The Bachelorette featured Gabby Windey calling her final bachelor Erich Schwer "the love of my life" after sending Jason Alabaster home for having led her on, and Zach Shallcross calling Rachel Recchia "inauthentic" behind close doors during the Season 19 episode that aired Tuesday night on ABC.
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Gabby only has Erich, a 29-year-old real estate analyst from Bedminster, NJ, left in the picture.
As for Rachel, her Rose Ceremony after overnight dates was not shown. However, Zach, a 25-year-old tech executive from Anaheim Hills, CA, confronted Rachel about being a different version of herself in their Fantasy Suite.
In addition to Zach, Rachel's other remaining bachelors are Tino Franco, a 28-year-old general contractor from Playa Del Rey, CA, and Aven Jones, a 28-year-old sales executive from San Diego, CA.
The Bachelorette broadcast began with Erich worrying he had ruined his relationship with Gabby by losing trust in her and getting inside his head about her overnight dates and potentially sleeping with other men.
"I f-cked up," Erich cried in a confessional.
Erich told Gabby that he was in love with her and was terrified of losing her. Gabby could tell Erich's heart was in the right place, and he said he had a moment of insecurity that got the best of him and he was "really sorry."
Gabby just didn't want her actions or decisions questioned, and she certainly didn't want to feel pressure not to sleep with anybody else in the Fantasy Suites.
The next day, Gabby explained how Fantasy Suites felt like cheating to Erich and they had already discussed this at length during their overnight date off-camera. Gabby said it was "exhausting" to keep rehashing the same topic, and she later told The Bachelorette host Jesse Palmer how Erich had hurt and confused her.
Gabby acknowledged she and Erich are different people and didn't have the best communication, and so she wondered if they weren't meant to be and things had been too good to be true. Gabby believed whether or not to have sex was her decision, but she knew they had gone through so much and Erich always fought for her.
Gabby then embarked on her Fantasy Suite date with Jason, who said he and Gabby just "got each other" on a deeper level. But Jason told the cameras he wasn't at a point where he felt ready to get engaged and he planned to stay true to himself and tell Gabby the truth about where he stood.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOWFor their date, Gabby was looking forward to "intimacy" with Jason to see if they're as compatible as she thought they were.
The couple played tennis together, which made Jason feel right at home since he had played the sport in college, and Jason taught her a thing or two on the court. Gabby felt she could be herself with Jason and that he liked her for who she is.
Jason felt comfortable and in his element, and then the couple swam in the hotel pool together and giggled and goofed around.
Jason told Gabby that his family loved her and he always had fun with her, and Gabby shared how their relationship was "effortless" and provided her a feeling of comfort.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW: WHOM DID 'THE BACHELORETTE' STARS AND THEIR BACHELOR PICKS ULTIMATELY END UP WITH?! (PHOTOS)
"I am truly falling in love with him," Gabby said in a confessional.
"I can definitely see him at the end of this with me," she added. "After today, I just know it's going to work for us... I can see myself engaged to Jason. I think we would really balance each other. He really is everything I ever wanted."
Jason noted how his feelings were real for Gabby and they were headed in the right direction, but he needed to be upfront with Gabby and reveal how he wasn't ready to pop the question.
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Jason said in the spirit of honesty and transparency, he was "into" Gabby and had some of the best days ever with her.
"I know what the expectation of this is... being engaged and being fully in love," Jason began.
"[But] I'm not fully there yet. I think it's because, in this environment, it's constantly in my head of, 'What's real and what's not real?' I'm questioning so many things. I don't think in another seven days, I'll be ready for that. It's not something that feels right."
Gabby appeared taken aback at first, and she asked Jason if he could envision his life after the show with her in it. Gabby wanted to know that Jason could at least picture a future with her, and he admitted it was so hard for him to see that within The Bachelorette bubble.
"You don't even know who I am completely, and I don't totally feel like I know who you are," Jason said.
Gabby said Jason would have to decide whether he'd be able to believe in the hopeless romanticism of The Bachelorette world, and he pointed out how he's a realist and it was hard for him to feel at ease with the cameras and microphones.
Gabby started to cry because if Jason thought he didn't really know her, then he wouldn't be able to promise her any type of commitment.
Gabby walked away from the dinner table and vented to the cameras how she had seen herself with Jason from the beginning, and so for him to wait this long to share his true feelings really hurt her. Gabby wondered if this was a love in which they weren't destined to be together.
