Spoiler alert! This story discusses the February 5 episode of Joey Graziadei’s season of The Bachelor. Proceed with caution if you’re not caught up!
With every season of The Bachelor/Bachelorette, drama is drummed up between two or more of the cast members. Someone says something that hurts someone’s feelings, and then lots of time is wasted while the lead tries to figure out where the toxic energy is coming from. Joey Graziadei is smack dab in the middle of that three weeks into his journey on Season 28 of The Bachelor, and although this is definitely a contender for the dumbest fight in Bachelor Nation history, I have to admit I’m excited at the direction we’re headed in. Let me explain.
First, allow me to attempt to summarize this feud. Madina Alam expressed self-consciousness about being one of the oldest women in the house at 31 years old. When 29-year-old Maria Georgas caught wind of that, she told other women that Madina should think of her age as an advantage and not feel bad, because 31 isn’t that old. However, Sydney Gordon felt Maria was invalidating Madina’s feelings and basically the rest is just Sydney accusing Maria of bullying and manipulation.
It’s kind of infuriating to watch, especially because this seemingly started over Maria saying positive things about Madina. The arguments that followed appear to be heavily edited, and we are seeing none of the things that Sydney is accusing Maria of, despite Sydney’s increasingly frantic conversations with producers, saying things like:
I don’t know what she wants from me. Does she want me to give her my limb? Does she want me to cut off a limb? Would that make her happy?
But here’s why I’m happy that both Sydney and Maria made it through Joey Graziadei’s most recent round of eliminations: This has got to lead to one of The Bachelor's infamous 2-on-1 dates. The “two women enter, one woman leaves” style of date is one of the most awkward and dramatic scenarios we ever get on The Bachelor, and it’s shamefully under-used. The preview for next week’s episodes appears to show Joey sitting in between Sydney and Maria on a boat, so guys, I think it’s happening!
Rob Mills, the head of unscripted TV at ABC, seemed to tease that a 2-on-1 was coming for the women as well, tweeting:
You keep talking that [way] about Maria, Sydney and you're gonna be headed straight for a 2 on 1.
Maria even seemingly sealed their fate during her conversation with Joey by telling him, “If you like her, you can’t like me,” because she and Sydney are just too different. The 2-on-1 date was made for just that scenario: These two women can’t exist together in Bachelor Mansion any longer, so which one will he choose to keep?
Tune in next time to (hopefully) see this dumb fight come to a conclusion. The Bachelor will air twice next week — at 8 p.m. ET both Monday and Tuesday, February 12 and 13, on ABC. Episodes are also available to stream the next day with a Hulu subscription. Be sure to check our 2024 TV schedule so you don’t miss the premieres of any of your favorite shows!
