It’s no secret that the latest season of The Bachelorette has been dramatic at its core, as it was the first season to showcase two leads instead of one. When Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia were announced as the leading duo for the franchise’s 19th women-led season, the news caught the attention of pretty much everyone on social media.
Now, with Gabby and Rachel’s season having come to an end on Sept. 20, I have a million and one questions after that messy, unexpected finale. It’s the episode that everyone anticipated, and it left me with a few unanswered questions. If you’re as confused as I am, let’s dig into all of your burning questions from The Bachelorette finale.
Did both Gabby & Rachel get engaged?
Yes ━ both Gabby and Rachel were proposed to by the end of their filming periods. Erich Schwer proposed to Gabby after carrying on a strong connection since the early beginning of the journey. Rachel was also proposed to by Tino Franco, who happened to be her first impression rose.
Who did Gabby & Rachel end up with?
Although at the end of The Bachelorette filming, both women walked away engaged, one of the women is not currently in a relationship with her fiance. The promised “shocking” ending that host Jesse Palmer promised fans stood true when Rachel announced to the public that her and Tino are no longer together.
Rachel explained that the two began dealing with some problems when the show premiered on July 22, but supposedly worked through them. The two began dealing with great miscommunication when Tino confessed that he had cheated on Rachel. The show filmed Rachel and Tino’s official breakup post-filming, which showcased the pair not seeing eye to eye at all, in a weird series of back-and-forth dialogue broken up by Tino walking out on Rachel numerous times. They even met up on the “After The Final Rose” episode to again talk through their struggles, and let’s just say, it was hard to watch.
Gabby and Erich, however, rejoiced together for the first time in public on-stage at “ATFR.” Their joyful reconnection was not met without some tough questions from Palmer, after talk had been swarming around Erich’s pre-show actions. About a week before the finale premiered, an ex-girlfriend of Erich’s came forward with text messages from the two that dated back to just days before he began filming for The Bachelorette.
In said texts, Erich talked about how much he would miss this woman while he was gone, and how his going on the show was not real and just to advance his career. When confronting these messages side by side with his fiance Gabby, Erich stated that he led on this woman and declared he should have been more upfront and honest with this woman. So, yes, Gabby and Erich are still together.
Are Rachel & Aven back together?
If you missed it, after Rachel and Tino sat down to rehash their relationship at “ATFR,” Palmer announced that there was someone that “demanded” to speak with Rachel that night. Before the camera panned over to this mystery man, Rachel beamed with warmth, gushing a refreshing smile. Out walked Aven, Rachel’s second-to-last standing man from the season, while Rachel’s ex-fiance Tino still sat on the stage.
Aven quite frankly asked Rachel, “Want to get out of here?” to which she replied, “I would love nothing more,” which subsequently set Twitter on fire. Everyone has been wondering: Are the pair going to give it a second shot? At this time, it’s unsure, as neither Rachel or Aven have addressed a rekindling of their romance. All I have to say is I was getting serious flashbacks to Hannah Brown’s “ATFR” episode when Tyler Cameron, too, asked the single lead out again post-public breakup.
When are Gabby & Erich getting married?
Gabby and Erich were asked by Palmer at “ATFR” what was next for the couple, to which Gabby wittily replied, “I don’t know.” With Gabby’s casting on season 31 of Dancing With The Stars, it’s safe to say she’s going to be busy chasing that mirror ball for a little while, to which she has said Erich’s been nothing but supportive of.
As they continue to learn more about each other, the pair did not allude to a wedding happening anytime soon. It’s no secret that continuing a relationship in the real world that began pretty isolated and interrupted by outside influences must be incredibly difficult, and Gabby explained that “I think we’re just excited to live life together and not separate.”
Where is Tino now?
Aside from his appearance on “ATFR,” it’s unsure what is next for Rachel’s ex-fiance Tino. After Aven’s decision to show up and quite literally take Rachel away while Tino still sat on stage, Bachelor Nation is split on the treatment of Tino.
Notable Bachelor in Paradise alumna Ashley Iaconetti took to Twitter to tweet, “I’m really, truly, upset by the way that moment was handled. It was cruel. We can support Rachel and not absolutely publicly demoralize someone.”
Former Bachelor Nick Viall also tweeted while the moment aired live stating, “Whatever that was….I hated it #thebachelorette.” With that, I think there’s a pretty high likelihood that we can expect to see Tino on Nick Viall’s The Viall Files podcast in the coming weeks. So far, there’s been no word from Tino yet, as he hasn’t posted anything on social media or engaged in any post-finale interviews.
Who is the next Bachelor?
Alas, amidst the dramatization of The Bachelorette finale, Zach Shallcross was named the new Bachelor. Zach was a contestant on Gabby and Rachel’s season, and he quickly became “Team Rachel” from the first night he met the women. The two split right after the fantasy suites, with Rachel having concerns that he might have been too young at the age of 25 for an engagement, and just overall knowing that the two weren’t meant to be together.
Following his self-exit from the show, fans saw his announcement as the new Bachelor from a mile away — though that’s not to say that everyone is satisfied with the decision. Apparent in the numerous Bachelor in Paradise trailers, it’s clear that an abundance of Gabby and Rachel’s men headed right to Paradise immediately after wrapping up their relationships with the leads, including Hayden Markowitz, Jacob Rapini, Logan Palmer, and Johnny DePhillipo to name a few. That made it easy to rule out plenty of the men from the season as potential leads.
Reality Steve is a popular name in the Bachelor Nation world, seemingly always reporting spoilers well ahead of when they are announced for the Bachelor franchise. Reality Steve revealed that Zach would become the next Bachelor in a series of Instagram posts around Sept. 14… I mean, there’s proof of Zach already filming his introduction for the season, y’all. Bachelor franchise: be a little bit more discreet, please.
When does the next season of The Bachelor premiere?
As for the premiere of Zach’s season, that’s still up in the air. The season hasn’t even begun filming, but it’s safe to say The Bachelor will most likely hit our television screens around the beginning of the 2023 new year, per usual programming patterns.