"Would've been good to know before now," Gabby lamented. "I don't know why we're here together if it's that hard [for him]."
Jason insisted he felt bad about upsetting Gabby and didn't want to walk away from her because he felt a "unique connection" with her. Jason therefore explained to Gabby how the process had been challenging for him and he was about to go home at one point -- if it weren't for Gabby and how he cared for her.
Jason thought he and Gabby had a foundation that they could build on, and he said he totally saw them dating in real life and having something special that could turn into a serious relationship. Jason said Gabby truly meant a lot to him and he wanted to leave the show dating her.
Gabby kissed Jason and felt "conflicted." She wasn't ready to say goodbye to her "precious" relationship with Jason yet, and Jason wanted to get to know Gabby better that night and be able to ask her questions and shed layers of himself in private.
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Gabby therefore decided to go through with the overnight date with Jason, believing that one night can change everything on The Bachelorette. She said she had never met anyone like Jason and may not meet anyone like him ever again.
"A future with Jason would be full of surprises. He's so sensitive, he's so warm. I can tell just by the way he looks at me that he really cares about me," Gabby shared. "He's especially guarded, but days and nights feel like years here. One conversation... can change everything."
The couple popped champagne in the Fantasy Suite and looked forward to a great evening together.
But Gabby woke up the next day feeling "hurt" and "devastated." Gabby explained how she and Jason had "talked in circles" and couldn't agree on how things were going to go after the show. Gabby said she was running out of patience.
"I was like, 'Maybe we're not meant to be,' and then he was like, 'Yeah, definitely.' Like, when were you going to tell me that?" Gabby complained. "So I wanted to leave and give it space. Right before I walked out the door, he was basically like, 'This is it.'"
Gabby said while it really hurt her, she needed to say goodbye to Jason because she deserves for somebody to love her the way that she loves him.
Gabby took a walk to Jason's hotel room, and she said Jason's participation week to week had led her to believe that he could see their relationship going somewhere. Gabby said Jason then questioned if things were real and allegedly couldn't see them together in the outside world.
Jason told Gabby that he really needed that time with her to figure out that their relationship was not going to work out, and he apologized and said he wanted the best for Gabby because she's an amazing person.
Gabby said the compliment didn't lessen the blow, and so she asked him not to say "sorry."
Jason claimed he had been fighting for Gabby, but she wasn't buying it. Gabby said she was fighting for him and Jason was just following her lead, and he apologized once again.
"You knew how you feel and couldn't tell me... I truly just want you to realize that I've been led on. I don't really have anything else left to say," Gabby noted.
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Gabby sobbed about how Jason never loved her, and she wondered if she was "too broken" to be loved by anyone.
"It's not just that he didn't want an engagement; he didn't want me," Gabby cried. "How do you keep trusting? [Johnny DePhillipo] also doesn't want me. I don't know what it is about me that's so hard to love."
Meanwhile, Rachel was having the total opposite experience on The Bachelorette.
Rachel was excited to have uninterrupted time on her final overnight date with Zach. Rachel had already told Aven that she was falling in love with him, and she had also told Tino that she was "in love" with him.
Rachel told the cameras that she was falling in love with Zach as well and couldn't believe she'd have to choose one guy in 10 days. She said Zach is everything she wants in a partner and she was fully confident in the fact he was ready to get engaged.
Rachel could also see herself being a part of Zach's family because they had been "the most welcoming" during the men's hometown dates.
The couple explored Puerto Morelos, Mexico together by tasting liquor and good food, dancing in the streets, shopping in local markets, and having a tarot-card reading, during which Rachel was advised to forget about the past and not let it affect her future.
Zach said being with Rachel was bright, fun and easy, and he noted how they just got each other. Rachel, however, was struggling because she really cared about all three of her remaining men and couldn't imagine breaking two hearts.
That night, the pair enjoyed their dinner date, and Zach said he could picture himself being the one in the end with Rachel, proposing marriage to her. Zach told the cameras how he loved Rachel and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.
Rachel shared with Zach how she still had fears of being blindsided, rejected and experiencing failure -- but she felt safe with him and was so happy. Zach gave Rachel the reassurance she needed, that he would be there for her and was "in love" with her.
Zach wanted Rachel to feel watched out for and protected, and then he accepted a key to the Fantasy Suite. Zach assumed he and Rachel would have all the answers they needed by the end of the night.
