Bachelorette season 16 alums Ivan Hall and Demar Jackson recapped the Monday, August 15, episode of Rachel Recchia and Gabby Windey’s season with Us Weekly, predicting who the co-leads will end up with and weighing in on whether Nate Mitchell is still the front-runner for Bachelor.
Ivan, who was one of Tayshia Adams’ finalists, previously questioned Rachel’s reaction to Logan Palmer jumping from her to Gabby during the August 8 episode, calling her behavior — canceling her group date with the other suitors amid the emotional turmoil — a “red flag.”
“The way I view a red flag — and that’s what I think was triggering for a lot of people — is I think there’s different levels of red flags,” Ivan said on Us’ “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast, encouraging listeners to check out his and Demar’s “The Vibe” podcast with a licensed therapist that sparked this controversy. “Like, it’s a new term. Most people — and younger people — would say they see it on social media and TikTok where it’s a funny joke. Like, somebody has a weird quirk to them and that’s a red flag. Then there’s more serious red flags like physical abuse or drug abuse and all that stuff.”
Ivan explained that a “red flag” or a “warning sign” that needed to be addressed — and was by Tino Franco — was Rachel’s decision to skip time with her contestants over Logan.
“Tino was like, ‘Hey, before I move on from this, I need to discuss my feelings over the situation because I don’t feel right with it.’ So that’s kind of a red flag, just, like, a quick little stop. Doesn’t have to be too serious,” he continued. “What I’ve learned is I’m never going to use that term again. No, Rachel’s not a red flag. She’s wonderful. She’s learning a lot. That’s a tough situation. She’s still pretty young, too. Like if she had to look back and say like, ‘Man, I should have went on that date to spend more time with those guys.’ If that was her actual decision, then I think she would even say like, ‘Yeah, I should have done it. I let things kind of get to me or and whatnot.’ Rachel’s not a red flag, she’s a great girl.”
While the connection between Rachel and Tino has been pretty clear to Bachelor Nation throughout the season, during Monday’s episode, he got visibly upset when he didn’t get the group date rose.
“I don’t know if I like the progression of the development of character that Tino has come to be. I was always rooting for Tino since day one,” Demar told Us, noting that he can feel their onscreen connection. “The more and more that I see from Tino, I’m kind of questioning that. I’m still rooting for him because I still have to, you know, hold my bargain up. But at the same time, there’s something about Tino that I’m not really feeling right now.”
Demar recalled, however, that Ivan pointed out, “When you get down to those situations, and you’re so far along on the show, and you’re really, really invested — you really believe that you’re going to be engaged, you can see yourself bringing back this person to your family, and your confidence is through the roof — every small thing is gonna get almost under your skin.”
The engineer agreed, noting that Tino is “on a different level” with Rachel than the other men. He went on to share how the upcoming hometown dates can affect the contestants.
“I was just excited that I was finding something real, falling in love and that they got to see this because I don’t really share this with them,” Ivan told Us, adding that he knew his family would be “nothing but supportive” of his romance with Tayshia during the 2020 season. “In other situations where like, Brendan, for example, on my season, it was kind of a different thing where I feel like his brother kind of brought him back down to earth, which led to him self-eliminating. Your family knows you best, so they can, you know, reinforce things or make you kind of question things as well. So it all depends on your family dynamic.”
The Bachelorette airs on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET. Scroll through for more from Ivan and Demar:
