Rachel Recchia’s Biggest Post-‘Bachelorette’ Revelations About Tino Franco and Aven Jones

Credit: ABC/Gizelle Hernandez

Rachel Recchia's Biggest Post-‘Bachelorette' Revelations About Tino Franco and Aven Jones

New revelations rocking Bachelor Nation. Following the two-part finale of The Bachelorette, season 19 stars Rachel Recchia and Gabby Windey are opening up about their dramatic endings — and clapping back at critics. “A lot of the viewers think me and Gabby just wanted a ring and we just wanted to be engaged, but that’s not what we wanted,” the 26-year-old flight instructor told Variety on Wednesday, September 21. “We wanted commitment. We came into this show completely ready for that step in our life. … I was so open with the men that this is the goal that I wanted and I wanted someone to stand there with me at the end and be my life partner. It really didn’t have to do with a ring. It has to do with someone who was agreeing to go through their life with you and that’s what a proposal really stands for ultimately. What we wanted was commitment.” While both women got proposals, it seems only Gabby got a commitment. The Dancing With the Stars contestant is engaged to Erich Schwer and the twosome are still going strong. Rachel, meanwhile, split from fiancé Tino Franco while the season was airing after he kissed another woman. During the Tuesday, September 20, finale, fans watched Rachel and Tino argue over whether they were on a break when he cheated. Rachel has been adamant that their relationship never ended, while the general contractor repeatedly brought up the “bad place” their romance was in when his indiscretion happened. “There was never a point where we were broken up. There was never a point where an engagement was called off. Did we have conversations saying: ‘We need to focus on dating, we need to really get to the core of this?’ Yes,” Rachel said on the “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast, which Gabby, Michelle Young and Becca Kufrin all said was “normal” coming off the show. “I can only just try to get on his side and assume that's where confusion was coming from — because we were struggling. I don't think there's an excuse. … But I don't want to sit here and for everyone to tell me that, like, ‘Well, you said this.’ I never said I was giving a ring back. I never said our engagement was called off.” [jwplayer lWwHFtre-l3ahXupL] Rachel said that Tino was “upset” that their relationship quickly took a turn after filming wrapped in May. “[But] instead of sitting there and doing the work — like I did — and taking that space for myself and seeking help, and focusing on this, he ran straight to someone that he was — apparently not seeing — but seeing before the show,” Rachel continued. “And then not only that, [but] keeping it from me for weeks. This was around the time of the premiere and we're talking Men Tell All is when I found out. That long, he sat on this information, sat in front of me and told me I need to do all this work on myself for our relationship together, which I agree. … But you're sitting on this information that you are actively seeking comfort and intimacy with another person?” Rachel and Tino’s live reunion also got heated and things took a turn when her runner-up, Aven Jones, appeared on stage. She subsequently left with Aven, and many fans thought it was uncalled for to embarrass Tino in that way. "In the moment, I was, obviously, very confused. That was not Aven's intention. He was also not under the impression that that was ever going to happen. We do not condone any sort of bullying or humiliation," she told Entertainment Tonight. "I'm sure [Tino] felt horrible. I don't want to, obviously, make him feel like that, regardless of what happened in our relationship. I don't really know where the timing of all that happened, but it was not Aven's intention, and I know that." Scroll through for the biggest post-show revelations from Rachel:

Credit: ABC/Gizelle Hernandez

Rachel Recchia's Biggest Post-‘Bachelorette' Revelations About Tino Franco and Aven Jones

