Rachel Recchia has shown her support for Gabi Elnicki after Zach Shallcross brutally dumped Gabi at the Final Rose Ceremony on The Bachelor's 27th season.
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While The Bachelor's three-hour finale event was airing on Monday night, Rachel tweeted praise to Gabi, who had her heart crushed on national television when Zach selected Kaity Biggar instead.
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"Showing emotion like this takes so much vulnerability, gabi you are a queen!" Rachel, 27, wrote on Twitter as Gabi and Zach's confrontation aired live on After the Final Rose.
Rachel also "liked" The Bachelorette alum Jason Tartick's post about how producers should make Gabi and Zach's third-place finisher Ariel Frenkel the next two Bachelorettes.
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"Go back to back to back Bachelorettes, [upcoming Season 20 star Charity Lawson] to Gabi to Ariel... put the guys on the back burner #TheBachelorFinale," Jason wrote.
Zach had set a no-sex rule for himself going into Fantasy Suites with his Final 3 bachelorettes -- Gabi, Kaity and Ariel -- but he slept with Gabi and then bashed himself for going back on his word.
Despite allegedly telling Gabi that their sexual encounter would remain a secret, Zach ended up spilling details to Kaity in the spirit of being fair, honest and transparent.
Gabi therefore complained she felt ashamed as if she had a "Scarlet Letter" on her chest. She accused Zach of "clearing his conscience at the expense of my heart" and struggled to trust him for the rest of the process.
Zach ultimately got engaged to Kaity at the Final Rose Ceremony in Thailand, and then Gabi cried on After the Final Rose how she felt "strung along" on The Bachelor as well as "violated" and "humiliated" by Zach.
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Gabi also expressed how Zach dumping her at the Final Rose Ceremony, in sort of a grand spectacle, was especially hurtful and painful.
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"I never thought a man who said he was falling in love with me would make me go through that," Gabi explained to host Jesse Palmer, suggesting Zach could have broken up with her in a more private and refined manner.
"I remember having the thought in the back of my head, 'Zach would never make you go through this.' So even though I had that gut feeling [I was the runner-up], I didn't think somebody who cared about me would make me go up there and go through all of that stress and anxiety."
Zach starred as the Bachelor after he and Rachel mutually split following Fantasy Suites on The Bachelorette's nineteenth season, which wrapped last year.
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Zach was in love with Rachel and had pictured her as "the future Mrs. Shallcross" on The Bachelorette, but then Zach found Rachel to be "inauthentic" and totally unlike herself during their overnight date.
On The Bachelorette: After the Final Rose for Season 19 that aired in September 2022, Zach apologized to Rachel for questioning her character on television, and the exes seemed very understanding of each other's viewpoint.
Rachel even admitted that her heart had been leading her in a different direction during Fantasy Suites and so Zach had every right to feel rejected or doubtful of their connection at that point in their journey.
But Zach and Rachel have been candid -- and sometimes brutally honest -- when commenting on the demise of their relationship ever since then.
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Zach, for instance, claimed on the January 20 episode of "The Ben & Ashley I: Almost Famous Podcast" that Rachel had treated him like "a complete stranger" and was "interviewing" him behind closed doors.
Zach said Rachel had "blindsided" him and left him fearful of "people putting it on for the camera" when he subsequently filmed The Bachelor.
And during the February 6 episode of "The Ben and Ashley I: Almost Famous Podcast," Rachel said it was "shocking" and "so hurtful" Zach continued to paint her in a "really negative" light in the media after her season ended.
But Zach told Us Weekly earlier this month that Rachel had reached out to him with "a very sweet message," and Rachel also defended Zach on February 21 when she tweeted, "Let's all be mindful and extend a little bit of compassion and grace towards the leads of the show."
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