'The Bachelor: The Women Tell All': Maria Georgas faces her rivals, Lexi Young and Jenn Tran take the hot seat

The Bachelor: The Women Tell All featured Maria Georgas facing off against Sydney Gordon, Lea Cayanan and Jess Edwards, a couple of bombshell revelations, and Lexi Young and Jenn Tran taking the hot seat during the Season 28 special that aired Monday night on ABC.


The Bachelor: The Women Tell All featured most of the women from Joey's The Bachelor season reuniting on one stage with host Jesse Palmer for a night of conflict, accusations, and -- ultimately -- apologies and resolution.

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Joey was also forced to confront a room of his exes as his The Bachelor journey is winding down.

In addition to Maria, Sydney, Lea, Lexi, and Jenn, The Women Tell All also featured Lauren Hollinger, Allison Hollinger, Edwina Dorbor, Evalin Clark, Taylor Wiens, Starr Skyler, Katelyn DeBacker, Autumn Waggoner, Kelsey Toussant, and Madina Alam.


Maria clearly received the loudest applause of all the women, and the audience cheered out her name.

"I love you!" Maria yelled.

Below are the highlights from The Women Tell All special.

Lea is accused of crocodile tears

Lea said she had thrown her one-on-one date advantage in the fire so no one had to have anxiety during the course of the season about whether Lea was going to steal a date.

Maria said she respected Lea's gesture but the problem lied with Lea acting like she had done it for the women in the house.


"The tears felt like a performance. We wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt, until we saw it. It was a great performance until it wasn't," Starr announced.

Evalin claimed Lea was not being real or honest throughout the whole process, adding how Lea had claimed she's a "girls' girl" yet talked about people behind their backs.
 

Madina demands an apology from Lea

Madina told Lea that their talk about Maria was "an honest waste" of their time, energy and emotion.

"It was really frustrating to hear you call yourself a girls' girl and then pull me aside and tell me how to act," Madina vented.

Autumn didn't think Lea meant any harm by confronting Madina about her post-Sydney relationship with Maria, but Madina apparently felt like Lea was telling her whom to be friends with.


Madina said Lea had no right to scold her for being nice to Maria.

"I think, honestly, you owe me an apology," Madina declared.

"I hear that wholeheartedly and I am very sorry that you felt that way," Lea replied.

"I never really meant to make that conversation a confrontation at all. That conversation was about maybe how you were moving as a friend, but I agree maybe that wasn't my place. And I'm so sorry."

But Lea accused Madina of taking their conversation to Maria and saying, "Lea wants everyone to be mean to you, and that wasn't the conversation."


"That was the conversation!" Maria argued.

And Madina claimed she had never said that.

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Maria explained how no one was happy for her after winning her two-on-one date against Sydney and recalled walking into a silent room.

"But Madina looked at me and said, 'You look beautiful.' And that's a problem?!" Maria vented. "You made it a problem. Why?!"

Maria never told Lea to "shut the f-ck up"

After Maria insisted she had never told Lea to, "Shut the f-ck up," Lauren announced that she was actually the bachelorette who had said that.

"She was telling me to practice patience and to be quiet. It was super condescending for no reason," Lauren insisted. "So yeah, I did. I [said that]."

Lea claimed that she didn't care about that comment being made, but Maria argued that Lea absolutely cared because she had talked about it with Joey in Malta and then Spain.

"I just don't want to feel gaslit," Lea announced.

Maria appeared shocked and asked, "Did you steal a page out of Sydney's book with the gaslighting?!"

Jesse had to break the women up and let the show go to a commercial break.


Backstage during the break, Lea cried because she felt misunderstood. Once Lea returned to the stage, Maria ran over to her and hugged her, and Lea said, "I'm so sorry."

"We're going to make up, and I want you to know that," Maria assured Lea.

But then Sydney quietly whispered to Lea, "Don't be sorry. You have every right to feel that way."

