Rachel Recchia knows a thing or two about drama in the fantasy suite with Zach Shallcross. The former Bachelorette sent support for Gabi Elnicki while watching the Monday, March 27, finale.
“Showing emotion like this takes so much vulnerability, gabi you are a queen!” the 27-year-old pilot tweeted as Gabi and Zach’s confrontation aired on After the Final Rose.
The 25-year-old Vermont native got emotional with the 26-year-old lead, opening up about feeling “ashamed” by Zach telling Kaity Biggar (and “the whole nation”) about them having sex during their overnight date.
“It was consensual, and it was what we wanted. We decided that it was going to be between us. We said that that night. And I remember I was brushing my teeth, you came up behind me, you kissed me on the back of my head, you said, ‘This is just between us.’ And I said, ‘Yes, this is just between us,’” Gabi claimed. “I thought it was love. I thought it was more than a TV show. I get it, sex sells, but now I’ve become a narrative.”
Zach apologized during the live show. “In my mind, it was just the secret that I had to not have,” he said of telling Kaity, 28, what happened. “The last thing I wanted to do was hurt you like that. … From the bottom of my heart, I’m sorry.”
Rachel also “liked” Jason Tartick’s post about making Zach’s runner-ups — Gabi and Ariel Frenkel — the next Bachelorettes. “Go back to back to back Bachelorettes, Charity to Gabby to Ariel … put the guys on the back burner #TheBachelorFinale,” the post read, referring to season 20 star Charity Lawson.
The end of the flight instructor and Zach’s relationship has been a theme throughout season 27. The sales exec has accused Rachel of treating the overnight date like an “interview” and acting differently when the cameras went down.
“All this talk about, ‘I want someone who’s authentic on and off camera.’ … It’s just really honestly shocking to hear him still kind of paint me in this, like, really negative light where I thought at our After the Final Rose, we kind of did make up,” Rachel said on the “Almost Famous” podcast last month.
During Monday’s episode, fans saw Zach get engaged to Kaity. When the nurse was asked about Zach sleeping with Gabi, she responded, “It was definitely a tough episode to watch back, I’m not going to sugarcoat that by any means. Am I ever going to watch that episode again? No, definitely not.”
Kaity added: “But you know what? Zach and I have amazing communication. We pride ourselves on that. We just have phenomenal communication and loyalty to each other, and we came out stronger, and that is all I could have ever wanted in that situation.”
The couple plan to move in together in Austin and wed in 2025.
The Bachelor franchise will return with season 20 of The Bachelorette — starring Charity — on ABC Monday, June 26, at 9 p.m ET.
