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Although Maria Georgas<\/strong><\/a> has been at the center of drama on season 28 of The Bachelor<\/em><\/a>, she\u2019s continued to get roses from Joey Graziadei<\/strong><\/a>. The show\u2019s lead defended his decisions and stood up for Maria in an interview published on Monday, February 26.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t have any idea what happened [between Maria and the other women],\u201d Joey, 28, told Us Weekly<\/em>. \u201cYou guys are seeing as much as I\u2019m seeing. Because every conversation I had with them was one-on-one. I didn\u2019t get to see the group settings. I think that Maria can sometimes be misunderstood. I get that she explained that herself \u2026 that she\u2019s a little rough around the edges and was surprised that she didn\u2019t get along with a lot of women in the house.\u201d<\/p>\n Maria, 29, is now one of six women left hoping to end up with Joey on the dating show. She even got a rose during a two-on-one date with Joey and Sydney Gordon<\/strong><\/a> earlier this season, which was seemingly Joey\u2019s way of letting her know that he was on her side as the drama between the two women escalated.<\/p>\n \u201cShe had a strong connection with me and I always, in this situation, was trying to focus on the connections,\u201d Joey explained. \u201cI can\u2019t control what goes on in the house. All I can control is the opportunity to get to know these women the best that I can from what I see and what we talk through. So the reason why Maria stayed, the reason why she\u2019s still around, is because we had a connection that was building and I wanted to see it through. So yeah, it\u2019s hard to speak on that stuff because I still haven\u2019t seen all of it and America still hasn\u2019t seen all of it. That\u2019s always how it\u2019s going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n Maria\u2019s drama with Sydney, 28, began when Sydney felt that Maria was being dismissive of another contestant, Madina Alam\u2019s<\/strong>, feelings about being the oldest woman on the show. Maria caught wind of what Sydney was saying about her, which led to a confrontation between the ladies. Sydney brought Joey up to speed about what was going on and accused Maria of being \u201ctoxic\u201d and creating a \u201chostile environment\u201d in the house.<\/p>\n Sydney was eliminated on the two-on-one date but Maria\u2019s feuding didn\u2019t end when her nemesis was sent home. Lea Cayanan<\/strong> was the next woman to take issue with Maria and she let it be known when she called out Madina, 31, for not being more upset over Sydney\u2019s departure. Lea, 23, was eliminated during week six. Jess Edwards<\/strong> also expressed frustration with Maria when the Canada native spent extra time with Joey at a cocktail party, despite already having a rose from a previous date.<\/p>\n