New revelations rocking Bachelor Nation. Following the two-part finale of The Bachelorette, season 19 stars Rachel Recchia and Gabby Windey are opening up about their dramatic endings — and clapping back at critics. “A lot of the viewers think me and Gabby just wanted a ring and we just wanted to be engaged, but that’s not what we wanted,” the 26-year-old flight instructor told Variety on Wednesday, September 21. “We wanted commitment. We came into this show completely ready for that step in our life. … I was so open with the men that this is the goal that I wanted and I wanted someone to stand there with me at the end and be my life partner. It really didn’t have to do with a ring. It has to do with someone who was agreeing to go through their life with you and that’s what a proposal really stands for ultimately. What we wanted was commitment.” While both women got proposals, it seems only Gabby got a commitment. The Dancing With the Stars contestant is engaged to Erich Schwer and the twosome are still going strong. Rachel, meanwhile, split from fiancé Tino Franco while the season was airing after he kissed another woman. During the Tuesday, September 20, finale, fans watched Rachel and Tino argue over whether they were on a break when he cheated. Rachel has been adamant that their relationship never ended, while the general contractor repeatedly brought up the “bad place” their romance was in when his indiscretion happened. “There was never a point where we were broken up. There was never a point where an engagement was called off. Did we have conversations saying: ‘We need to focus on dating, we need to really get to the core of this?’ Yes,” Rachel said on the “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast, which Gabby, Michelle Young and Becca Kufrin all said was “normal” coming off the show. “I can only just try to get on his side and assume that's where confusion was coming from — because we were struggling. I don't think there's an excuse. … But I don't want to sit here and for everyone to tell me that, like, ‘Well, you said this.’ I never said I was giving a ring back. I never said our engagement was called off.” [jwplayer lWwHFtre-l3ahXupL] Rachel said that Tino was “upset” that their relationship quickly took a turn after filming wrapped in May. “[But] instead of sitting there and doing the work — like I did — and taking that space for myself and seeking help, and focusing on this, he ran straight to someone that he was — apparently not seeing — but seeing before the show,” Rachel continued. “And then not only that, [but] keeping it from me for weeks. This was around the time of the premiere and we're talking Men Tell All is when I found out. That long, he sat on this information, sat in front of me and told me I need to do all this work on myself for our relationship together, which I agree. … But you're sitting on this information that you are actively seeking comfort and intimacy with another person?” Rachel and Tino’s live reunion also got heated and things took a turn when her runner-up, Aven Jones, appeared on stage. She subsequently left with Aven, and many fans thought it was uncalled for to embarrass Tino in that way. "In the moment, I was, obviously, very confused. That was not Aven's intention. He was also not under the impression that that was ever going to happen. We do not condone any sort of bullying or humiliation," she told Entertainment Tonight. "I'm sure [Tino] felt horrible. I don't want to, obviously, make him feel like that, regardless of what happened in our relationship. I don't really know where the timing of all that happened, but it was not Aven's intention, and I know that." Scroll through for the biggest post-show revelations from Rachel:

Credit: ABC/Craig Sjodin

What Were Rachel and Tino’s ‘Growing Pains’?

“You leave the show, and you have those natural, just, growing pains in a relationship — being long-distance and having to communicate on the phone,” she said on the “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast. “I’m not sitting here and saying he is completely at fault for the lack of communication we had in the beginning — it was all just both of us. … And I think what the difference [between] him and I is that I never wavered from committing and waking up every day and working toward this commitment with him in this life with him. … And it's just really hard when one person can just break so easily at the first sign of a weakness in the relationship.”

Credit: ABC/Craig Sjodin

When Did Rachel and Tino’s Breakup Happen in Real-Time?

Rachel revealed that the conversation at the house happened when she was in California for the Men Tell All, which taped on August 11.

“There was a conversation on the phone when he initially — I want to say told me, [but] I was yanking it out of this man. We had this conversation on the phone, hung up, and then we were like, ‘OK, we need to be in person for the rest of this.’ So when I got there, I'm like, ‘I need answers. I need to know timelines. I need to know when things started,’” Rachel said on the “Chicks in the Office” podcast. “It really was not even a day from when I found out to when we're in person and my head was just spinning. In one part, you're numb, you're angry, but then you're sad. And I'm like, ‘I just need to know what happened.’”

Credit: Craig Sjodin/ABC via Getty Images

Does Rachel Still Think Tino Did More Than Just Kiss Someone Else?

During AFR, Rachel told Jesse Palmer that she felt Tino didn’t just kiss another woman, hitting that he had an emotional affair via texting and something more may have happened physically. Tino denied the allegations.

“It isn't just kissing in a bar. It is so emotional and intimate and so many things that transpired to the kiss,” Rachel told Maria Ciuffo and Francesca Mariano, adding that she felt like Tino was protecting the woman he kissed more than her.

On “Bachelor Happy Hour,” Rachel also alleged that Tino’s story changed every time he told her.

“First, it's a kiss at a party. And then it's a kiss and an Uber on the way to her house where his car is parked. Like, where is the story connecting? So when you're lying, you can't get your story straight and that's why he's getting up multiple times and trying to figure this out and then coming back and putting it on me,” she said, adding that she believes the woman he kissed was under the impression Tino wasn’t engaged. “He did tell me, he said, ‘The moment I kissed her, I told her I was engaged.’ And that's where the problem lies for me with this excuse of, ‘Well, you and I weren't engaged.’ Well, why is that the first thing you chose to tell her when you were trying to stop yourself from going further? You were picking and choosing when you want to be engaged.”

Credit: ABC/Craig Sjodin(2)

What Was Edited Out of Rachel and Tino’s Fight?

During AFR, Rachel got visibly angry when Tino almost brought up something that was cut from the edit of their breakup.

“There is so much that goes into a conversation like that, and there’s a lot that goes into a relationship off-camera. There are things that are appropriate to discuss on-camera, and there are deeply personal things that are between a couple, and it is disappointing to have certain things aired out to the public where now there might be a little bit of question of integrity or what the conversation was,” Rachel told The Hollywood Reporter. “And that is just really unfortunate on his part that there’s even that question, because I think there are just some things that shouldn’t be brought up when you are in a relationship with someone, regardless of cheating or anything like that.”

