Joey Explained Why He Sent Sydney Home On The Bachelor

The prevailing conflict of Joey Graziadei’s Bachelor season reached a crossroads during Week 4. During the group’s trip to Malta, Joey opted for the time-tested tradition of a two-on-one date, inviting both Maria Georgas and Sydney Gordon to spend a day on the water with him. He needed to get to the bottom of their drama and suss out the veracity of the bullying accusations.

Ultimately, it was Sydney who left The Bachelor roseless, but the outcome of the date wasn’t quite as straightforward as fans might have expected. Here’s what went down.

A Tense Trip

A sunny cruise around Malta’s Mediterranean shores sounds like a dream under any other circumstances. But as Sydney explained in a confessional, she was “dreading” the trip, since “spending the whole day with Maria is like spending the whole day with the devil.”

She also told the camera that Maria wasn’t “suitable” for Joey, and tried to convince him of that during a private conversation later on. “Every single situation in the house, there has been one common denominator,” she told him. “And that has been Maria, repeatedly being disrespectful.”

Joey acknowledged that he wouldn’t want to be with someone who made others “uncomfortable,” but was still torn after hearing Maria’s version of things. Ultimately, Joey said he was “more confused than [he] was before the date.”

Joey’s Rose Goes To...

Later, during an awkward two-on-one dinner, Sydney maintained that she felt a connection with Joey, but he ultimately sent her home anyway.

“I think you can tell that this wasn’t easy on me in any way,” he said. “And I want you to know that I can see how amazing you are. I just had to go with my gut, off a connection that I felt was stronger at the time.”

Sydney was “shocked” by the decision, as were many of her fellow contestants. Back at their accommodation, Lea Cayanan seemed particularly upset. She later told Joey she thought it should have been Maria. (Is this the start of a new post-Sydney feud? We shall see!)

Sydney’s Back At Home

Since leaving The Bachelor, Sydney has been making moves at home, including celebrating the first anniversary of her vintage shop in Rhode Island, called Folk Vintage. She also works on social media for fellow Bachelor Nation alum Ashley Iaconetti, per Us Weekly, and Ashley recently came to Sydney’s defense after the season’s drama started to brew.

“Please be kind to our friend,” she wrote on her Instagram, per the outlet. “Sometimes you just have to have been there to understand why people made the moves they did.”