NOTE: This post contains spoilers for Season 28, Episode 6 of The Bachelor.
Hello, fellow members of Bachelor Nation and welcome to the recap for episode 6 of The Bachelor. Hometowns are coming up quickly, and things are starting to feel more serious between the Bachelor and his ladies during this episode. Joey sends home one woman early while another self-eliminates this week, so let’s get into it!
A Rocky Start
The women and Joey traveled to Canada this week, more specifically Montreal. The start of this Canadian trip was a little rough for Joey. He expressed that he was struggling with the idea of opening up again to women who may not feel the same about him and that he wanted to be “fun” while still showing his true feelings.
“Most of my life I’ve been struggling with the fact that I don’t feel perfect. I feel like there’s a lot of s—t that’s wrong with me,” said Joey, fighting back tears. Someone give this poor man a hug and tell him he’s the best Bachelor we’ve had in a long time, and then maybe let him have a nap and a snack!
Poutine, Please!
Typically each week at this point consists of three dates- a one-on-one date, a group date, and another one-on-one date (in that order). However, Joey wanted to switch things up and do the group date first this week. Daisy, Katelyn, Kelsey A., Jenn, Rachel, Lexi, Lea, and Jess were invited on the group date, meaning Kelsey T. and Maria got the one-on-ones this week. The Vice President of the “I Hate Maria” club, Lea, was thrilled by that turn of events!
Joey expressed that he’s feeling a bit overwhelmed to the women before starting the date, but that he wants to be intentional with their time together. Jesse gave the women clues to guide them around Montreal, basically like a scavenger hunt. The first clue led them to a souvenir shop where, interestingly enough, none of the Canadian flags were blurred like they were in the first episode.
Later on, the women and Joey arrived at “Jesse’s favorite restaurant in Montreal”. They each made their own poutine (a fries, cheese curd, and gravy concoction). Jenn spiced hers up with some pineapple, chocolate sauce, and sriracha (ummm… ew!). Joey, the sweet boy that he is, actually took a bite without vomiting.
Many of the women were feeling insecure heading into the after-party, including Jess, Kelsey A., and Lexi. Joey automatically sensed the mood, and quickly asked “Everyone feelin’ okay?” to which he didn’t really get a reply. Katelyn almost immediately burst into tears when she talked to Joey, and expressed how difficult it’s been to see him interact with the other women. Kelsey A. shared a similar sentiment with Joey, and Joey reassured her that it’s impossible for her to ever be in the background (aww!).
Then, Lexi and Joey had a very practical discussion about their potential future. Lexi wanted to know what Joey’s ideal timeline would be for marriage and kids. He said that he would like to have a 2-3 year engagement and then wait a couple more years after getting married to have kids. Lexi appreciated Joey’s honesty, but felt that she needed to think about his answer since she doesn’t really want to wait that long to have kids. These are the kinds of conversations that I feel are lacking a lot of the time in the Bachelor Universe, so it was refreshing to hear Lexi ask some tougher questions.
Jenn then expressed that she’s falling for Joey, which made him feel like he was “on cloud 9” (although he was not ready to say it back). Jess was feeling extra stressed going into her one-on-one time with Joey, and it turned out it was for good reason. She told Joey that she’s falling for him, and… his face dropped. He told her that he just can’t “picture it” and doesn’t think she is his person. He then walked a crying Jess out to the SUV. Bye Jess!
Anyway, the group date rose went to Jenn. Now onto the one-on-ones for the week!
"My trust level is at like a 0.00%."
- Kelsey T.
Kelsey T. was feeling hopeful before her date with Joey, but was also aware of her tendency to have some walls up (hence the statement above). She and Joey trained with acrobats from Cirque du Soleil for their date. “Today’s about trust”, said Joey. Maybe Kelsey can increase that percentage a little bit?
Meanwhile, back at the hotel, Lexi was stressing about her previous conversation with Joey. Her endometriosis diagnosis will make having kids a lot more difficult, but she felt that Joey came into her life for a reason. Lexi ended up deciding that she needed to talk to Joey one-on-one again about the topic. But let’s get back to Kelsey T.’s date…
At dinner, Kelsey T. opened up to Joey about her rocky relationship with her father. Growing up, Kelsey was very close with her dad. That is until he stopped talking to her because she refused to dedicate herself to his religion and decided to attend college (which he did not agree with). Kelsey told Joey that anyone in his household had to “be in the religion”, so she wasn’t allowed to be there anymore. Kelsey went to live with her mother, and her father cut her out of his life completely.
And that, fellow Bachelor Nation members, is the clear source of Kelsey’s 0.00% trust level. Joey wiped her tears and praised her for being so strong and resilient before giving her the one-on-one rose.
Maria's One-On-One
Maria’s one-on-one ended up being The Shopping Date™ of the season (iykyk). Maria tried on an assortment of dresses at the Claudette Floyd boutique before choosing this one to wear to dinner with Joey. Back in the limo, Maria tricked Joey into saying “je t’aime” over and over again before they pulled up to a private airport.
Did Joey really make Maria put on this gown to go skydiving? No, silly. He and Maria took a helicopter to the Rialto theater for the dinner portion of their date. Remember Bach fans, Maria had already opened up about her family in a past episode, so she had to pick another topic for dinner tonight. She settled on discussing a past relationship where she had felt that her ex “dangled the idea of an engagement” in front of her without it ever happening.
She also confessed to Joey that she was falling for him, and our Bachelor was thrilled! Unsurprisingly, Maria received the one-on-one rose (yay!).
A Sorta Unexpected Goodbye
With 30 minutes left in the episode and all three dates completed, Lexi walked her way down to Joey’s hotel room to have another chat with him about his marriage and babies timeline. I bet you can guess where this is going!
She sat down with Joey and told him that waiting to have kids is something that she does not “have the privilege to do right now” with her health situation. She expressed her gratitude for how Joey made her feel during their one-on-one in Malta, but that she feels it would be unfair for her to stay when she is on a very different timeline than him.
Joey was shocked since he really felt like he had a connection with her but respected her decision. “This isn’t what I thought was going to happen,” he told Lexi. “But you’re going to get everything you want, and you’re going to make a remarkable mother.” A respectful answer from our always respectful Joey.
The Cocktail Party & Rose Ceremony
The women spent most of the cocktail party trying to cheer Joey up since he had a tough week and, honestly, it was pretty heartwarming. Daisy wanted to know if he gives good foot rubs, which is a pretty valid question. Jenn taught him a few chords on the piano, which happened to be in the same room as the other women (awkward!). Despite that, the night went fairly smoothly.
Then, Jesse walked into the room to clink clink his glass to end the cocktail party. You know what that means- rose ceremony time! Remember Joey already gave roses to Jenn, Kelsey T., and Maria. He gave the remaining three roses to Daisy, Kelsey A., and Rachel. Katelyn and… drumroll please… Lea (!!!) were sent packing.
Side note: How are there only 6 women remaining? Didn’t this season start yesterday?
What did you think of this episode?
I’m really starting to think that Joey may be the best Bachelor that this franchise has ever seen. I feel like it’s been ages since there’s been a Bachelor this likeable and that I can actually root for wholeheartedly. Joey seems like such a sweetheart, so let’s hope the rest of his journey goes well.
How do you think he’s doing so far? Were you happy to see Lea and Jess go? What did you think of Maria’s one-on-one? Were you surprised that Lexi self-eliminated? Let me know down below.