Maria announced how she had never spoken badly about Madina -- or her age -- and she doesn't understand how that turned into her being a bully.

Madina admitted calling Maria a "bully" wasn't the right word and she just felt backed into a corner.

Madina explained of Maria and Sydney, "It felt like two pitbulls fighting, and I was not getting into the middle of that."


Starr wished Madina had stepped in to "shut down" the drama, but Madina insisted that she wasn't responsible for either woman and those two women had to work things out amongst themselves.

Sydney and Jess face off against Maria

Sydney announced that her only intention in fighting with Maria was to stick up for a friend, Madina, but Edwina countered, "That's not what it was. You never liked Maria! That's what it was!"

Edwina added, "You never liked Maria from the start... I observed everything that was going on. I saw everything going on in the house, so don't try to stop me from saying what I feel!"

Sydney said she and Maria just communicated differently.

"You're right. I speak the truth and you make up lies. You're absolutely right. We do speak different languages," Maria snapped.

Maria apparently felt targeted for no reason, but Jess explained how Maria would often tell her to shut up whenever she tried to speak her mind during filming.


"She would tell me to, 'Zip it,' or would shush me," Jess claimed.

"I never said, 'Zip it!' That never happened! No!" Maria yelled.

"You 100 percent did [say that] though," Jess argued.

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Jess said she was just trying to provide context, but Maria asked Jess to provide context that's actually true. Maria asked Jess to be "for real" because she was getting hurt.

"I said, 'Zip it,' but I didn't say, 'Shut up.' That was one time and we talked about this," Maria said.


Jess explained that animosity was "building up" throughout the season because Maria allegedly kept shutting her down. Maria insisted there was nothing she could've done to make Lea, Sydney and Jess happy.

Taylor voiced how Maria was the one being bullied, but Jess pointed out how Maria was not taking any accountability for his mistakes and how she treated people sometimes. Edwina, however, said Maria handled everything "perfectly."

Lexi breaks down over her premature The Bachelor exit

Lexi said it was emotional watching her departure back and it was not easy to quit on Joey because he's such a great guy.

"But I knew it was only fair to myself and to him, at that moment, to leave," Lexi told Jesse.

Lexi said Joey had handled her conversation about battling endometriosis so well.

Men in the past had apparently made Lexi feel like less of a woman or looked at her differently, yet Joey was "so sweet" and said, "I want to have some type of a toolkit with me so that you're flaring or in pain, I could have something on me to help you."


Lexi said thousands of people have reached out to her, telling her that her health crisis had resonated with them and made them feel seen and less alone. Lexi said she's very grateful for the opportunity to have touched lives.

Lexi also said she's ready to meet her person but Joey had set the bar "extremely high" for what she's looking for in her next relationship.

Jenn admits Joey totally crushed her

Jenn said it was hard to see how good things were with Joey considering she didn't end up with him. Jenn had apparently put her heart on the line for the first time in a long time.

Jenn claimed she and Joey were so aligned with everything they want out of life, including their values and view of marriage.

"Just seeing my heart get crushed is really heartbreaking. It's emotional [reliving it]," Jenn shared with Jesse.

Jenn said she would have loved for Joey to meet her mother, who got to watch Jenn grow into her own on The Bachelor. Jenn said her mother finally views her like an adult and it's been monumental for their relationship.


Jenn's mother had moved from Vietnam to give her kids a better life, and once Jenn's father left, Jenn said she never complained or showed signs of a struggle.

Jenn said that after appearing on The Bachelor, she and her brother finally talked about their father for the first time and they grew closer because of that. Jenn also had cousins reach out to her, showing their support and love.

When asked what's next for her, Jenn said, "I'm on the track to finding love, I think. I just have a renewed sense of hope. I'm just really excited, and I feel, more than ever, ready to find my person. I know what I deserve. I want an undeniably ruthless love, and I deserve 110 percent of it to be reciprocated."

