Her turn to ask the questions. Zach Shallcross had an emotional reunion with Gabi Elnicki during the Monday, March 27, finale of The Bachelor.
The 25-year-old was crying when she joined Jesse Palmer after watching her breakup with Zach, 26. “It’s honestly worse watching it back,” Gabi, who predicted that Zach wasn’t going to propose to her, said. “I don’t even have words right now. … I never thought that somebody who said they were falling in love with me would make it go through that. … I felt humiliated.”
When Zach joined Gabi on stage, she told him she was “still hurting” and “sad” about the situation. The senior account executive, who called it “violating” that Zach told Kaity Biggar (and the “entire nation”) that they had sex, claimed she and Zach promised things would stay “between us.”
“When you came to my hotel room, I was blindsided. … I understand that you were trying to be honest and trying to think of everyone’s feelings. … However, what I wish would have happened was that you warned me that you were going to use my name and that you were going to tell everyone what had happened because I didn’t know you are going to do that,” she said. “And even when you talk to me in my hotel room, it was just, ‘I don’t want there to keep secrets, I don’t want to start a relationship with you based on a secret,’ And it was never, ‘Hey, this is what happened, it was with Gabi.’ I didn’t know you had told everyone until I watched it last week. … And it was beyond a TV show for me.”
Gabi continued to cry. “I feel ashamed — from a moment that felt like love to me,” she said. “It’s very painful that I went through. And during that rose ceremony … you were only speaking to Kaity in that moment. Because Ariel didn’t know, and I didn’t know then until watching it back. And I wish you would have just sent me home and saved me all of the pain.”
Zach admitted he was “completely wrong” for how he handled things. “In my mind — which was wrong — I felt like I needed to let everyone know that I went against my word,” he said. “In my mind, it was just the secret that I had to not have. … The last thing I wanted to do was hurt you like that. … From the bottom of my heart, I’m sorry.”
Gabi and Zach’s romance took a turn during fantasy suites. After he told finalist Ariel Frenkel that he wasn’t going to have sex with anyone on the show, Zach slept with Gabi and began to feel guilty ahead of his third date of the week with Kaity Biggar.
“It was very special, it was important and it was both what we both wanted and needed for the relationship. I feel terrible because, obviously, I’ve gone against my word and I have fears with how Kaity would feel, how would Ariel feel,” Zach said on the March 20 episode. “I have a guilt about the whole week now.”
Zach subsequently told Gabi that he was falling in love with her — and that he was going to tell Kaity that they slept together. While things appeared awkward at the rose ceremony between the top two, Kaity later spoke out to clarify her love for the Vermont native.
“Beyond grateful for this incredible [woman] and our friendship,” the nurse wrote via Instagram. “Thank you for always lighting up a room with your beautiful, [quirky] personality! You exude the best energy that is so contagious to be around! Thank you for always being YOU! Truly, one of the most beautiful humans inside and out. Keep sprinkling sunshine.”
During Monday’s finale, Zach ended things with Gabi because he had stronger feelings for Kaity. He previously spoke to Us Weekly about his relationships with both women.
“It, like, started a little slow and then, I don’t know the exact certain point where it just kind of clicked, where it was starting to progress,” Zach explained of Gabi in February. “But then once London came around and we had that one-on-one date, that was a big deal for our relationship. That I think really was the thing that, like, really put us on the radar.”
Speaking about “total sweetheart” Kaity, Zach gushed: “She is someone [who] from the very beginning had my attention and is someone that shows and exudes kindness and compassion with, like, everyone. She just kind of, like, brightens up a room.”
The Bachelor finale continues live on ABC until 11 p.m. ET.
