The drama in the Bachelor franchise can be confusing, so in this blog post I’m going to break down what happened in the first of the final two episodes of season 24.

The first finale episode meant that it was time for Hannah Ann and Madison to meet Peter’s family. First, Hannah met the Webers, and they loved her—specifically, Peter’s mom, Barb, loved her. In their meeting, Hannah repeatedly told Peter’s family how much she loves him and the family determines that Peter and Hannah are very compatible. When Hannah leaves, Barb cries about how she is an angel on earth and that she is the one.

Madison’s meeting with the Webers was essentially the complete opposite. Before Madi went into the house to meet them, Peter had updated them on the fact that Madi told Peter that she wasn’t comfortable with him being intimate with anyone else during fantasy suites. Peter’s family did not approve of this “ultimatum” and were very cold to Madi when she eventually met them. They grilled her on whether she thinks they’d really be compatible and whether she was right for him. After their meeting was over, Barb told Peter that God put Hannah in Peter’s life because they were a perfect match.

After Peter was told many times by his family, but mostly his mom, that he should propose to Hannah, he admitted to the cameras that he likes Madi more, insinuating that he was probably going to choose her. His plans were quickly interrupted, however, as Madison delivered some disheartening news to him on their date: she told him she was eliminating herself from the show. She admits to him that she is not sure if they would work well outside of the show; she also tells the cameras that she had been thinking that they could be incompatible since his family repeatedly asked her about it. 

Peter was obviously very confused and upset by Madi leaving, especially since she had told him the day before that if he proposed right then, she would say yes. The next day, Peter still has a date with Hannah Ann. Despite only having one contestant left, that did not mean that Peter had to propose to Hannah Ann, so he had to use the date to decide whether he felt that Hannah was the girl he wanted to propose to. On their date, Peter avoided telling Hannah that Madison eliminated herself, which became ironic as the producers had voice overs of Hannah saying how she wanted Peter to pick her because that is who he truly wanted.

Ultimately, the episode ended with the audience still having many questions: will Peter propose to Hannah Ann? Will he try to get Madison back? Or, will he decide that he cannot propose to anyone? All of these answers will be provided in my next blog post, The Finale: Night Two.