She noted to ET that Tino "knows that things don't make it into a cut for a reason.”

"There are things that are fine to be aired on television and things that I think we are comfortable sharing with the world, and there are some things I think that are so deeply personal — like your own personal traumas — things that you only share with a partner who is that close to you. To have something like that weaponized against you in front of a live audience, it really is just really shocking,” Rachel said. "It's definitely just something very personal. I’m just very shocked that it was even brought up."

She concluded that their breakup showed enough for fans to get the picture: "I could sit here and air out dirty laundry, but at the end of the day people saw what they needed to see, which was the fact that we were in a bad place and instead of getting out of that bad place, we ended up where we were.”

Credit: ABC

Has Rachel Spoken to Tino Since ‘After the Final Rose’?

Rachel thought Tino was going to “fall on the sword” and be begging for her back during their live reunion, she admitted on “Chicks in the Office,” but that wasn’t the case.

She told THR that they haven’t spoken since the live reunion.

“In regards to my conversation with Tino, I really wished it would have went a different way. But ultimately, I really just do wish him well and hope for the best for him. Honestly, I wish we could have had more of that sort of a discussion, but I can’t really regret, looking back. It just played the way it did,” she said. “No, I have not [spoken to him]. Ultimately, I wish him well, but I think we’re both probably ready to move on after all of this and heal.”

Credit: BC/Ricky Middlesworth

How Rachel Feels About Her Breakup With Aven Now

Rachel seemed to express some regret about ending things with Aven over his concerns about proposing on the show.

“Watching myself back, it's insane how much you learned because I could see exactly what he was saying to me,” Rachel said on “Chicks in the Office” about seeing her fight with Aven unfold. “But at the time, I was like, ‘He’s trying to get out of this! He just told my friend this [and] he told me something else. He's trying to get out. He's trying to pull this out from underneath me.’ I could see the wall go up on my face. We're sitting on a bench, I saw it. And I'm like, ‘Why didn't I just take a moment?’”

Their split went down after Aven told her friends that he wasn't there 100 percent — before he told Rachel. “People are allowed to change their mind, it just felt so, like, shocking to me,” she continued, adding that him telling her friends first played a part. “And then as soon as that wall went up — I could see it happening. So it is hard to watch back because he wasn't saying, like, ‘Rachel, I'm not going to get down on [one knee in] a couple of days, like, let's just be on the same page. Am I the only one here?’ And I couldn't see. … It's hard to watch back because I could see exactly what he meant.”

Credit: ABC/Craig Sjodin

Did Rachel Know Aven Was Coming to ‘AFR’ — And Are They Going to Date?

Rachel claimed to The Hollywood Reporter that she was “very shocked” to see Aven. She shed some light on their backstage conversation during her appearance on Live With Kelly and Ryan: “Right now, we are going to see where things go. … We went outside to talk without the microphones on. He wanted to support me through this hard time. He has been so incredible.”

Credit: ABC/Craig Sjodin

Rachel Reveals How Aven Feels About Crashing the Stage Amid Backlash

“Unfortunately, that was not Aven’s choice. And he did express concern of not ever wanting to do that, the second we stepped off stage,” Rachel claimed to Variety. “He still does respect Tino as a person and no one ever wants to be put in a position where they are humiliated or they feel like that on stage. And that was not his intention, my intention, or anyone’s … I don’t know because I didn’t even know what was happening. It really just all happened very quickly.”

During her interview with THR, Rachel added that she and Gabby “do not condone any behavior of bullying,” explaining: “There is a difference between being supportive of me and still realizing that he is a human who also makes mistakes. That’s just the difficult thing when someone does see something so shocking; it is so easy to want to get on the defense about that. Obviously, Gabby and I would never want anything like that to happen if it was in our control.”

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What Really Happened With Zach and Rachel in the Fantasy Suites?

During part one of the finale, Zach Shallcross, who has since been named the new Bachelor, confronted Rachel about changing when the cameras stopped rolling.

“There are things that you talk about in fantasy suites that are things that aren’t discussed on camera. Even just regardless of conversation, Zach and I both realized once we got behind closed doors that we just didn’t align on certain things,” Rachel told THR. “That chemistry we might have thought was there, wasn’t. There were just a couple of things that all came really tumbling down, but ultimately there are just conversations that are private, and that is our opportunity to have them.”

Credit: ABC/Craig Sjodin

Rachel Is Ready to Date Again

“Of course, I really do believe in love,” Rachel told THR when asked whether she was ready to date again. “It’s going to come along when it’s right. I have been definitely healing the past month, month and a half — however long it’s been — and continue to want to heal and work on myself so I can be the best partner I can be to whoever I date next.”

During her interview on “Bachelor Happy Hour,” she told Gabby, Michelle and Becca that her DMs are open, but she doesn’t have an interest in being the Bachelorette again — for now.