The Bachelor: Fans cheer on Maria during two-on-one date with ‘liar’ Sydney

Producers deliberately put the two contestants on a date together with Joey

The Bachelor fans are standing firmly beside Maria after she won her two-on-one date with Sydney in the latest episode.

During the fourth installment of the season, which aired on Monday (12 February), Joey Graziadei and the contestants were flown to Malta, where they enjoyed a group date and Zoe had her first one-on-one date with Joey. Maria and Sydney, meanwhile, were forced on a two-on-one date with him.

Maria and Sydney have been involved in a dramatic feud after the latter interpreted Maria’s comments about (recently eliminated contestant) Madina’s age to be offensive.

However, in what was apparently an attempt to defuse tensions, the two women were sent on a two-on-one date with Joey. As the three took a scenic boat ride through the Mediterranean Sea, Joey took time to speak with each woman separately about their drama and the ill feelings they have towards each other.

Sydney used her time to recount to Joey the times that “Maria has repeatedly been disrespectful”. “The person that Maria has been towards me and others is not someone you would want your wife to be,” she told him.

When Joey confronted Maria about Sydney’s accusations, Maria wholeheartedly denied them, telling him that what Sydney said “was such a lie”.

“She’s a liar from the jump!” Maria later tells the cameras. “And I am over it.”

“I feel like I might be more confused than I was going into today now,” Joey says in a separate on-camera interview. “I still don’t know the truth of what happened, so it’s very hard for me to put this drama behind because if I choose Maria, and what everything that Sydney is saying is true, no way that it gets left behind. If I choose Sydney and I find out that everything Maria said was true, I feel terrible. I take this seriously, so I do hope that I find some clarity tonight.”

The three later sat down for a final date-night dinner before Joey ultimately made the difficult decision to give Maria the rose, and eliminate Sydney.

Throughout the episode and after, viewers took to X to share their enjoyment over the awkwardness between Sydney and Maria, as well as express their loyalty to the latter.

“Me cheering on Maria to EAT SYDNEY ALIVE on the 2:1 date,” one viewer tweeted. “Even on the date, Sydney is still obsessing over Maria,” a second noticed.

A third hilariously compared the date to “when corporate comes into the break room at your job and sits down at the table during lunch”.

“Production has no shame,” a fourth commented, while another felt that “producers are so wrong for putting Maria and Sydney on a date together”.

The Bachelor airs Mondays at 8pm PT/ET on ABC.