Ex on the Beach may center on the art of circling back with former flames, but it was a love triangle that had the house hung up on the Season 5 premiere. Now, as exes continue to storm the cast’s summer getaway house, the question is: Will Arisce, David and Mike find harmony as occasionally intersecting free agents, or will two strike a stronger spark that leaves the third out in the cold?
On the premiere episode of the dating show’s latest season, former cast members from The Challenge, Big Brother, Love Island and more gathered in paradise with a single objective in mind: Decide whether to revisit relationships with exes who had scorned them, or move on and seek dates or hookups with other partners. For someone like Da’Vonne, that meant determining whether to seek a more adventurous side after a past that included a conversative nine-year relationship, while a single like Ray sought to find a girlfriend that was cool with his penchant for friendships with other ladies.
Things were a little more complicated for Arisce, though, whose ex Mike arrived with some secret baggage: He’d been flirting with Arisce’s fellow single David for two years. And as Mike and Arisce sat down to sort through their past, which centered on whether their relationship was meant to be open (Arisce’s idea) or closed (Mike’s idea), David found himself getting jealous…especially when Mike and Arisce started making out.
“[Mike] is the first guy I’ve been attracted to,” David said. “I’m confused by this. One of the first things I noticed about Mike is that his energy is just so attractive.”
And when David finally confronted Mike about the push and pull, the two started making out, leading Mike to admit he was “intrigued” by David. Still, Arisce’s ex couldn’t help but have reservations about the fact that David had only just come out as pansexual and didn’t seem to know what he wanted, or from whom.
“I don’t know where that’s going,” Mike said. “I did not expect to have both him and Arisce. Having to navigate the two of them at the same time is going to be difficult, but it’s definitely something that I’m interested in exploring.”
So what do you think: Will Arisce convince Mike to reexplore an open relationship, or will Mike persuade Arisce to lock things down as an exclusive couple? Could David drive the couple apart completely by sweeping Mike off his feet? Hang tight for more from Ex on the Beach, airing Thursdays on MTV!