Maria sits in the hot seat

Jesse called Maria "a lightning rod," and Maria noted that's fair to say because drama seemed to follow her everywhere she went in the house.

Maria said it was sad watching Joey dump her because their connection was undeniable; however, she expressed how everything happens for a reason and it was nice for her family to watch her fall in love with Joey on the show.

"I think everything happens for a reason... but it was so obvious that I was into him. It was kind of like a friend that you want to make out with, you know?" Maria shared.


"It was easy. That's what it was. It was like I've known him for a lot longer than I did."

Maria recalled falling for Joey during their one-on-one date in Montreal, when she determined that she was "all in" with The Bachelor star. Maria said her worries dissipated for moment, although her confidence didn't last long.

When asked to reveal her dad's reaction to her breakup with Joey, Maria joked, "Joey has a hit out on him currently. He should probably sleep with one eye open. No, I'm just joking!"

Jesse then asked Maria why Sydney had such a negative impression of her, and Maria responded, "I really don't know why. I tried to talk to her about what it is I'm doing that's pushing her off the edge... I really didn't understand and I don't understand it."

Sydney and Lea apologize to Maria

Sydney announced how Maria had definitely called her "weird, dumb, annoying and embarrassing," but then she admitted that she was annoying watching the show back.

"It was so cringey, and so I hear you," Sydney told her rival in the house. "I said things I didn't mean. We all said things we don't mean in the heat of the moment, and so I don't blame you for any of it."


Sydney admitted that she should have been more "resolution oriented" instead of "pointing the finger" at Maria.

Maria said she tends to get "heated" when she feels her character is under attack and she'll always stand up for herself in those situations.

Maria explained how she wasn't in the wrong and so she felt the need to protect herself.

But Maria also declared that she did not condone or respect any of the hate Sydney and Lea have been receiving on social media. Maria insisted that she just wanted them to be good and friendly.

Lea then shared, "Maria, I don't think I ever got the opportunity to know you for you outside of the conflict. And for that, I am so sorry. I think you're a wonderful woman. I watch the TV and I'm like, 'I love that girl and I don't even know her.' I wish I got to know you."

"Thank you," Maria replied. "We would get along outside of this, let's just be real. Imagine if we were all the best of friends in the house, how much easier this would've been for all of us. I want to make up."


Maria proceeded to hug Sydney and Lea, and all of the girls said "sorry" to one another.

Joey faces a room full of his exes

Joey gushed about how all of the women on his season are wonderful and amazing.

Sydney announced how Joey had reached out to her to make sure she was okay in light of all the hate she was receiving.

"The genuine Joey you see on the screen, he is like that in real life," Sydney boasted of Joey, before telling him that he deserves all the happiness in the world.

Autumn asked Joey if he has any single friends, and Joey replied, "Yes," referring to other men in Bachelor Nation. Starr also asked Joey to send those men her way.

Joey shared how the Maria he got to know and spent time with was always focused on him. Joey admitted the drama derailed them but he only has happy memories with the controversial bachelorette.


Joey also revealed it was "very difficult" not to give Jenn a hometown-date rose. Joey said he always had a great time with Jenn and things felt easy with her; however, he wasn't feeling confident in their relationship enough to involve her family.

Joey asked Kelsey T. how things were going with her family, and Kelsey T. revealed she had spoken with her father right after the show.

Kelsey T. said her father had apologized for a lot and he's very present in her life now. Kelsey T.'s dad calls her on the phone now, and she also apparently touched base with other relatives whom she hasn't talked to in years.

The Bachelor: The Women Tell All ended with a sneak peek of next week's Season 28 finale.

Joey was shown introducing Kelsey and Daisy Kent to his family, and Daisy saying, "I love you," to Joey.

However, Daisy is overwhelmed with a feeling that something was off with Joey, and then Joey breaks down at the Final Rose Ceremony.


When one rose was left on a podium, Joey hops in a car and drives away in tears.

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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.

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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski