This week of “The Bachelor” was special — instead of the usual 2-hour episode every Monday night, this week was a two-episode special that aired on Monday and Tuesday. To be honest, sometimes watching “The Bachelor” is a little draining because of all of the fights and drama in each two-hour-long episode (and this week had a lot of both), so to help review and break down Monday and Tuesday nights’ episodes is my good friend *drumroll* Sarah Capparelli ’26!

Meet Sarah: Sarah is not only one of my best friends but also my only friend who watches “The Bachelor” with me. Sarah started watching during Charity’s season (“The Bachelorette” season 20) and was glad that Joey was chosen for the Bachelor because of his kind demeanor. I wasn’t that into Charity’s season, so now, it’s really exciting for us both to be fully invested in a season and to be able to talk about Monday’s episode after watching.

Episode 4:

Intro: It is officially getting serious with the first international trip of the season happening this week. The ladies headed to Malta, and some women (like Autumn), didn’t even know that Malta was in Europe. After seeing that we were getting a two-episode special this week, I knew that one episode would be dedicated to (hopefully) squashing the Maria and Sydney drama and the other would be more focused on romance. This episode was definitely more focused on the drama aspect of “The Bachelor.” 

One-on-One: Before the drama really began, Joey gave the first one-on-one of the episode to Lexi. Lexi and Joey shopped and tried pastries all around Malta, seemingly having a good time. When I saw that Lexi was getting the group date for the episode, I was kind of annoyed, because she’s not one of my favorites — I was hoping Rachel would get the one-on-one because Lexi never really stood out to me. Sarah disagreed, saying, “Lexi was one of the girls I was rooting for, and I’m all for [her and Joey].” Sarah continued, “It was obvious that Joey felt like he was just walking around with his girlfriend, and it wasn’t an extreme date but a … genuine thing that you could have in real life.” During the evening portion of the date, Lexi revealed to Joey that she has a condition that may prevent her from having kids. Sarah appreciated Lexi opening up to Joey about her condition: “Lexi was very open about her problems, and obviously all of the girls are, but she has a genuine problem and I appreciated her openness and I’m glad their date went really well.” After Lexi’s confession, Joey took the news well and awarded Lexi for opening up, giving her a rose and making her safe for the week.

Group Date: This week’s group date included the rest of the women except for Maria and Sydney, so I knew there was going to be a two-on-one (explanation below), which I was very excited about. This group date was a medieval knight competition where, really, the only fighting that took place was for Joey’s attention. The women had medieval Roman gear and swords, and I thought the date was funny to watch. It was very goofy and cut the tension that was going to be seen later in the episode. Sarah, on the other hand, didn’t like this week’s group date: “I hated it, and I thought it was a joke.” Sarah asked, “Where was the interaction with Joey? They were all just doing their own thing, and I didn’t like that.” The date ended with Kelsey T getting the group date rose.

Two-on-One date: Not every season has a two-on-one date, so I was very excited when I saw that Sydney and Maria were the only ones left out of the medieval group date. A two-on-one date is a date with two people who are arguing and the Bachelor, and by the end, one of them has to go home. After two weeks of the Sydney and Maria argument, Sarah felt done with the Maria and Sydney argument: “I know people support Maria and call her a ‘baddie’ and a ‘girl that’s always honest,’ but at this point, I don’t even care, and let’s just ship both of them out.” I like Maria more than Sarah likes Maria, but I do agree that anyone who is causing pointless drama needs to be sent home. When learning about the two-on-one, Sydney said something along the lines of, ‘spending a day with Maria is like spending the day with the devil,’ and at this point, it was very obvious that Sydney wasn’t even here for Joey but was here just to get screen time and argue. Sarah thought the two-on-one was fairly pointless because “Joey obviously had to do it to get clarity from both sides, but I think it was very obvious that he favored Maria over Sydney. This was 100% [fabricated by] the producers, and [Joey] wouldn’t do this if it was his choice.” Even though Joey ended up keeping Maria on, Sarah and I both agreed that “Maria being involved in any more drama will send her home.”

