When Madison Prewett walked away from Peter Weber, seemingly leaving him to decide between Hannah Ann Sluss and Victoria Fuller, The Bachelor made it seem as though she was leaving for good. But was the whole scene just a fake-out to set us up for Madison’s eventual return in the finale?
It would seem so, because the entire fantasy suite episode was centered around Madison’s moral dilemma. If she had been a typical third-placer, we would have likely seen more of Peter’s conversations with Hannah Ann and Victoria. Thus far, we know virtually nothing about Hannah Ann. The stuff we know about Victoria is, for the most part, not good. So that gives us Madison, whose existence on the show is in purgatory for the next couple weeks while the audience debates whether she’s coming back or not. Bachelor fans of a certain age will remember Colton Underwood’s season, when he effectively ended the competition at the fantasy suite round, confessing his love for Cassie Randolph and sending Tayshia Adams and Hannah Godwin home. Peter wasn’t ready to make that same sacrifice for Madison - or, if he was, the producers were not in favor of a second straight Bachelor breaking format of a show that is meant to end in engagement. Still, Peter clearly was interested in having sex with the other two remaining women, while for Colton, still a virgin at the time, he could’ve done without the extra overnights.
We’re not sure whether or not Peter knew Madison was the one for him at the final three. What we do have insight into is that the finale - stop me if you’ve heard this one before - is going to be flooded with drama and conclude in a never-before-seen way. The previews don’t depict Peter dropping to a knee. Instead, we see him overcome with emotion and doubt. We see Peter’s mother yelling a now-iconic line - “Bring her home!” - that has accumulated the level of intrigue of the fence jump. She could be talking about Hannah Ann, Hannah Brown, Victoria (probs not) or, more likely, Madison. She met Madison in Peter’s first one-on-one date, so the story checks out.
Peter has been smitten with Madison from the beginning, although their views on intimacy clearly differ. The fact that Madison is saving sex for marriage didn’t scare Peter away. If anything, he was attracted to that quality of Madison - even if, in the back of his mind, he was bummed about not getting hot and heavy with a third woman in the land down under.
Madison should be commended for her decision to stay true to her values. She may jump back into Peter’s arms, which wouldn’t make her choice to leave Peter any less commendable. Of course, Madison is not completely without blame. Colton’s season notwithstanding, this is what happens at the final three, and Madison should have been better prepared to handle that. Peter should have told Madison what he was going to do before he did the deed - twice. And by god, the producers shouldn’t have been so nefarious as to shove the three women in the same hotel room during fantasy suites. But at least it’s set up a thrilling ending to a season that has given us one of the worst Bachelors and no shortage of scenes to scrutinize.
Next: The Bachelor: 8 Reasons Victoria F. Is The Franchise’s Most Controversial Contestant (& 2 Hilarious Reasons)
The Bachelor airs Mondays at 8pm EST on ABC.
