The Bachelor's Sydney Gordon has apparently delivered a pointed message about gaslighting to Maria Georgas, her enemy on Joey Graziadei's season.
ADVERTISEMENT
After Sydney and Maria's beef was first introduced on Joey's The Bachelor season, Sydney took to Instagram with a lengthy rant about gaslighting.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
Sydney posted a video of herself doing a makeup tutorial and teaching her followers about the definition of gaslighting.
"Now, if you watch The Bachelor, you might see it in the previous [January 29] episode," Sydney said, seemingly referring to Maria's behavior since Maria appeared to be the only bachelorette with whom she had a problem on The Bachelor's 28th season.
ADVERTISEMENT
"Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation where an abuser is trying to cause self-doubt and confusion in one's mind. Gaslighters tend to seek control by gaining power, and they do so by distorting their reality so that the victim is forced to question their own judgment and intuition."
While Sydney didn't name Maria directly in her post, Sydney was shown accusing Maria of being a "bully" and "a mean girl" on The Bachelor. Sydney was also shown alleging that Maria had been "manipulating" the other women as well as Joey.
"I'm going to tell you three examples of gaslighting, and sometimes, the gaslighter might use all three in this order," Sydney continued.
Sydney's first example was "denying that something ever happened."
"It could be somebody saying that they never said something... [claiming] it's something against their character. That makes the victim think.... 'Maybe I heard it wrong,'" Sydney said.
ADVERTISEMENT
The second example was "trivializing your feelings and emotions."
Sydney explained that after a person expresses his or her feelings or hurt, a gaslighter may respond with, "You're making a big deal out of nothing. That's crazy... You're sensitive and overthinking instead of acknowledging the situation and saying, 'I'm sorry I said that. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings.'"
Sydney said a gaslighter doesn't want to take responsibility for a mistake.
And the third example was "shifting the blame and undermining your thoughts."
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW: WHOM DID 'THE BACHELORETTE' STARS AND THEIR BACHELOR PICKS ULTIMATELY END UP WITH?! (PHOTOS)
ADVERTISEMENT
Sydney shared how an abuser may reflect or deflect his or her feelings onto the victim to make the victim feel like the problem.
"A gaslighter may say, 'The fact you're even making these accusations makes you untrustworthy. You are just jealous,' and that's so they can avoid taking any accountability for anything," Sydney continued.
Sydney ended her rant by telling her followers that their feelings are always valid, no matter what.
"I also want to point out that this is a reality TV show and so drama is exaggerated to make it entertaining," Sydney concluded. "So let's please not give any hate, because at the end of the day, we're all real people."
On last week's episode of The Bachelor, Sydney brought the drama when she and Maria clashed over a comment Maria had made about Madina Alam being one of the older bachelorettes in the cast.
ADVERTISEMENT
Maria's comments were intended to be supportive or comforting, not malicious. But Sydney misunderstood Maria's motive and talked about her behind her back.
On the show's latest February 5 episode, Madina shared with Joey of the conflict, "Some girls were saying, 'She's not even that old,' which felt very invalidating. And then yesterday, one of the girls came up to me and was mad that I wouldn't tell her who told me that she said the comment."
Madina didn't drop Maria's name, but she continued, "If I have to describe it, I felt like I was being bullied. 'Tell me who it is. Tell me who it is.' And I kept saying, 'Can we please just move past it? That's not why we're here.'"
Madina subsequently admitted the conversation to Maria, who was shocked by the use of the word "bully" since she claimed she had been just trying to clear her name.
"I also felt bullied as well," Sydney declared.
Maria asked for specific examples, and Sydney simply said that Maria had "talked sh-t" about her friend.
"Sydney, Missy Troublemaker, needs to stop!... You're making things worse. Just stop," Maria announced.
"I don't want to be friends with somebody like that -- a catty person," Sydney clapped back, adding how she felt "attacked" and was going to remove herself from the "negative environment."
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' COUPLES NOW: WHO DID 'THE BACHELOR' STARS AND THEIR BACHELORETTE PICKS ACTUALLY END UP MARRYING? (PHOTOS)
Allison Hollinger, however, claimed Maria was just "bold" and being herself, adding how some women didn't know how to take that. Edwina Dorbor also insisted Maria, although very "straightforward" with people, wasn't a bully at all and that Sydney was "blowing things out of proportion."
At the pool party that preceded the third Rose Ceremony of The Bachelor season, Sydney pulled Joey aside for a chat and identified Maria as the "bully" Madina had been referring to.
ADVERTISEMENT
Sydney also revealed, "She attacked me and I sat there and maintained my composure. She called me embarrassing, weird and dumb. I ended up walking away. I just couldn't be in that hostile environment."
The Bachelor star didn't like hearing those "alarming" accusations about Maria, with whom he felt "great chemistry," and so he confronted the brunette beauty about what he had just heard.
Maria explained to Joey that she had been bullied in the past and her behavior in the house certainly wasn't an example of that. Maria started to cry and insisted she'd never treat another woman that way.
"I feel like I'm not being received as good as I thought I would be here," Maria shared.
"I thought the least of my problems would be the girls in the house, and so I really want to work on our connection. I just know that word [bully] is something I'd never throw around -- ever."
The Bachelor star could see that Maria was surprised and hurt, and so her reaction confused him even more.
"Sydney, if you like her, there's no way you can like me because we are completely different people," Maria told Joey. "I think Sydney is giving these accusations without any explanation as to why she's feeling that way."
"You're right. I probably should've asked her more questions," Joey replied.
Joey shared in a confessional how the way Maria was talking to him "felt more real" than the way Sydney had been talking to him. The Bachelor star admitted he felt "distraught" because he liked both women, who were apparently total opposites.
"I'm not that person. It would suck to be sent home tonight because of Sydney," Maria lamented in a confessional.
Sydney and Maria each received a rose at the Rose Ceremony, and a preview for the next episode shows the women on a tense two-on-one date with Joey.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
ADVERTISEMENT
Click here to learn more about Joey's The Bachelor bachelorettes or click here to read spoilers that reveal how Joey's season ends and who he picked as his winner.
Interested in more The Bachelor news? Follow our Bachelor Nation News Page on Facebook or join our The Bachelor Facebook Group!