Cocktail Party: During the cocktail party, Lea got upset at Madina for comforted Maria, and then called Madina fake.  Before this episode, I had no thoughts on Lea and thought she was irrelevant, but Sarah thought she would make it far. She hasn’t done anything in the show before this that would make me give her any thought.  And just like that, all of the drama got brought back up again when I thought it was done. Lea is one of, if not the, youngest women this season as a 23 year-old, and the way she’s handling this situation shows her age and maturity level. Sarah exclaimed, “Lea is my girl but what is she doing?! She’s 23 and very young so I’m going to give her a little leeway … [but] it was very unnecessary to bring this up to Madina.” There’s been a lot of drama this season just in the first four episodes, and according to Sarah, it is because “the girls care more about friendships, and they need to realize they are all for themselves and their friendships don’t matter.” I agree a thousand percent. Madina was very upset and started crying after Lea called her fake. Maria then found Madina crying and Madina explained that she’s crying because Lea is mad at her for not being more upset that Sydney is gone.  This caused Maria to spiral because she understood that she couldn’t be involved in more drama. Then Maria went outside to go talk to production and threatened to leave the show which led to Lea calling her a crybaby. The episode ended on a cliffhanger with Lea sitting down with Joey complaining about Maria. 

 

Episode 5: 

Rose Ceremony: The episode began with the scene of Lea talking to Joey about Maria while Maria cried to the producers, saying that she wants to go home. I don’t think any contestant has gone from being irrelevant to suddenly becoming a villain this quickly. Jesse Palmer, the host,  then came into the room and announced that it’s time for the rose ceremony. Joey said goodbye to Madina and Allison, and now Joey and the twelve women left were headed to Spain. 

One-on-One Number One: For the first one-on-one date of the episode, Joey chose Kelsey A. to explore the city and ride on mopeds. Joey and Kelsey talked about the future and their feelings for each other while on a picnic. By the end of the date, Kelsey A. told Joey she was falling in love with him. I thought this was extremely fast because she’s only known him for five weeks and has only talked to him in 5-minute increments. I don’t think she’s actually falling in love with him, and I think she is only saying that to try and secure her spot as a frontrunner. Sarah has “no interest in Kelsey and [is] wondering how she’s still here.” Sarah and I both agreed that the date was very boring to watch and there wasn’t any obvious chemistry between them, unlike in other previous one-on-ones. Despite this, Joey still gave Kelsey a rose, making her safe. 

Group Date: At the group date, an artist named Paula told the women that they needed to write one full sentence that described their feelings towards Joey. Then, she asked them to create a painting that related to the sentence and explained that whoever’s quote was the most insightful would get special extra time with Joey. I thought this date was extremely boring; they weren’t spending that much quality time with Joey like the medieval date, and they also weren’t doing anything entertaining or fun to watch. After being previously invested in drama, Maria decided to paint a picture of her and Sydney at the two-on-one because she wanted to be open about her feelings towards the situation. Sarah thought that the painting was unnecessary and that Maria needed to leave the past behind: “Maria needs to just drop it … and the fact that she did that was pointless.” Jess ended up winning the special time, and she and Joey painted on each other in bathing suits. I thought this was very weird and uncomfortable to watch. At the afterparty, Maria ended up getting the group date rose, leaving Lea especially upset.

One-on-One Number Two: We are now at the point in the season where instead of two group dates and one one-on-one, there are now two one-on-ones and one group date, and this week’s second one-on-one went to my personal favorite, Rachel. When I saw that Rachel got the group date, I was extremely happy because she is the contestant who I am rooting for the most because she has the best connection with Joey. Rachel has been getting a good amount of screen time throughout the past five episodes, and she always uses her time with Joey to further their relationship rather than talking about drama. Even though I’m a big fan of Rachel, Sarah is not. Sarah says that she doesn’t really “see the hype.” Even though Sarah thought that the date was a little awkward, Joey still rewarded Rachel with a fireworks show where he gave her a rose, making her safe for the week. 

Cocktail Party Drama: Just when I thought it was over, somehow Maria got herself involved in more drama. The drama started with Jess, where she got very mad when Maria talked to Joey early in the cocktail party, even after she received a rose earlier in the week. After Maria came back from talking with Joey, Jess then got extremely mad and claimed that she’d been disrespected by Maria before. Jess then made a comment to Maria about her and Joey’s time and Maria snapped. Maria aggressively asked Jess what was wrong and Jess couldn’t come up with a response. After a minute of the two yelling at each other, Jess responded with some choice expletives and stormed off. I don’t think Jess needed to react this way at all. I understand why she was annoyed but causing a scene wasn’t necessary. Sarah disagreed and thought: “Maria needs to be kicked off … After all of this drama, it’s obvious that she’s the common problem and I understand why Jess was upset.” 

After Jess left in a huff, Lea followed her, and it was rose ceremony time. Joey sadly said goodbye to Edwina and Autumn, and now we’re officially in the top ten. I’m excited for all of the drama next week as the women jet off to Montreal.

“The Bachelor” airs on Monday nights at 8:00 pm EST on ABC.