Women Tell All Takes on Racism and Hate — Plus, Mean Girls War Explodes Again

He was also on hand to help the show address this season’s apparent rise in hate and racism across social media, with almost every woman on the panel sharing that they’ve received nasty comments and personal messages from these terrible “little keyboard warriors.”

The two-hour special concluded last week’s “dramatic” cliffhanger where Kelsey A left Joey with the dreaded “We have to talk” note, leaving him spiraling into his insecurities about not being chosen at the end of this.

We got through the penultimate Rose Ceremony, with the Bachelor choosing his Final 2, sending one of the women off of the show and straight to The Women Tell All couch opposite host Jesse Palmer.

But the night kicked off with the most explosive storyline of the season as the “Mean GIrls” war proved it still had some firepower in it with Maria again sparring off against Sydney, Lea, and Jess — with both groups having their backup.

It dominated the first 30 minutes of the show as we had a spotlight first on Lea, who was the second to jump on the dump-on-Maria train, before shifting focus to the originator of this season’s hate-rade, Sydney. And Madina, who was oddly the centerpiece of the drama while trying to not be part of it at all, again tried to take the high road.

And right in the middle of it all, just as she’s been all season, is one of the women producers are rumored to be looking at as a possible contender for the next Bachelorette. But is Maria just too controversial? She’s certainly an emotional firecracker, though at least she’s been consistent.

For Maria, it’s been all about honesty and integrity — though we do have to laugh at her quibbling so aggressively about the difference between telling someone to shut up and telling them to zip it. That’s just semantics when the intent is the same. It weakens the argument.

Add to that the fact she was cutting Jess off over and over again during this argument — even after saying she would let her finish — and Maria did not come out of this entirely smelling of Bachelorette roses. It didn’t help that Jess’ argument was that Maria would never let her talk.

At the same time, there did seem to be a consensus among the women that Maria was treated pretty horribly her entire time in the house, and unfairly so. After enduring that for so long, it’s fair to say she might not be at her best anymore … and that could have carried over into tonight’s episode.

As we’ve talked about in our weekly coverage of the season, Sydney was first to start dumping on Maria, obsessing over her because of a comment made about Madina’s insecurity about her age. Madina tried to stay out of it, but Sydney was obsessed.

Tonight, she admitted she should have been more “resolution-oriented” rather than confrontational, saying she cringed watching herself back. But it seemed there was even more hate lined up for Lea, who picked up the Maria hate torch after Sydney didn’t survive the dreaded Two-on-One date.

“When I came back from my Two-on-One, I walked into the most silent room I’ve ever walked into,” Maria said to Lea. “No one was happy for me. No one had a smile on their face. But Madina looked at me and said, ‘You look beautiful.’ And that’s a problem? And you made it a problem because why?”

And she did, too, pulling Madina aside to tell her she was basically betraying Sydney’s memory by being nice to Maria. It was like a concerted effort was happening to ostracize Maria and make her feel like garbage.

Then, that same concerted effort appeared to have turned on Lea for the reunion, sending the 23 year old off-stage to cry during the commercial break. Maria tried to hug it out with both of her strongest haters, telling them that she wanted them all to come out of this okay.

Maria didn’t hold back, though, defending herself to the hilt. When Sydney tried to argue that part of their issue was just that they have different communication styles, Maria shot back, “Right, I speak the truth and you make up lies. You’re absolutely right.”

At the same time, even though she has her issues with some of the women — which she did squash later with apologies and hugs — Maria was not about the level of hate Sydney had been getting these past few weeks online.

“Sydney, the hate that you have been getting on social media has crossed the line,” Maria said. “And it is not something I do not condone or respect at all. And Lea, you as well. That’s not what I wanted out of this. I wanted us to be good.”

We’ll talk more about that in just a bit, but before we can, we need to wrap up Fantasy Suite and reveal Joey’s Top 2.

We all know Joey has an insecurity about his chosen woman not choosing him back, and we all know this is one of the worst messages you can see on a note or a text or really in any context. And yet, that’s what Kelsey A dropped in his door during Fantasy Suites week.

So, of course the producers left it as a dramatic cliffhanger. And then it turned out to be…

…

nothing.

Really, team? Come on! Yes, she had some insecurities, but she was just trying to tell Joey that she misses him when they’re not together and it’s hard.

It was also hard for her to see how much the note crushed his spirits and left him deep in his feelings. Even her words of encouragement couldn’t bring him out of it. Suddenly, his fear became her fear. Would he not choose her because of this moment?

In the end, he did choose her, as it was Rachel who failed to secure a spot in the Final 2. Daisy was chosen alongside Kelsey A to meet Joey’s family next week and then see which of them he gets down on one knee in front of.

As for Rachel, she was in a pretty good spot, though teary, watching it back with Jesse on The Women Tell All. She and Joey were even in a very healthy headspace about their time together and how it ended when he came out.

So if everyone was good about what happened, then what happened?!

Racism and hate, that’s what.

It was a topic that came up more than once on the show, but never more poignantly or heartbreaking than when Rachel opened up about how her getting the rose two weeks ago over Maria led to an onslaught of hate and racist comments on social media.

“I don’t know what or why this is happening. I’ve just been getting a lot of hateful messages as soon as the episode aired,” she said of the Hometowns episode. “A lot of, like, racist comments toward me, like calling me the n-word, or calling ‘jungle Asian,’ all because I got a rose. It’s just been very frustrating.”

She said she went from feeling the joy of sharing that cultural representation with her family to having them also see the nastiness spewing across the internet toward them.

“I’m sad because my parents, they really enjoyed the Hometown episode, and then for them to see people attacking our culture and attacking me,” she said. “You know, I’ve kind of been in this scenario before, but this is like a whole new level. Just hundreds of people messaging me … and making TikToks of them throwing up when we were kissing. It’s just, like, insane.”

Joey and everyone in the room praised her for sharing this painful truth and putting a mirror up to Bachelor Nation, while Jesse called them out directly for their reprehensible behavior.

“Here’s the thing, Bachelor Nation. We love your strong opinions,” he said directly into the camera. “But I think it’s so important to uplift these women who were brave enough to be vulnerable and to share their stories with Joey and with all of us at home. These women deserve our praise and not our hate.”

“And obviously for these ladies, people need to remember how much courage it takes to do what they did, to be able to come out and be who you are unapologetically and try your best to do this. It should never be met with hate,” Joey added.

“I guess I would just want to remind people that we’re not just faces on a screen, we’re not just women trying to find love,” Rachel chimed in. “I think people are so quick to be little keyboard warriors and pop off because there’s no consequences, but we have to pay the consequences emotionally and mentally. Just be kind.”

It was an emotional conversation, but an important one … especially on a show that has had a spotty record at best in dealing with race and racial issues.

It was refreshing to see them take it head-on by letting Rachel share her story, then revealing just how many women had received hateful messages this season, and then publicly and directly condemning it. Hate and racism should always be tackled head-on and should never be tolerated or glossed over.

The Bachelor wraps up next Monday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC