Bachelor Blowup: Maria Keeps Making Enemies as Joey Reveals Top 10
On a special Tuesday-night edition of The Bachelor, we got to see just how much drama keeps swirling around Maria as not one, but two additional women take over the hate parade that's been following her all season long. It was almost fascinating watching confessionals with Lea, who first stepped up in the wake of Sydney's elimination last week, because she sounded just like Sydney. And just like Sydney, we found ourselves asking, what did Maria ever do to you? It all started because of comments misheard that Maria had said about Madina, but she and Madina squashed their beef weeks ago. In fact, it was Madina who came to console Maria when last week's episode ended with her ready to walk. "I hate this. I don't care. Give someone else my rose," Maria lamented (she'd gotten the Two-on-One rose last week). "I'm willing to just let them win so I can just go home." Whlie we don't know these things were happening simultaneously, what we saw was Maria's breakdown happening at the same time that Lea was backing a dump truck of hate all over her in a chat with Joey. "I'm definitely trying to navigate with this grace, so I'm hoping and praying that this next week, despite Maria still being here, can still be a fresh start," Lea told him, setting up the shade. "I'm just trying to put my best foot forward," she added, before digging. "Love to Syd, I'm sure we'll be lifelong friends after this." It's just all so catty, and it wasn't going to stop there. Ultimately, Maria decided to shake it off and focus on her relationship with Joey, which was already much stronger than Sydney's (obviously) and even Lea's. And to keep the drama going, obviously both Maria and Lea survived the first Rose Ceremony of the night. We lost Allison and Edwina, who'd faded into background characters as the drama took over the show. This week, Joey was able to make dreams come true with his One-on-Ones, with both Kelsey A and Rachel scoring the coveted dates. Kelsey A opened up about losing her mother to cancer. As he was so gracious, she went from "starting to trip" at the start of the date to, "I guess I might be starting to fall for Joey," at the end. As for Rachel, she shared that her fantasy was to go to Spain with her boyfriend, and so Joey made all that come true when they learned flamenco dancing and furthered their connection as she opened up about her job as a nurse and how demanding that can be on a relationship. But the real drama happened in the group date, which included both Maria and Lea and ... Jess! That's right, Jess joined in on the Maria hate, though Bachelor Nation might argue this one was a little deserved. The day portion was all about creating art, which Jess won with her depictions of two rings. Ironically, Lea trash-talked Jess after that victory, which could speak to why she's really behaving this way. "Jess painted an engagement ring. It was cute, yeah," she said before making a face that indicated it was anything but. "She will never end up with him, but one can be delusional." For her win, Jess got extra time with Joey to create body art on a canvas. In other words, they got to roll around and make out, which is pretty good quality time for the sake of this show. At the end of the night, though, it was Maria who got the Group Date rose for opening up about how she nearly died as a baby in a horrible accident that left her mother severely injured and deeply depressed. Her finally explaining why she tries to face life with positivity and happiness (despite everything) and take it head-on really helped Joey to understand her. She also took that same attitude -- and her rose -- into "stealing" time with Joey during the Cocktail Party, which did not sit well with Jess. Never mind her rolling around with him, she didn't have a rose so she made sure to let Maria know. After Maria returned, Jess shot her way, "Pretty early convo for someone with a rose." But Maria had been dealing with this nonsense for weeks, so she immediately pushed back. Ultimately, Jess called her a bitch and stormed off ... to be consoled by Lea. At this point, Lea consoling Jess can only be the notion of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" as she'd just been trashing Jess earlier in the week. All of this, from both women, seems to really be coming from fear. They fear that Maria's connection with Joey is stronger than theirs so they're lashing out. They're not wrong, either. But there are obviously healthier ways to address that concern than focus so much energy on hating another person. Lea could have progressed further had she not trash-talked Maria to Joey at the last Rose Ceremony. Oh well, gotta find our drama somewhere, we supposed. The night's second Rose Ceremony promised that it wouldn't end there, either, as all three women embroiled in the current drama survived. Instead,
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The "mean girl" drama keeps going on The Bachelor, even after Sydney's elimination, as new ladies step up to keep the hate-rade flowing toward Maria -- but how much can she take, and is any of it her fault?
