Bachelor Blowup: Age-Shaming Feud Emerges as One Woman Has Enough and Quits Show

Honestly, it just might be. It's always fun when you hear a snippet of something maybe and just go with it, starting to spread rumors. And then when challenged, you just lean all the way into it.

Elsewhere in the episode, which saw the first two group dates and the season's first one-on-one, we saw a contestant struggling with her emotions until finally she snapped and abruptly decided she was out. She'd had enough.

It certainly caught Joey by surprise as he continues to be a Bachelor lead who seems to genuinely care and have compassion for the stressful journey these women are on. When he dropped in to check on her, all hell broke loose.

We haven't even talked about the crazy table catapult that kicked off the first group date of the season. Rachel, Taylor, Kelsey T, Lexi, Evalin, Erika, Maria, Lauren, Jess went into a mad frenzy when they learned that the date was not only wedding-themed, but they needed to pick out a wedding dress for it.

It was like watching cattle try and herd themselves as they ran through the house, taking a wrong turn and then trying to about-face into the room with the racks of dresses. We suppose we shouldn't have been surprised when one of the women pulled a rack down on herself. It was chaos.

This was the fun kind of chaos. The other kind was coming soon enough, though. Poor Maria found herself in the middle of everything, without even meaning to. From the premiere, she's been a firecracker personality on the show and perhaps the most fun person to watch.

With a sparkling sense of humor and a sweet disposition, she's someone who seems determined to lift the other women up and make sure that everyone is having a great time. Unfortunately, everything went wrong for her this week.

It started when she made an innocent comment about missing her dad on the way to this group date. That sent Lauren, who's still grieving the death of her dad seven months prior, into an emotional spiral that she wasn't able to climb out of.

She didn't talk to Joey at all during the daytime portion of the date and broke down in tears during the night when she opened up to him about why she'd been so somber at their fake reception. Joey was very warm and supportive of her, but she was definitely in her head about it all ... including that she'd let her emotions dominate the day.

Speaking of domination, we have to talk about the incredibly valiant effort by one Evalin. In a silly game of Bridal Musical Chairs, the women were vying for who would get to sit next to Joey. When the music stopped, Evalin found herself on the opposite side of the table.

That didn't stop her from launching herself over the table, actually landing on Lauren's lap. Unfortunately, that also meant Lauren had already secured the seat and her impressive effort was for naught. She wound up sitting on the far end of the table.

At the end of the day portion, Rachel was selected to enjoy a first dance with Joey serenaded by Michael Bolton (the blurry guy in the picture above). But after the evening portion where both Lauren and Jess opened up about their emotional struggles that day, it was Jess who scored the even more coveted Group Date Rose.

As exciting as it was for the women imagining their wedding days with Joey, it was even more so for Daisy, who nabbed the first One-on-One date of the season. She was especially happy as it would mean she could finally tell him about her cochlear implant.

Her story was so much more than that, though, as she talked about being nearly bedridden for years before finally getting diagnosed with Lyme disease and treated in Germany. She's recovered from that, but also dealt with losing her hearing over the last eight years.

The story came out in the evening after Joey had asked her what she did and she danced around a bit the fact that she's focusing all of her energy on her non-profit, which is focused on helping kids understand that being different isn't a detriment, but more like a superpower.

The date itself was a music festival, which is totally up Daisy's alley, after a helicopter ride. Producers did catch moments of her saying, "What?" and "Huh?" to emphasize that she struggles to hear when there's a lot of background noise.

Joey took all of this in and was only more impressed and inspired by Daisy. Her story and challenges led to her wanting to help others and make a difference in the world, which is pretty impressive. The first One-on-One is a big deal, but the connection these two already share has us thinking Daisy's going to go pretty far this season.

The second Group Date was a lot more physical, with past contestants Jubilee (Season 20) and Demi (Season 23) returning to put the 10 women (Marlena, Chrissa, Starr, Allison, Edwina, Autumn, Madina, Katelyn, Jenn, Kelsey A) through Bachelor Boot Camp.

That was just a prelude to the day's real activity, which was a five-on-five paint blasting battle to steal hearts. The first team to steal the other team's heart twice wins. But, this game didn't play out like most Bachelor Nation games of this sort.

On most seasons, the winning team gets to spend extra time with Joey that night, while the losers do the walk of shame back home. After the ladies were all painted up and looking haggard, we were expecting just this.

Instead, the winning team got the shocking news that they needed to head home to clean up, too ... but only one of them would be getting an evening portion. That one was apparently chosen by Joey, who rewarded Edwina for her aggressive efforts in the game.

So a Group Date turned into a huge One-on-One opportunity for Edwina, who defintely made the most of it. She admitted that opening up emotionally was hard for her, but she proceeded to power through and do just that.

She explained that growing up in an African household, there was a lot of pressure on her as an older sibling to take on a leadership role, which means being that role model, keeping it together and staying strong. Impressed with how vulnerable she allowed herself to be, she got the Group Date Rose.

As the only woman there, it would have been rough if she didn't.

We thought maybe we could get out of Week 2 without drama, but then Madina made a comment to the group about how hard it was for her being the oldest woman there at 31. Later, Maria -- remember her accidental troubles earlier with Lauren -- was overheard commenting on this.

Now, Maria's comment was supportive, saying that she shouldn't be bothered by her age as she's certain Joey wouldn't be and she thinks Madina is hot and awesome. Unfortunately, gossipy ears don't always hear things right.

Somehow, this got twisted into Maria saying, "I'm old, too," as if she was dismissing Madina's feelings. Maria did acknowledge that at 29, she's also older than the 28-year-old Bachelor, but she wasn't intentionally trying to downplay Madina's feelings.

