Relationship Therapist Dr. Darcy Recaps ‘Bachelorette’: Predicts Gabby Will Pick Johnny, Cautions Tino’s Parents After Rachel Hometown (Exclusive)

Credit: ABC/Craig Sjodin (2)

Relationship Therapist Dr. Darcy Recaps 'Bachelorette': Predicts Gabby Will Pick Johnny, Cautions Tino's Parents After Rachel Hometown

Dr. Darcy Sterling recapped the Monday, August 22, episode of The Bachelorette with Us Weekly, suggesting Gabby Windey may be headed for heartbreak with Johnny DePhillipo and hinting Rachel Recchia could have more bumps with Tino Franco’s parents if something doesn’t change. “I feel like [Johnny] was trying to bait his dad into telling him that it's not a good idea. And [his] dad was, like, all in and then it made Johnny have to take responsibility for being on the fence,” the relationship therapist said on the Tuesday, August 23, episode of Us’ “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast. “He said to both his mom and his dad, ‘I don't know if I'm ready for that, meaning to get engaged. I'm not fully there yet.’ He absolutely does not seem like he's there. [And] he later said, ‘It’s tough for me to imagine getting on a knee with where I am in my life right now.’ So he is the typical guy who does that. So it's so seductive, that unavailable dance — [he’s] partly there, but he's not totally there. And so you want to work harder to get them all in.” Dr. Darcy picked up on Gabby asking her finalists, who also include Erich Schwer and Jason Alabaster, whether they were ready for long-term commitment. “[It] makes me think that that is one of her wounds. This is one of her bottom lines, she does not want to be in a situation where she falls for somebody who it turns out is not quite ready. And this guy is screaming it from the rooftop,” she told Us. The relationship expert also connected Gabby’s behavior to her previous comments about her estranged relationship with her mother. “I do think that what we learned from our parents — parents or caregivers, or primary caregivers — growing up [from age] 0 to 5, they teach us how to love,” Dr. Darcy continued. “And so whatever attributes — negative and positive — that our parents have are those that we link up for life with love, and what we seek out and partners unconsciously or consciously. So if she had to work to earn her mom's love then what she will unconsciously have linked up — even though consciously she knows she wants love, she knows that she deserves love, that's why she's asking people, ‘Is he ready for a long-term commitment,’ unconsciously having to work for it feels a lot more natural to her.” While Dr. Darcy wants Gabby to pick Erich, she thinks the ICU nurse might go for Johnny. “I suspect she’s going to pick Johnny. … She should pick Erich,” she said. “Erich’s the right choice.” When it comes to Rachel, Bachelor Nation has dubbed Tino the front-runner. His parents, however, didn’t take the Bachelorette’s relationship with their son seriously during his hometown date. “It almost felt like they were sabotaging it,” Dr. Darcy said. “It almost felt like they were trying to make it — whether consciously or otherwise — that they really didn't want this to work out. There's a difference between wanting to make sure your kids’ eyes are open — as open as can be under these circumstances — and creating a hostile environment where a person doesn't feel welcome. At the end when she was like, ‘Thank you for welcoming me.’ I was like, ‘That was so generous and undeserved.’ I almost wondered if it was a little passive aggressive to underscore just how unwelcoming they were — they were so unwelcoming that [it] felt so hostile. I wanted to hug her.” The Bachelorette airs on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET. Keep scrolling for more from the “Here for the Right Reasons” recap:

Credit: ABC/Craig Sjodin (2)

Relationship Therapist Dr. Darcy Recaps 'Bachelorette': Predicts Gabby Will Pick Johnny, Cautions Tino's Parents After Rachel Hometown

