‘The Bachelor’ Week 3 recap: The Madina + Maria + Sydney drama explained

Another week of “The Bachelor” is here, with a Charlotte woman among the group of contestants vying for the heart of Joey Graziadei on ABC’s hit reality dating show.

Last Monday, we saw 31-year-old Madina Alam and 18 others make it through the first official week of the season, with one-on-ones and some romantic (and pretty competitive) group dates. Unfortunately, Madina’s group date ended with a bit of drama over her age.

So how did this week shake out for the local therapist and model? Here’s a recap of what happened between Madina and Joey this week:

Bachelor looking for Mrs. Right

Though she didn’t get this week’s one-on-one date, Madina did get to take part in the first group date centered on helping Joey find his person.

Hosted by a beloved group of ladies from “The Golden Bachelor” — April, Susan, Kathy and Nancy, also known as ASKN — Madina and some of the other contestants participated in the Mrs. Right Pageant.

“Mrs. Right just means the perfect person for me. We fit together and there’s something about it that just feels right,” Joey said.

Each of the women had to prepare for three levels of competition: ‘Sunday chill loungewear,’ an onstage Q&A segment and a talent show.

While we didn’t see her Sunday fit or her onstage question, we did see Madina show off her yoga skills during the talent portion. Unfortunately, she didn’t win the title of Mrs. Right, but she did get to see Joey afterwards during the group date cocktail party.

She also got to open up to Joey about last week’s drama regarding her age, and how she felt bullied.

Drama continues over ‘old’ comments

“Just like the sum of it was my age, and like, from what I heard, some girls were apparently saying like ‘She’s not even that old’ which felt, like, very invalidating,” Madina told him. “Then yesterday, one of the girls came up to me and was, like, mad that I wouldn’t tell her who told me that she said the comment… If I had to describe it, I felt like I was being bullied.”

She went on to say that she was being pressured to say who it was, when she “kept politely saying like ‘Can we please just move past it? That’s not why we’re here.’”

Though she didn’t name names (it was Maria), Joey was upset when he learned about the situation and he brought it up with the group of women.

“I know there’s things that happen in the house, and I’m definitely the type of person that tries to rise above it and not talk about it, but to even hear the idea of the word of ‘bully’ scares me, because I am taking this seriously and I’m trying to find my forever person and the idea of possibly something going on that I don’t know what it is, it scares me,” he told them. “So if there’s something that needs to be said, I need to hear about it.”

However, that led to even more conflict among the girls.

“I told him how I felt about the other night when I was waiting for him. I didn’t refer to you as a bully. I said I felt bullied,” Madina admitted to Maria. “I did not actually say your name. He literally asked me who it was and I said I don’t feel comfortable sharing that.”

But Maria quickly got upset that Madina felt like she was bullied when she said her intention was to clear her name. Though this all started from a comment Madina shared, it ended in another argument between Maria and Sydney, who spoke up and said she also felt bullied.

“You, I don’t wanna hear from, no offense, because you started it,” Maria told Sydney.

Then Maria addressed Madina: “I left it in the past… Obviously, we know how things can get a little crazy in here, but we gotta stick together in this. Moving forward, we can have this conversation on how you [Madina] feel because it hurt me that something was told to you that hurt you and I wanted to clear that air, and Sydney, missy troublemaker, needs to stop.”

The drama didn’t stop there. The next morning, Madina and Maria had another chance to talk everything out.

“I don’t know where this is stemming from, but it’s like a constant attack on my character and I’m just so tired of it. Me and you are good. We’ve been good,” Maria said to Madina privately.

Madina agreed, saying “I would love it if, like, all three of us could be good. I don’t want just us to be good.”

Maria and Madina made peace, but the conflict continued between Maria and Sydney at a pool party before the rose ceremony, resulting in them each having tough conversations with Joey.

Did Madina Get A Rose?

Despite the drama this week, Madina did get a rose and will be back in the mansion next week to continue pursuing a relationship with Joey.

Who Got Eliminated During The Rose Ceremony?

Of the 18 women left, here’s who got eliminated during this week’s rose ceremony and went home:

• Chrissa

• Evalin

• Starr

How to watch “The Bachelor”

You can watch “The Bachelor” every Monday at 8 p.m. on ABC and on Hulu the day following their premieres.

This story was originally published February 5, 2024 at 10:04 PM.

Chyna Blackmon

The Charlotte Observer

Chyna Blackmon was a service journalism reporter for The Charlotte Observer. A native of the Carolinas, she grew up in Columbia, SC, and graduated from Queens University of Charlotte. She’s also worked in local television news in Charlotte, NC, and Richmond, VA. Support my work with a digital subscription