It’s been a long road, but we’re here at the end of ABC’s The Bachelorette! Jesse Palmer lets us know that it’s going to be quite the ride and has Rachel Recchia and Gabby Windey with him on the couch with a live studio audience. We pick up where we left off last week as Zach pulls her aside to let her know that their Fantasy Suites was a bit off. She agrees but says that she was trying to get clarity and to find the missing piece. He let her know that he needs to go and she says that she wishes that she could have gotten there. She gives Tino and Aven the rose. Apparently the fact that they just talked all night, he felt that there was a disconnect.
Interestingly enough, Zach is in the audience to talk with Rachel about what took place and to get some of the answers that he needs from the experience. He apologizes for calling her out on her character and he says that he was so surprised in that moment and he didn’t mean for it come off that way. She lets him know that her feelings were real and she wasn’t putting on an act.
After they hug it out, Rachel is with her family including her dad, Big Tony! She preps her parents and close friends as she’s excited to see how they feel about Tino and Aven. She greets Aven and lets him know that her family is excited to meet him. He brings flowers and a cigar for Big Tony. Big Tony sits down with Aven and says that he loves his daughter and wants to know what he should know about him as there will be another man in that chair the next day. You can definitely feel that they vibe, but when he talks with her friends, he lets them know that he’s on the road to being in love with her. When Rachel talks with her father, he lets her know that he put his guard down a little as he liked the things that she said about him. Her friends realize that he is not all the way there. When she sits down with her friends, they tell her that he seemed iffy on an engagement right now. She’s surprised as she feels that this is out of left field. She feels lied to and she decides to talk with him as she would have never brought him if she didn’t feel sure that he would be ready.
When they recap with one another, he says that he liked her family and he thought that things went well. Rachel tells him that she heard that he was not ready. He says that nothing has changed and he wants to make sure that this is right for both of them right now during this time. She feels that he isn’t being truthful and Aven says that the dynamics are slightly odd as there is still another man that is in the mix. This is definitely going to be a major disconnect between the two of them.
Jesse chats with Gabby and Rachel about what happened so far and agrees that what happened with Aven is shocking! We then see Gabby connecting with her family as they prepare to meet the only man that’s left, Erich. He has met her grandfather again and he’s beginning to get to know her family and lets them know that he has fallen in love with her. It seems like her family likes Erich and Jesse lets us know that people want Grandpa Joe to be The Bachelor as many people would give them their rose.
We’re back with Rachel as she meets up with her family who’s about to see Tino. She tells them that his family doesn’t care for her and of course that creates questions with everyone. Her mom feels that she needs to ask more questions as everyone knows how she feels about what happened with Aven. Her mom asks whether she thinks his family will come around. She knows that when families come together, it makes the marriage better.
We check in with Rachel for her last date with Aven to get clarity on what happened as she feels that they are not on the same page after what went down with her family. He asks if she would like some champagne and she lets him know that it’s time to get down to the matter at hand.
He tells her that he needs more time with her, to visit her in Florida and to know more so that they can be engaged and have a real life. Aven continues his circular conversation and we all see that he’s not ready and she ultimately breaks up with him.
We see them live talking to one another and we can tell there is a lot of care between them, but they have gone in separate directions. Aven admits that he should have communicated fully on where he was with everything. At this point, we are down to Tino and Rachel as well as Gabby and Erich in this extended Part I finale of The Bachelorette. It seems like we will end the night with Gabby and Erich.
Their final date allows them to make sure that they are on the same page. Erich lets her know that he does love being with her, but wants to take it slow and to let them be themselves. Gabby wants to leave with a proposal and Erich says that he really wants to date her and to get engaged prior to that, that’s not what he wants. She wanted clarity on where she is, but she’s realizing that they are not on the same page.
Each night during this season, we tweet about The Bachelorette and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!
Each week we will let you know who our faves were from the last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns.
We also suggest a podcast that we’ve become obsessed with over the past few seasons, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour to get their feedback!
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