If you have not yet seen the latest installment, The Bachelor Spoilers await. Consider this your warning ... then read on for a recap.
You don't need spoilers to tell you that there's one thing you can do on The Bachelor that's worse than anything else.
Even worse than appearing on the show after you already sent the star home when he was a suitor on your season of The Bachelorette.
And that is this:
Appear on the show for the wrong reasons.
Tragically for Peter Weber, he was faced with just such a situation on Monday night, as he feared one suitor was - GASP! - not on the series because she wanted to find true love.
Monday’s episode opened with a one-on-one date for Victoria P.
After taking her on a tour of his hometown - the handsome pilot is from Westlake Village, California, just around the corner from the Bachelor mansion — Peter and the nurse from Louisiana went line dancing at his favorite local bar, where both agreed they were “a little smitten.”
The blonde suitor felt close enough to Peter that confided in him about her difficult childhood:
Her father passed when she was young; and then her mom fell into addiction.
She and her sister grew up in and shelters as their mom struggled, with Victoria P. remembering through tears how she “had to be the rock” for her family. Really tough and sincere stuff here.
“I dreamed a lot of dreams and one of my dreams was just to get out of that place and to have a healthy and happy life,” she said.
“And I think it’s affected my relationships at times, because I didn’t feel deserving of someone. I just feel so grateful, because I feel like you’ve shown me the kind of love that I deserve."
Victoria earned a rose for this confession, along with these words from her potential husband:
"I have never been inspired by someone so much in my entire life. And I mean that from the bottom of my heart."
Back at the mansion, tension was simmering everywhere -- between Kelsey and Hannah Ann over last week's infamous champagne bottle mix-up and then also with Alayah, who had started to show her sort of “wild” side.
“Everybody sees me, because of pageants and what I do, as the sweet little elegant proper thing,” explained the former Miss Texas USA, sipping red wine in Peter’s pilot hat.
“But I’m very good at putting on face when I need to.”
Alayah's behavior clearly bothered Sydney.
“All I go off of is what I see in people, and with Alayah, I can tell something is off about that girl,” Sydney said, adding:
“Her actions, since we’ve been here, kind of just make you go sideways a little bit. She is not the type of girl I surround myself with, she’s the type of girl that I’ve always avoided. She is just all fake, and I hope that Peter will be able to weed that out.”
And here was the first clue that perhaps Alayah dared to be on The Bachelor for the wrong reasons.
With a feud brewing between these two women, they both landed this week’s group date, along with Kiarra, Sarah, Tammy, Kelly, Shiann and Savannah.
First thing the following morning they slipped into their assigned lingerie (yup, really) and headed out the Extreme Pillow Fight Club, an actual place and a date organized by fan-favorite franchise alum Demi Burnett.
Host Chris Harrison and Bachelor regular Fred Willard served as judges. Because of course they did.
Free to let out their aggression, the women did just that.
After battling Sydney in an aggressive championship round, Alayah was crowned “queen of the bedroom.”
Things only got more tense between the contestant during the evening portion of the group date, resulting in a very hostile conversation about Alayah’s pageant past.
“You sound so rehearsed, you know what I mean?” Sydney told her, piling on as follows:
“With cameras, you’re just on. But if you come in here worrying about how you’re perceived, then you’re not going to be your real self to people. And that’s what Peter is here to find. A real person.”
Sydney later voiced this concern to Peter, without naming names.
“When I’m in the house with some girls, and when the cameras show up and the lights are on, it’s a whole different person,” she told him. “It’s just so artificial. And I don’t want you to get blinded by that.”
“That’s such a fear of mine, that I could fall for someone and they’re fake,” Peter replied. “I mean, I saw it with Hannah last season, seeing her fall for someone that wasn’t there for the right reasons.”
(Take THAT, Jed Wyatt!)
In what may have been a Bachelor first, Peter then asked Sydney to get more specific with her worries... in front of the entire group
So Sydney went ahead and called out Alayah, saying she felt that she “maybe [puts] on a little bit for the imagery of things," to which Alayah asked:
“I mean, does anybody else feel that way? We’re all living together at this point, so everybody’s gotten to see me day in, day out.”
No one responded and Peter walked away, only for Alayah to track him down and plead innocent to this damaging charges.
“I just feel really confused,” Peter said in a confessional. “I believe Sydney when she brought up those concerns, but Alayah came over and talked with me and I believe what she was telling me, and I like her a lot. I also respect Sydney a lot, she spoke it like she saw it. I’m looking for that honesty and for someone that’s unafraid to put me first...
"I just hope that I’m not getting fooled.”
Sydney earned the group date in the end, though, with Peter thanking her for her honesty.
The next night, in place of a cocktail party, Weber came over to the mansion for some fun in the pool.
After some other women echoed Sydney's take on Alayah, Peter admitted to seeing "flags" with this suitor.
What did trusted source Victoria P. think?
She told Peter that Alayah actually asked her to lie to executives about the fact they knew each other from their beauty pageant days.
“She asked that I not tell producers that we knew one another,” Victoria said.
“I didn’t really understand why, because I don’t really want to lie, I can’t lie. I didn’t think of it much then, but looking back now … coming into this, she was really open to all the opportunities that will come after this, even if you weren’t her husband. So maybe she’s not the one for you.”
When Peter confronted Alayah with this accusation, she did not deny it.
She said she simply asked this of Victoria because she feared a pre-show connection would get them both kicked out of the contestants' pool.
Peter then peaced out and said he had a lot to think about before that evening's Rose Ceremony.
When he headed back for the ceremony, two roses were still up for grabs on the table -- but Chris Harrison pointedly removed one.
The final rose went to Mykenna, officially sending Alayah home, as well as Jasmine, Sarah and Alexa.
“I’m disappointed,” Alayah said. “It just sucks that I am going out because of other people’s opinions and not what he saw directly from me.”
Did Peter feel secure in his final decision? Not exactly.
“I don’t feel good right now. I thought I would, but I don’t feel good,” he said. “I think I just gave in to listening to everyone else, to be completely honest. I feel like I’m going to regret this like crazy.”
Well, if it helps Peter feel better... it looks like Alayah isn't gone forever:
