date.”
Fans watched Spencer get down on one knee during Tuesday’s finale, a decision he told Us that he made during the episode before.
“It’s not shown, but we had conversations about an engagement. And for me, I knew that my ‘be ready moment’ was when I knew she was going to be ready,” Spencer told Us. “I love that she handles everything with such gravity, because it’s a big decision, and it’s not necessarily depicted, but I do as well.”
He revealed that they both talked to their parents before he proposed.
“We both got to do that. I got to talk to her parents — that was a huge thing for me. I’m like, ‘I’m absolutely not [proposing] until I at least talk to her dad. Like, I would love to be able to see her dad in person, but I’m not getting down on me unless I talk to her dad at a bare minimum,’” he continued. “And so we had those conversations, and the whole time throughout Paradise, I wanted to move at her pace. I know how hard and rare it is to find someone like her, and I’ve never met anyone like her that I’ve had a connection with, literally, right off the bat. She was just. so familiar and welcoming and felt like a slice of home in Costa Rica.”
The twosome also got reassurance from an unexpected source.
“The on-staff psych — she was incredible, the absolute best,” Spencer said. “She knew us both from our respective previous seasons and getting an outside, unbiased perspective from someone that we knew would be honest with us was the best. I think outside of our family, that was the biggest turning point in a lot of those decisions and talks.”
While the duo were confident in each other, the show did try to throw one last wrench in their happily ever after, telling the final two couples — Andrew and Alexe were also still standing at the end — that their final test was to choose between love or money. Both pairs were told they could be given $250,000 if they picked money (and their partner picked love), but neither couple took the bait.
“As Jesse offered it to me, he was laughing,” Spencer said. “Because I was looking at him like, ‘What do you think I’m going to do, man?’”
Both couples were ultimately offered cash prizes anyway, with Spencer and Jess walking away with $190,000.
“I’m paying off student loans. I don’t have too many, thankfully, but I do have a little bit, so starting there and then just planning for a future,” Jess told Us when asked for their plans with the money. “Honestly, we haven’t taken too much time to, like, really sit and plan it out, because we don’t actually have the money yet.”
“I think a huge chunk of it’s going to savings,” Spencer added. “And prior to the show, me and my best friend, we’re going to open some vacation rentals in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, which is an hour away from where [Jess] grew up — invisible string!”
The BiP season 10 cast is set to reunite for a podcast titled “Bachelor in Paradise Unplugged” hosted by bartender Wells Adams. Part 1 is set to be released on Wednesday, September 3, at 11 p.m. ET.
Read the full article here
