The Bachelor: Dustin Kendrick on Madi’s transparency on her faith and…you know

Madison talked faith with Peter on last night’s episode of The Bachelor, but should she have been more clear with Peter on her stance on premarital sex pre-Fantasy Suites?

Bachelorette alum Dustin Kendrick delves into Madi’s one-on-one and the resultant conversation surrounding her faith on FanSided’s “Can I Steal You for a Second?” podcast after last night’s episode of The Bachelor. While recapping episode seven with hosts Ashley Young and Shea Corrigan, the trio sounded off on their thoughts on Madi’s…stupefying conveyance of her faith and religious views to Peter on their dinner date.

Specifically, not to be blunt, (as Ashley aptly put it, the Internet’s all over it): Madi’s virginity. Now, if this was a normal dating setting, i.e. literally anything but what this show does, something of this nature should be on that person’s own terms to reveal.

However, let’s not have any illusions as to The Bachelor formula – we all know what goes down (or, often doesn’t) in the Fantasy Suites. I know it, you all know it, and Madi certainly knows it. The question is, should she have been more candid on her views on sex, and her respective choices?

First off, the primary problem with this conversation is that it made zero sense. Madi talks about her faith, “how important faith is to her, and she just wants to make sure that Peter’s on the same track. But what is that track?” As Ashley relays, the conversation basically went into a sequence of circles until Peter was sufficiently confused, and reasonably dealt with said confusion by brushing it off completely.

"[The Bachelor] is such a whirlwind experience, where everything’s expedited, so conversations that you might be more delicate with, or conversations you might have later on in a typical relationship, you’re not promised another conversation with this person. So, you need to put it all out there and say what you mean and mean what you say. And this was NOT that conversation."

Say it louder for the people in the back. It’s not as if this show has any footholds in normalcy to begin with. Therefore, one can’t simply carry on as they would in their typical dating endeavors. I’m low-key convinced there’s a question on The Bachelor application that reads, “so tell me about your biggest fear, traumatic experience, or deepest personal view – you choose!” While unfortunate and highly invasive, such is reality and a very blatantly known reality at that.

Dustin succinctly summed this issue up: “you definitely have to get that s**t out there and start talking about it because before you know it he’s meeting your parents.” Again, not normal, but, as Snoop Dogg put it, tell it like it is, is.

It was legitimately not clear what point Madi was trying to get across in that conversation. As Dustin notes, “If she is talking about her faith, and her virginity, I think that’s a big one you need to talk about, you need to bring that up, especially to a man that is, you know, almost hitting his 30s.”

The three hosts discussed what the “right” time would be to have this type of conversation on this show; the consensus was last night’s episode. She’s about to bring him home to her family, and this could cause issues at that point if Peter’s still in the dark – particularly if it weirdly slips out in some regard, or if something is said about religion that raises a red flag for Peter.

Simply breaching the topic of faith is insufficient in this circumstance. Many people are religious and hold and revere their views, but this doesn’t equate universally to being a virgin. As Shea chimes in, “I don’t think saying ‘oh, I’m religious’ gets the message across, and it’s a message that should probably be across by now.”

The devil’s advocate stance would be whether this is fair to Madi to ask her to do on national television; in that same regard, is it fair to Peter this far along in the process? Particularly, as he whittles down to his Final Four? This might be a deal-breaker for Peter, and he’s IN LOVE WITH HER (AND SAID IT – WHY).

See, now it’s messy, messy. I understand that post-love confession isn’t particularly the time to blurt out, “oh, by the way, I’m a virgin if that wasn’t clear,” but alas, it’s now too late. This emphasizes the argument that she should’ve told him, as he’s willing to be this vulnerable with Madi with five other women still in play.

This isn’t meant to be a knock on Madi, and it’s easier said than done, especially never being in her shoes. But their connection is clearly strong and it’s currently missing a crucial piece of information. Here’s hoping she’s more transparent moving forward and that this topic is broached before Peter reaches for his belt buckle.

For more on episode seven, and Peru Pete’s journey, check out last night’s podcast episode of “Can I Steal You for a Second?” in its entirety:

Do you think Madi should have been blunter with Peter? Do you think this goes too far past the fourth wall? Are you, too, tired of this narrative (*shudders at Luke P.*)? Let us know your thoughts, Bachelorette (and Bachelor Nation) fans!