Dr. Darcy Sterling recapped the Monday, August 22, episode of The Bachelorette with Us Weekly, suggesting Gabby Windey may be headed for heartbreak with Johnny DePhillipo and hinting Rachel Recchia could have more bumps with Tino Franco’s parents if something doesn’t change. “I feel like [Johnny] was trying to bait his dad into telling him that it's not a good idea. And [his] dad was, like, all in and then it made Johnny have to take responsibility for being on the fence,” the relationship therapist said on the Tuesday, August 23, episode of Us’ “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast. “He said to both his mom and his dad, ‘I don't know if I'm ready for that, meaning to get engaged. I'm not fully there yet.’ He absolutely does not seem like he's there. [And] he later said, ‘It’s tough for me to imagine getting on a knee with where I am in my life right now.’ So he is the typical guy who does that. So it's so seductive, that unavailable dance — [he’s] partly there, but he's not totally there. And so you want to work harder to get them all in.” Dr. Darcy picked up on Gabby asking her finalists, who also include Erich Schwer and Jason Alabaster, whether they were ready for long-term commitment. “[It] makes me think that that is one of her wounds. This is one of her bottom lines, she does not want to be in a situation where she falls for somebody who it turns out is not quite ready. And this guy is screaming it from the rooftop,” she told Us. The relationship expert also connected Gabby’s behavior to her previous comments about her estranged relationship with her mother. “I do think that what we learned from our parents — parents or caregivers, or primary caregivers — growing up [from age] 0 to 5, they teach us how to love,” Dr. Darcy continued. “And so whatever attributes — negative and positive — that our parents have are those that we link up for life with love, and what we seek out and partners unconsciously or consciously. So if she had to work to earn her mom's love then what she will unconsciously have linked up — even though consciously she knows she wants love, she knows that she deserves love, that's why she's asking people, ‘Is he ready for a long-term commitment,’ unconsciously having to work for it feels a lot more natural to her.” While Dr. Darcy wants Gabby to pick Erich, she thinks the ICU nurse might go for Johnny. “I suspect she’s going to pick Johnny. … She should pick Erich,” she said. “Erich’s the right choice.” When it comes to Rachel, Bachelor Nation has dubbed Tino the front-runner. His parents, however, didn’t take the Bachelorette’s relationship with their son seriously during his hometown date. “It almost felt like they were sabotaging it,” Dr. Darcy said. “It almost felt like they were trying to make it — whether consciously or otherwise — that they really didn't want this to work out. There's a difference between wanting to make sure your kids’ eyes are open — as open as can be under these circumstances — and creating a hostile environment where a person doesn't feel welcome. At the end when she was like, ‘Thank you for welcoming me.’ I was like, ‘That was so generous and undeserved.’ I almost wondered if it was a little passive aggressive to underscore just how unwelcoming they were — they were so unwelcoming that [it] felt so hostile. I wanted to hug her.” The Bachelorette airs on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET. Keep scrolling for more from the “Here for the Right Reasons” recap:

Credit: ABC/Ricky Middlesworth (2)

On Jason and Zach Being ‘Vanilla’

“If Jason was French vanilla, maybe Zach is just straight up vanilla,” Dr. Darcy quipped. “I don't know, vanilla with, like, a little sprinkling of hazelnut on top.”

While she called Zach “lovely,” she felt the connection between Jason and Gabby was “performative.” 

Credit: ABC/Ricky Middlesworth

On the Tyler Breakup

“My respect for Rachel went through the roof after how she handled him,” Dr. Darcy said. “Because she's not performative. And so often on these shows, not this show, but any reality show, so often, you see people who are totally performative, and they're spitting out canned responses that, you know, they've rehearsed in their friendship groups, in their tribe and they know that they land well. …  She was obviously coming apart at the seams. … He seemed like such a good human being to me.”

Credit: ABC/Craig Sjodin

On Why Erich Is The One for Gabby

“I loved him,” the therapist told Us. “I had such empathy for how difficult a choice it must have been for him to go on the show and his dad's got terminal cancer. And every day is a day. It’s, like, it's time and date stamped. There's no cure for his dad's cancer, he is going to die. It's a matter of when, not if. And he hasn't been able to have any communication with them. And he said, ‘I didn't do this for this experience. I did this for you.’ And I mean, I felt that in my soul, I totally bought that. I don't know if he's full of s—t, then he's maybe sociopathic. I don't know. But I bought it hook, line and sinker.”

Credit: ABC/Craig Sjodin

On Rachel and Tino

While Dr. Darcy called Tino’s parents questions for Rachel “amazing,” she thinks his dad “went too far.”

“I used to work with adolescents, the first 15 years of my career, I taught parents relationship skills, and I taught them, you know, how to relate to their new children,” she said. “Teenagers are very different from what the parents have been parenting up until that point. And one of the things that I've taught parents over the years is we can't pick our kids’ partners or friends. So don't alienate them, because you need them. And I worried that the father went too far. What's he going to do if Rachel picks his son, right? And the son steps up and does propose, and this woman, even if they don't get married, if they are together for any length of time, he's going to have to deal with her? And then she's going to have a lot more power than she did. He wasn't generous with her.”