On a special Tuesday-night edition of The Bachelor, we got to see just how much drama keeps swirling around Maria as not one, but two additional women take over the hate parade that's been following her all season long.
It was almost fascinating watching confessionals with Lea, who first stepped up in the wake of Sydney's elimination last week, because she sounded just like Sydney. And just like Sydney, we found ourselves asking, what did Maria ever do to you?
It all started because of comments misheard that Maria had said about Madina, but she and Madina squashed their beef weeks ago. In fact, it was Madina who came to console Maria when last week's episode ended with her ready to walk.
"I hate this. I don't care. Give someone else my rose," Maria lamented (she'd gotten the Two-on-One rose last week). "I'm willing to just let them win so I can just go home."
Whlie we don't know these things were happening simultaneously, what we saw was Maria's breakdown happening at the same time that Lea was backing a dump truck of hate all over her in a chat with Joey.
"I'm definitely trying to navigate with this grace, so I'm hoping and praying that this next week, despite Maria still being here, can still be a fresh start," Lea told him, setting up the shade.
"I'm just trying to put my best foot forward," she added, before digging. "Love to Syd, I'm sure we'll be lifelong friends after this."
It's just all so catty, and it wasn't going to stop there. Ultimately, Maria decided to shake it off and focus on her relationship with Joey, which was already much stronger than Sydney's (obviously) and even Lea's.
And to keep the drama going, obviously both Maria and Lea survived the first Rose Ceremony of the night. We lost Allison and Edwina, who'd faded into background characters as the drama took over the show.
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The Pain in Spain
This week, Joey was able to make dreams come true with his One-on-Ones, with both Kelsey A and Rachel scoring the coveted dates. Kelsey A opened up about losing her mother to cancer. As he was so gracious, she went from "starting to trip" at the start of the date to, "I guess I might be starting to fall for Joey," at the end.
As for Rachel, she shared that her fantasy was to go to Spain with her boyfriend, and so Joey made all that come true when they learned flamenco dancing and furthered their connection as she opened up about her job as a nurse and how demanding that can be on a relationship.
But the real drama happened in the group date, which included both Maria and Lea and ... Jess! That's right, Jess joined in on the Maria hate, though Bachelor Nation might argue this one was a little deserved.
The day portion was all about creating art, which Jess won with her depictions of two rings. Ironically, Lea trash-talked Jess after that victory, which could speak to why she's really behaving this way.
"Jess painted an engagement ring. It was cute, yeah," she said before making a face that indicated it was anything but. "She will never end up with him, but one can be delusional."
For her win, Jess got extra time with Joey to create body art on a canvas. In other words, they got to roll around and make out, which is pretty good quality time for the sake of this show.
At the end of the night, though, it was Maria who got the Group Date rose for opening up about how she nearly died as a baby in a horrible accident that left her mother severely injured and deeply depressed. Her finally explaining why she tries to face life with positivity and happiness (despite everything) and take it head-on really helped Joey to understand her.
She also took that same attitude -- and her rose -- into "stealing" time with Joey during the Cocktail Party, which did not sit well with Jess. Never mind her rolling around with him, she didn't have a rose so she made sure to let Maria know.
After Maria returned, Jess shot her way, "Pretty early convo for someone with a rose." But Maria had been dealing with this nonsense for weeks, so she immediately pushed back. Ultimately, Jess called her a bitch and stormed off ... to be consoled by Lea.
At this point, Lea consoling Jess can only be the notion of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" as she'd just been trashing Jess earlier in the week. All of this, from both women, seems to really be coming from fear.
They fear that Maria's connection with Joey is stronger than theirs so they're lashing out. They're not wrong, either. But there are obviously healthier ways to address that concern than focus so much energy on hating another person. Lea could have progressed further had she not trash-talked Maria to Joey at the last Rose Ceremony.
Oh well, gotta find our drama somewhere, we supposed.
The night's second Rose Ceremony promised that it wouldn't end there, either, as all three women embroiled in the current drama survived. Instead, we said goodbye to Autumn and Madina, ironically the person at the center of when this all started, and also the person Maria was probably closest to by the end.
With his Top 10 revealed (Daisy, Jenn, Jess, Katelyn, Kelsey A, Kelsey T, Lea, Lexi, Maria, and Rachel), Joey's journey as The Bachelor continues Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
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