This continued to escalate as Sydney decided to support her friend Madina by trashing Maria to the other girls. Maria tried to talk to Madina about it at the start of the Cocktail Party, but Madina said she was actually in a good mood and fine.

Honestly, it might not have even been an issue for Madina. But it certainly was one for Sydney, and it quickly became one for Maria, who wanted to know who started talking about her to the other ladies. Sydney owned up to it. Maria said she would never age-shame someone and would never have said "I'm old, too" because she doesn't think 29, 30, or 31 is even old!

Maria is an outspoken and unapologetic person and it looks like that's just going to keep getting her in trouble. Let's just say, she hoped the "stupid" argument was over but next week's promo proves that it's just getting started. Sydney is not over it (and Madina may not be, either). Maria's going to be having to defend herself to Joey before the night is out.

Speaking of out, Lauren had a heck of a journey this week. She had a very emotionally tough time on the wedding Group Date. Then, at the Cocktail Party, she was ready to start over and even recreate elements of that date for Joey. But then, time passed.

Apparently, other women talking to him just started eating at her to the point that she went up to her sister Allison (yes, sisters are competing this season) and just told her she was going to go. It was after this shocking exchange that Joey found her standing alone outside and thought to check on her.

What he didn't expect to hear was, "I think I'm gonna go."

He tried to get her to talk to him, but she was just in too much of a bad mood, going so far as to tell him, "I don't even want to talk to you  ... because everybody and their mother already went." That appeared to be the crux of her issue, that other women had spoken to him.

She'd basically already made up her mind to go, so she wasn't in it when her wedding reception reacreation cake showed up. Then, when it wasn't the red velvet she'd requested, she completely lost it. After Joey left, she took one bit and threw it on the ground in disgust. And that's the last we saw of her.

It was definitely an unceremonious exit, but Lauren appeared to have been struggling with the whole process since the premiere, and even getting competitive with her sister. It would cross from playful to "is she for real?" and back several times.

Lauren's exit was followed by three more at the Rose Ceremony as Joey said goodbye to Erika, Marlena, and Taylor. That puts an end to the Taylor-Jess feud from last week, but leaves all three players in the "age-shaming" drama that's about to explode!

• "I feel like I look like that 50-year-old mom that gets drunk at weddings and hits on, like, young men." --Maria (trying on wedding dress)
• "It really gets me excited to think that I'll be walking down the aisle to see Joey. It's just gonna piss me off when I turn back and see all these other women in the same dress." --Maria (ahead of wedding-themed group date)
• "I'm gonna cry at this date. Only because my dad passed recently." --Lauren (struggling with wedding-themed group date)
• "I just need to deal with my feelings before I dump this s--t on him." --Lauren (ahead of wedding-themed group date)
• "I don't know what we're doing, but if Jess steals my time again like Night One, I got claws under here. I'm not afraid to use them." --Taylor (on wedding-themed group date)
• "I just saw her like flying over the table and I was like, 'You deserve it. You deserve it. You were flying.'" --Maria (about Evalin flying over the table during Bridal Musical Chairs)
• "I could talk about Evalin's athletic ability all day." --Joey
• "I just feel weird to talk to him because my vibe is off, my energy is off." --Lauren (still thinking about her late father)
• "I didn't know all your exes would be joining us. So, here's to your past and here's to our future." --Rachel (giving toast at wedding-themed group date)
• "I can't breathe in this dress so I'm gonna slip into something more comfortable." --Maria (putting on skimpier dress)
• "I just feel bad that Lauren had to go through that on her own in a lot of ways. That's heavy." --Joey (after Lauren reveals why she struggled at wedding group date)
• "Kissing Joey up in the clouds feels right. We should do it more often." --Daisy (about helicopter ride)
• "Joey, I'm falling for you." --Edwina (after falling during paint competition date)
• "For me to come her as a 31 year old, its like, I feel like my time is limited. I really don't have the time to waste." --Madina (to the other women)
• "And she's sitting down and she had mentioned-- it might have been something about her age. Madina, you are 31. Own it. Joey probably loves it. I think it's hot." --Maria (to Taylor(?))
• "Madina is my girl. I'm not gonna tolerate that." --Sydney (not quite overhearing what Maria said)
• "Maria was talking s--t and it was very condescending and I don't appreciate that. So, I think Joey needs to know." --Sydney
• "I have such a crush on you, it's embarrassing." --Lexi (to Joey)
• "Can you just explain to me what upset you? Just tell me why?" --Maria (to Madina)
• "I heard the comment that you said, 'Well, I'm old, too.'" --Madina
• "So, like, does being our age make you upset? I'm so confused." --Maria
• "Nothing is making me upset. I'm actually in a fine mood right now. I'm just waiting for Joey … It made it feel like you didn't think it was a valid reason to be upset." --Madina
• "This is so dumb. I like her. I'm not even upset with Madina because she's being told things. I wanna know by who." --Maria
• "That was probably the dumbest fight in 'Bachelor' history." --Maria (after Sydney reveals she overheard a condescending tone about age and Madina)
• "4TTR means 'for the right reasons.'" --Edwina (revealing a jacket she'd made for Joey with that on it)
• "Hi, did you get your time?" --Allison (to Lauren)
• "No, I think I'm gonna go." --Lauren (whose mood had been souring all night)
• "No you're not." --Allison
• "I don't want to anymore. I'm in a bad mood now." --Lauren
• "So I'm gonna go home. God, I'm gonna cry again." --Lauren (to Joey)
• "I'm only here to check in on you." --Joey
• "I don't even want to talk to you because now I'm just in a bad mood to do it because everybody and their mother already went." --Lauren
• "If my dad was here, he would have told me, 'I told you not to go on that show.'" --Lauren

The Bachelor airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.