The Bachelor fans accuse producers of ‘sabotaging’ Rachel with ‘dangerous’ date

Rachel was sent to hospital after she injured her jaw ahead of her fantasy suite date with Joey

The Bachelor fans have accused the show’s producers of “sabotaging” Rachel’s chances with Joey by sending her on a “dangerous” date that landed her in hospital.

During the latest episode of ABC’s hit reality dating show, released on Monday (11 March), Joey spent special one-on-one time with his final three women, Rachel, Kelsey A and Daisy, before entering fantasy suites with each of them. Fantasy suites give the Bachelor time to spend the night with each woman, away from the cameras and microphones.

Joey started off his fantasy suites week in Tulum, Mexico, taking Rachel to a cenote where the two jumped off elevated wooden platforms into a deep body of groundwater.

After the pair lept off the third-highest platform, Rachel resurfaced and told Joey that she had hit her face and hurt her jaw. “It hurts so bad. Like my jaw hurts so bad,” she said as they got out of the water to assess her injuries.

Speaking to the cameras, Joey said he was worried she might have broken her jaw. “I could tell almost right as soon as I came up from the water and looked at Rachel that her face looked a little different. She seemed like something was wrong,” he recalled.

An on-set medic arrived to look at her face, checking to see if she could open her jaw. When Rachel struggled to open her mouth, Joey advised that they go to hospital to make sure everything was okay.

At the hospital, X-rays were taken of Rachel’s jaw and neck, and a doctor told her that everything looked fine.

Joey and Rachel on ‘The Bachelor’ (ABC)

Following the trip to hospital, Rachel and Joey got dressed up to enjoy the rest of their evening. “I’m still upset about today, I think I still feel bad that I ruined the day because you had the whole day planned, and I was waiting all week for it,” Rachel told Joey.

“I don’t want you to feel bad, though, that’s the thing. That means that you think you did something wrong when you say you feel bad. You did nothing wrong,” Joey reassured.

“Rachel, girl, you didn’t ruin the date,” a fan agreed, tweeting: “The Producers put you in a dangerous position and you got hurt during something dangerous. No apologies.”

“I feel like the producers majorly sabotaged Rachel by giving her the date they did… she deserved a more relaxed date like the other women! They need to ditch the dangerous dates!” a second person opined.

A third added: “Can we stop with the dangerous dates, please? That was so unfair to Rachel. Totally threw off the vote of the date!”

Rachel and Joey on ‘The Bachelor’ (ABC)

“I’m begging The Bachelor franchise to stop doing these dates where people can get hurt!” another viewer pleaded.

“These producers be doing the dumbest dates ever like bro who is jumping into water from that high up? Hope Rachel is ok,” one wrote.

The Independent has contacted ABC for comment.

The Bachelor airs Mondays at 8pm PT/ET on ABC, with episodes available to stream on Hulu the next day.