NOTE: This post contains spoilers for Season 28, Episode 4 of The Bachelor.
Welcome to the recap for Episode 4 of The Bachelor! This was the first week of international travel for Joey and the women, as they were told at the start of the episode that they were going to Malta this week. Everyone was very excited (even though Autumn wasn’t quite sure where Malta was located). It turned out to be quite a dramatic episode, so read on to catch up before another episode airs tomorrow.
To the Alta'... But First Malta
“Lexi, let’s explore Malta together”, read the first date card of the week. Lexi and Joey spent the day walking and dancing their way through Malta, eventually visiting a church that reminded Lexi of her late grandfather. A priest then came over and talked with them, mentioning the importance of starting a family. This made an already emotional Lexi even more emotional since she was planning on talking to Joey about her health struggles later that night.
Back at the hotel, Sydney sat down with Jess to talk about her recent drama with Maria. Sydney said Maria has “got to go” and that her brain is “completely occupied by Maria” to the point that it’s affecting her health. She said she’s exhausted- so are we, Sydney, so are we.
At Lexi and Joey’s dinner, she opened up to Joey about finding out she has stage 5 endometriosis, which her doctor told her could impact her ability to have her own children. She expressed that she’s always felt called to be a mother and wants a family of her own, making her diagnosis especially difficult. Also, her ex ultimately decided to end their relationship because he did not want to be with someone who might not be able to have his children.
Joey expressed his appreciation for her opening up about an incredibly difficult part of her life, noting that these are the serious conversations that he should be having if he wants to find the right person for him. He then said that there are a lot of ways to start a family, and he’s not running away or scared because of what she’s told him. Lexi got the one-on-one rose, of course.
Knights & Flying Sausages
Jenn, Daisy, Edwina, Katelyn, Allison, Rachel, Autumn, Kelsey T., Jess, Madina, Lea, and Kelsey A. were listed on the group date card, which read “True love is worth fighting for”. Notably, Sydney and Maria were left off the group date card. You know what that means- they’re getting set up for a future two-on-one!
Anyway, back to the group date. The ladies joined Joey at Fort Manoel, where they were greeted by sword-fighting knights. The women chose knight costumes to wear before completing challenges like holding eye contact with Joey and a “sash grab”. Then, in a unique form of torture, the women had to try to catch sausages on strings that were being flung around by a wheel without using their hands. Joey, the sweetheart that he is, joined them because he wasn’t going to make them do something he wouldn’t do himself.
Autumn ended up winning the knight competition, allowing her some extra one-on-one time with Joey (which we only saw a few seconds of before moving on). At the cocktail party portion of the group date, Daisy and Joey discussed their future family, baby names and all. Kelsey T. was feeling stressed before talking with Joey but their conversation went very, very well. Jess told Joey that she’s falling for him. At the end of the night, Kelsey T. received the group date rose.
Sydney vs. Maria: The Two-On-One
Back at the hotel room, the inevitable two-on-one group date card arrived for Sydney and Maria, which said “Meet me on the water. Love, Joey”. Let’s take a look at each woman’s mindset approaching this date:
- Sydney: “Maria is not suitable to be his wife, and I need to get this girl out of here”, Sydney stated, before saying that “Spending a whole day with Maria is like spending the whole day with the devil”. A bit dramatic, aren’t we Sydney?
- Maria: Unsure of what Sydney was going to say to Joey on the date, Maria said that she was just going to try to “be honest, be myself, and hope for the best”.
At the beginning of the two-on-one, the two women and Joey explored the Blue Grotto, which was beautiful. But let’s be honest, no one was interested in the scenery. After getting back to shore, Sydney and Joey went to talk. Sydney told Joey that Maria attacked her after the pool party and then told Lea to “shut the f–k up”. Joey, still feeling confused, then talked with Maria. Maria denied everything that Sydney accused her of, giving Joey just about zero clarity about the situation.
“You know we’re on camera the entire time, right?” Maria said to Sydney after her talk with Joey. Someone should have just let Joey see the tapes at this point, just to get this over with.
It doesn’t work like that though, so the two women and Joey arrived at the dinner portion of the date. After coming to the conclusion that he was never going to know the whole truth (just show him the film!!), Joey decided to choose the woman he felt the strongest connection with. Sydney was sent packing, and Maria received the two-on-one rose.
Sydney 2.0
If you thought that the Sydney drama was done because she’s gone, worry not- Lea’s got it covered. At the cocktail party, Lea became upset that Madina was being nice to Maria. She confronted Madina about this, saying that she didn’t like that Madina claimed to be Sydney’s friend and then switched up so quickly as soon as she was sent home. Madina replied that she didn’t feel like she had to be openly mean to Maria just because Sydney was her friend and Lea did not have to understand how she was choosing to navigate this journey (tell her, Madina!).
However, Lea did not like that answer and came to the conclusion that the two of them just have a different set of morals and values. Nothing made that more clear than when Lea walked away from the conversation calling Madina something that had to be bleeped out by producers (but I’m guessing it rhymed with ducking ditch).
This little slice of drama included the quote of the night for me, when Lea said “Madina’s perspectives are completely different than, you know, what I would perscpectivize in this situation.” That’s a new word for me, anyone else?
Rose Ceremony?
Not tonight. Instead this episode ended with Lea talking to Joey about how a lot of the women were shocked that Sydney went home because of how Maria had treated some of the women. Meanwhile, Maria was crying and telling the producers that she’s done and wants to go home since it seems that there are women that hate her for basically no reason.
Tomorrow we’ll get to see the end of this night, including the rose ceremony. Will Maria go home? Then, Joey and the women are off to Spain, where it looks like plenty more drama will ensue.
