**PHOTO CREDIT | ABC The Bachelor/Gizelle Hernandez**

We’ll get 2 episodes this week of the The Bachelor as we continue along with Joey Graziadei. The Maria Syndey drama continues as you just can’t have both of them in the same house.

Jesse Palmer lets them know that Joey has moved on to their next destination which will be in Malta. So they will pack their bags to get to him in an hour.

Once the women settle into the hotel, there is a date card and we learn that Lexi will have a 1-on-1 date with Joey.

With their date underway, we can see how their chemistry will be with one another. They explore the streets with looking at jewelry, eating from the street carts, just strolling through the city, playing bocce, and then just dancing.

Back at the hotel, Maria and her new bestie Allison are chatting about what’s going on and then Jess and Sydney are doing the same thing. We see that this drama is not ending anytime soon.

Back on the date, they are in a church which brings up her emotions thinking about her grandfather who was a painter as well as the fact that she hasn’t revealed her health situation that could make having children difficult. She feels that she needs to disclose this tonight so that Joey is in the loop. They also talk with a priest whose there to get his insights on relationships and marriage.

The next date card arrives Jen, Daisy, Edwina, Catelyn, Allison, Rachel, Autumn, Kelsey T, Jess, Madina, Lea, and Kelsey A find out that they are on a date together.

They realize that Maria and Sydney’s names weren’t called so they all deduce that they will be on a 2-on-1 date.

Back on the 1-on-1 date, Joesy says he enjoys that Lexi seems like she is really letting him know more about her. She lets him know that she has something else to share in terms of her endo journey. She explains she didn’t know what her issues were, but after having a surgery, she realized that she has stage 5 Endometriosis and she was told that she may not be able to have her own children. Lexi says that this is devastating as she felt that it was her calling to be a mother. She had only told one other person, her ex and he decided that he didn’t want to go further into their relationship. Joey appreciated her sharing that information and understood how difficult it was for her to share it. He lets her know that this doesn’t scare him and there are other options that can be looked at in terms of creating a family.

He gives Lexi the date rose.

The group date begins and we get an interesting factoid that certain scenes from HBO’s Game of Thrones were filmed there. At Fort Manuel, they see two people fighting one another with a complementary outfit to boot. The ladies will be trained to be knights and they’re able to create their fighting outfits with accessories. They all spar with one another and then do a series of challenges such as engaging in eye contact with one another - some even get kisses from them. They then have to grab sashes off of each other. There is also a sausage grab that has to be done with their mouths only - no hands. The winner of the series of challenges was Autumn. She gets to have more time with Joey to chat with him away from the women at the Fort (although they can see her).

The cocktail party after the group date begins and the women realize that there are a number of people on the date and they need to get their time so that they can further their connections. He finds a way to connect with each of them whether it’s wearing glasses with Rachel because she was wearing them or asking Kelsey T what she needs to feel loved.

Back at the hotel, the next date card arrives and Lexi lets Sydney and Maria know that they are on the 2-on-1 date. We all know that in this scenario, only one person will remain.

Back at the after party of the group date, Jess gets her time with Joey so that she can let him know what she’s feeling. She tells him that she can see that she is falling for him and she can’t wait to see where it goes. They share a kiss. Joey gives the group date rose to Kelsey T. and he lets them know that he’s heading out.

The 2-on-1 date is something that we have looked forward to since last week when we saw it in the teaser. To see the drama culminate in this way, we can only hope that he selects someone today as it seems like we have an entire hour dedicated to this. Sydney feels that being on this date with Maria is like being with the devil which is a harsh thing to see. Joey wants to get clarity and figure out what is going on with them. As they head to their destination on a yacht, Joey is on a boat approaching them. When he sees them, he acknowledges that this date may seem a bit awkward, but he has a fun date planned for them at The Blue Grotto. They navigate through the natural structure and then they find themselves sitting together near the boats so that the air can be cleared. He asks Sydney to come with him so that he can understand what is going on. She continues to drum up more instances that didn’t happen. When he talks with Maria, she is so frustrated that she starts to shut down. Joey still doesn’t know the truth of what happened and he eants to have clarity even more.

Both women make their way to the dinner and Joey says, he’s not focused on the truth because he can see that that’s not going to go anywhere, so it will be about the connection. He asks if Sydney sees herself with him and why. He asks the same of Maria as well. He said based on the date earlier, that wasn’t a question he was able to ask and he’s glad that he was able to see where they felt on that topic. He walks Sydney out and Maria receives the rose!

We can only hope that all of the drama will now be greatly reduced! We see the women getting ready for the cocktail party. Upon arrival, Maria says that she’s not there to ruffle feathers and she’s just going to tuck in and she wants the other women to have time. Joey arrives and says that they all look so nice and he’s happy to be in Malta with them and he gives nice compliments to all of the women as a group. He lets them know that Sydney is not there because he didn’t feel the connection and that is the purpose of being there.

Jenn continues to connect with him by bringing him back to the water, Edwina lets her interest in him to be plainly known and other women take the time to reach out. Madina shares that she has had some trauma that her parents were involved in and it made her closed off. He lets her know that he doesn’t want her to share things that she’s not ready too, but that she should do it in her own time. They even do a trust fall exercise. Lea decides to continue the Sydney drama by pulling Madina out and telling her that the way that she is navigating everything isn’t sitting right with her. Madina lets her know that she doesn’t need to understand how she approaches things.

JOEY GAVE ROSES TO | Kelsey T, Lexi, Maria

JOEY DID NOT GIVE A ROSE TO | Sydney

Each night during this season, we will tweet about The Golden Bachelor and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!

Each week we will let you know who our faves were from the last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns.

We also suggest a podcast that we’ve become obsessed with over the past few seasons, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour to get their feedback!