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But something apparently did change, at least on Rachel's end. There was an awkward vibe between the pair as they sipped on their morning coffee, and Rachel said she and Zach had a tough conversation the previous night that hopefully brought them both some clarity.
Zach admitted he was feeling a little confused because Fantasy Suite night was not the night he had expected to have with Rachel.
Zach and Rachel talked about religion and politics in the Fantasy Suite, and he said Rachel brought up how he may not be ready for an engagement given his age. Zach promised Rachel that he was there for her, but Rachel apparently lost her cool and was second guessing his motives.
"It's like we were two strangers. I don't know what it could be, but Rachel's concern came out of nowhere. And I think it was bullsh-t, to be honest, and she was putting on a front. That scares me. That scares me a lot," Zach pointed out in a confessional.
Zach then found Jesse and wanted to talk through some things. Zach was in tears, saying he felt "completely lost" because his relationship with Rachel had done "a 180" in the Fantasy Suite.
Zach said the comfort, ease and fun in their romance was no longer there and they were both different. Zach said once the cameras went away, Rachel was not showing her "true self" to him and it was "very inauthentic sometimes."
"Her major concern was my age, and she wasn't sure if I was ready to commit because I'm 25. But she's 26, a couple months older. I kind of felt blindsided by that," Zach said.
"With proposals right around the corner, that's the last thing I ever could've expected. I thought I saw my future with this woman, and when I was there, it was hard to rationalize what was going on. I was praying because I thought I had something."
Zach said he felt "completely gut punched" and wasn't feeling it at all with Rachel in the Fantasy Suite. Zach had been hoping for the natural progression in his relationship with Rachel but that didn't happen and so he felt "shock" and sadness.
"How am I going to recover from this? I don't know," Zach lamented as tears streamed down his face. "And my family, they saw something."
Zach had seen Rachel as his future wife, but he was no longer sure that she saw him in the same light. He said he needed answers in order to accept a rose from Rachel.
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Meanwhile, Tino said it would be "soul crushing" if Rachel chose to eliminate him now.
And Zach recalled how his body language with Rachel was awkward in the Fantasy Suite and they had "the most inauthentic conversation" he's ever had.
"I felt like I wasn't talking to the same Rachel. I'm terrified right now. My heart is pounding out of my chest and I'm not feeling okay, because I still do have feelings for her. I need to salvage what I had and tell Rachel how I feel," Zach explained.
"I trusted her to show me her real self, and I don't think I got that... What was that Rachel that I was getting? That's the biggest concern to me."
Jesse then revealed to Rachel how she'd be the only Bachelorette at the Rose Ceremony. Jesse noted how she and Gabby were on totally different journeys now.
Before Rachel handed out her first rose, Zach pulled The Bachelorette star aside for a conversation, and both Tino and Aven appeared pissed off.
Gabby was then shown having an epiphany, saying how she was not afraid to say, "I do know what I deserve."
Meanwhile, Erich confessed how he had been selfish and was "nervous and shaking" about what Gabby was going to do.
"I can't tolerate any more pain, and I know walking away from him would be what I need to protect myself. I don't know what's going to happen. I can't predict anything, and I'm just going to have to see how I feel. If it's my decision to leave here alone, I know it's mine," Gabby told the cameras.
Gabby opened up to Erich about how they had a misunderstanding and she just wanted him to trust her and trust their connection. Gabby said Erich fought for her and loved her in a secure and comfortable way.
Gabby said Erich had taught her how she deserves to be treated and he loved her in a way she hadn't been loved before.
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"I love you!" Erich replied, before grabbing Gabby in his arms and kissing her.
Erich was overjoyed and said he just got everything he wanted, and Gabby called Erich "the best thing" to ever happen to her. She said their relationship just felt "so right" and she felt safe with him, which was a foreign feeling to The Bachelorette star.
Gabby gushed about how her relationship felt like "a fairy tale" and she couldn't believe that Erich was all hers.
"Erich is definitely the love of my life. I think everything in my life has happened for a reason, and all of the arrows and the stars are pointing straight to him. It feels so good and incredibly meant to be," Gabby told the cameras.
"I finally get to live what I thought was only going to be fantasy."
The episode concluded with Jesse teasing "shocking events" to come that will change Rachel and Gabby's lives forever.
"Next week, we'll watch the most emotional finale in Bachelorette history," Jesse said, adding, "And you will all bare witness to the crazy controversy that is about to ensue... Prepare yourselves for the most shocking finale of all time."
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
