The Bachelor season 28 contestant Madina Alam has one major regret about her time vying for Joey Graziadei’s heart.
“I’m gonna make this short and sweet. Do I regret using the word ‘bully?’ Yes,” Madina, 31, said in an Instagram video on Friday, February 9. “Will I always use the right words at the right times, especially when I’m feeling a lot of different emotions? Absolutely not.”
Despite that regret, the ABC star made it clear she has no desire to take back her conversation with Joey, 28, during the Monday, February 5, episode of The Bachelor.
“[What] I will never ever regret, even if it gives me backlash, is opening up and being vulnerable,” Madina said in her video, which included screenshots of comments from trolls online.
Her response to internet critics came after Monday’s episode, which showed Madina telling Joey about an experience where she felt “bullied” in the Bachelor Mansion, referring to an incident with Maria Georgas.
The multiple-episode arc started during week 2 when Sydney Gordon told Madina that Maria, 29, had made comments about her in the house. (Madina had previously said that she was worried about being the oldest contestant this season.)
While Madina and Maria seemed to reconcile at the end of Monday’s episode, her initial comments to Joey paved the way for more drama. Sydney, 28, and Maria went head-to-head after Sydney alleged that Maria had “verbally attacked her” and called her “embarrassing, weird and dumb.” Maria, meanwhile, denied those allegations during a conversation with Joey.
Monday’s episode ended with Joey offering both women a rose, and the promise of a two-on-one date on the horizon.
While fans have a lot to say about the situation on social media, former Bachelor star Ashley Iaconetti, who initially helped Sydney get on the show, has come to her friend’s defense.
“You’d have to think that Sydney is making that up, that she totally made that up out of thin air and told Joey about that so she’s a liar, or you can think that you just didn’t see her saying that on TV,” Ashley said when addressing the situation during her “Almost Famous” podcast earlier this week. “But I think because there is — seemingly — this is all an argument over nothing and it certainly is not just about Madina and the old comment, let’s just forget about that, that does not exist in my mind, barely during this episode. I think there’s a lot of context missing, and that’s what I’ll say.”
She continued, “I’m not using it as an excuse because I’m saying based on what I see on TV, it seems like an argument about nothing. And I’m sure it’s not an argument about nothing.”
For a complete recap of week 3 of Joey’s season, listen to Us Weekly‘s “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast.
