The tea straight from the Bachelorettes! Rachel Recchia and Gabby Windey joined Us Weekly’s “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast after the Monday, July 11, premiere of The Bachelorette — dishing all on their connections with their suitors.
“Straight — I would say out of the limo, but the forklift, I guess — I felt like he was definitely my type,” the 26-year-old flight instructor exclusively told Us on “Here for the Right Reasons” about Tino Franco, her first impression rose winner. “I was really excited to talk to him and then he really did make a special moment for me inside and asked for the first kiss, which was really sweet. So it was a hard decision, but it definitely was the right one.”
Gabby, 31, noted that she was “surprised” Tino, 28, was Rachel’s type.
“I was like, ‘Oh, really? I just didn’t actually know that she was into a handyman so now we know!” she quipped.
The ICU nurse, for her part, gave her first impression rose to Mario Vassall.
“I think Mario was different in a sense that he came to the conversation really clear-minded and guided it in a way that I really appreciated in that he put his intentions out on the line,” Gabby told Us. “He seems like he was really ready for a relationship, which is half the battle in dating, I feel. And, you know, getting to know these guys, it’s sometimes kind of hard to grasp like, ‘Hey, are you on the right track to be in a long-term relationship?’ And the way he led that conversation, let me know that he was there to really try and to see if this could work. And it was just refreshing with me.”
Gabby added: “I could banter, like, with a brick wall or anything that I [was] surrounded by. I love to go back and forth and play and stuff. But Mario kinda led the direction in a different way that I wasn’t expecting.”
The two ladies still have 29 men in the running, however — and some men in common. Erich Schwer was one of the suitors they both connected with on night one.
“We do — especially in the beginning — talk to a lot of guys. We spoke with Logan [Palmer] with Erich,” Gabby said. “So it’s just kind of seeing how other relationships progress and throwing them kind of in the mix. And we’re just getting our feet wet right now.”
While many viewers assumed Gabby and Rachel noting their “type” after the limo entrances was a way of signaling to the other that they were calling “dibs,” Rachel said that wasn’t the case.
“We were just freely talking, like, ‘Oh, that’s a guy I would normally go for,’ or ‘He was cute,’” she said. “And then the other one would be like, ‘Oh yeah, he’s my type.’”
The Bachelorette airs on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. For more from Gabby and Rachel and a complete premiere recap, listen to Us Weekly’s “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast.