Are you ready for the most awkward fantasy suites episode of The Bachelor ever? One in which all three contestants have to stay in the same hotel room and one of them reveals she told the Bachelor that she'll leave if he sleeps with either of the other two? I hope so, because that's what we got this week. Also, a major clue as to who Peter Weber's mom is crying about — obviously, the most anticipated moment of the season.
This week’s episode begins right where last week’s ended: at the rose ceremony. After the final three ladies — Madison Prewett, Hannah Ann Sluss, and Victoria Fuller — receive roses from Peter, Madison asks to speak with him. We know it’s going to be about sex, because Madison has said she's waiting to have sex until marriage and needs to talk to Peter about it, but the conversation doesn't go as expected.
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“Next week if you were to sleep with somebody else, it would be really hard for me to move forward in this,” Madison says, without noting her personal decision when it comes to sex. As we'll see later in the episode, her own choice isn’t her only reason for feeling this way about Peter sleeping with the others, but the fact that she doesn't explain her reasoning throws him off. He repeatedly asks for clarity, because it seems like she’s asking him not to have sex with the other women only because she... doesn’t want him to have sex with the other women. None of the women want that. Anyway, Peter is confused, and the conversation ends with them agreeing that they’re “crazy” about each other.
And then we’re in Gold Coast, Australia. As shown in the preview last week, all three women are staying in the same suite, which is not normal for this show and hopefully wasn’t done only so that Madison would have to feel awkward. Which she does. “I’m dreading this whole entire week,” she says. The only good part of this is that when Victoria walks in, Hannah Ann and Madison ask her if she’s staying there, too. I understand the wishful thinking, but they had to see where this was going.
The first date goes Hannah Ann. She and Peter go jetskiiing and have a conversation about how the show is hard for her at this stage in the game, but she’s willing to be patient with him. (Basically, the opposite of what Madison said.) Peter is both thrilled to be falling in love and to know that she won’t be the one to walk away from him. Well, he doesn’t explicitly say that second part, but, you know.
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The dinner portion of their date is also pretty easy breezy. These two get along great so not that much happens. They head to the fantasy suite, of course, where it’s confirmed that Hannah Ann was the one hooking up with Peter in the bathroom with the translucent door. Mysteries are being solved, people!
Back at the hotel, Madison tells Victoria that she bets Hannah Ann and Peter are getting ready for dinner and Victoria says, “Or ready to go to bed!” Thanks, Victoria. Madison looks like she’s been hit with a sudden migraine.
The next day, Hannah Ann returns and has to talk to Madison and Victoria. She says the date went “really well." They tell her she looks "tan."
Victoria’s date is next, because the producers have to put the person who asked the Bachelor not to bone the two other women after those two other women. Their day starts with Peter telling Victoria that he trusts her and they have a “clean slate” after her disastrous hometown date. This is bad. A several weeks long relationship that may result in a proposal should not have to be wiped clean.
Victoria and Peter go for a helicopter ride and then have a picnic where they talk about how hard things have been for them, but they're happy that their date today is going so well. They both thrive on drama. That’s the most I can make of this.
Back at the hotel, Madison tells Hannah Ann what she told Peter about him sleeping with the other women, and Hannah Ann is "thrown off." An understandable reaction when the sex you did or did not have is now under an increased threat of being revealed on network TV.
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At night, Peter and Victoria toast to “not giving up.” They would. Victoria tells Peter, “I need you to know why I'm the way that I am,” and explains that in a past longterm relationship she was never asked about her feelings, so when Peter asks her, she gets defensive because she thinks something is wrong. There's been plenty of talk between these two about Victoria "pushing" Peter away, and as this conversation goes on, again, he tries to convince her not to. Overall, they're glad that things are going better for them and decide to head to the fantasy suite. In her confessional, Victoria says, “I just didn’t know it was possible for someone to be so good. I love him so much.” Whatever happens here, Victoria is working through some things, and the most positive take I can give is that it’s nice that this experience allowed her to see that not everyone is as shitty as her ex, and hopefully she learned some other lessons, as well.
The next day, Peter and Victoria are shown waking up together. They’re still getting along, which is honestly shocking considering their track record, and Victoria tells him she’s in love. In his confessional, Peter says he’s in love with three women, which is entirely too many! Two maybe. This guy is so indecisive. I'm concerned.
When Victoria arrives back at the hotel, she tells the other two women that the date was “productive” and they tell her she looks “skinny." So, yeah, that’s the M.O. here: a woman returns, says her date went well, and then the other two blurt out a random comment about her appearance to try to quell the awkwardness.
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Madison’s date is next and involves going to the top of the tallest building in Gold Coast, so that their adrenaline is running super high before they have to have a tough conversation. Plus, there’s the opportunity for metaphors about love being a struggle that is worth it when you reach the top.
Hotel check-in time: Hannah Ann tells Victoria what Madison told Peter, and clarifies that Madison didn’t tell Peter that she is saving herself for marriage. Victoria thinks that Madison is putting him in an unfair position, because she expects him to share what happened in his other relationships. She has a point. Given that they’re on a reality show, Madison is basically asking him to reveal publicly whether he had sex with the other two women, when otherwise we wouldn’t necessarily know. (I mean, you can guess, but generally these people don’t blatantly confirm whether sex occured in the fantasy suite. The Hannah Brown-Peter Weber Windmill Experience is an exception.)
At dinner, Madison tells Peter that she's decided to save herself for marriage, but makes clear that if he had sex with either of the other women, she wouldn’t be able to look past him doing that and then proposing to her a few days later. So, her issue isn’t with the fact that she’s saving herself. She knows Peter has had sex in the past — everyone does — she just doesn’t want to be engaged to someone who so recently had sex with someone else. That’s totally reasonable in the real world, but she knew how this show worked when she was cast. There are many, many reasons why many of us wouldn’t sign up for The Bachelor, perhaps this one should have been Madison’s. Even if she didn’t expect to make it this far, you have to consider that there’s a chance, especially if a huge personal choice could reasonably become a part of the show and potentially cause heartbreak for the lead.
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Peter is distraught and surprised that Madison would break up with him. He also doesn’t want to give details about what happened with any other contestants, but because he feels he doesn’t have a choice, he tells her, “I have been intimate and I can’t lie to you about that.”
Madison walks outside to cry, and Peter soon follows her and begs her not to walk away. There’s a lot of them holding their faces close together while some kangaroos watch, and eventually Madison does walk away. I would say Peter’s insistence that she shouldn’t leave confirms that he would have chosen her in the end, but Peter has been so all over the place that it’s impossible to know.
The only thing that seems clear now is that Peter’s mom is likely crying about Madison. Will she be back? Did she actually leave? When is Hannah Brown gonna pop up again? All will be revealed soon. But not that soon, because The Women Tell All is next week.
Winner of the Episode: Hannah Ann for just breezing on through drama-free
Loser of the Episode: Let’s do a literal take this week and say that Peter is the loser for having lost out on Madison’s love.
What Chris Harrison Tells Peter During The Very Teased Finale: That Madison is back, or at least willing to talk things out with him again stateside.