The Bachelor runner-up Gabi Elnicki has revealed how she would've felt had Zach Shallcross also slept with Ariel Frenkel and/or Kaity Biggar in the Fantasy Suites.
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At the Rose Ceremony following overnight dates, Kaity -- who had been made aware of Zach and Gabi's sexual encounter before their own overnight date -- whispered to Gabi, "I know you were the only one."
During the March 30 episode of the "Click Bait with Bachelor Nation" podcast, Gabi joked of Zach's other Final 3 bachelorettes, "These girls are beautiful, smart, funny, and intelligent. Sh-t, I would have sex with them if I were a lesbian or a guy! I would. They are great girls."
Gabi therefore told "Click Bait" host Joe Amabile that she wouldn't have been upset or angry if Zach had chosen to sleep with someone else in the Fantasy Suites.
"The girls are such close friends. We know what could happen, right? We're not stupid, we're not naive to the fact that, like, there are other relationships here and he's going to have alone time with three people," Gabi explained.
"And so I remember telling Zach, like, 'You follow your heart where it needs to go. I want it to be me, I know what our life could look like, and I know how special our relationship is -- but I don't want you to think that this is some sort of ultimatum or this is something I'm going to hold over your head.'"
Gabi recalled telling Zach, "This is our relationship and where your heart needs to go, follow your heart there. I want what's best for you, and if that's not me, I'll be okay. It will hurt me, but I'll be okay. I want you to follow your heart."
Gabi said she had decided to share her perspective on Fantasy Suites with Zach because she's watched other The Bachelor seasons where the finalists get mad at the lead for being intimate.
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"[Women have said], 'How could you have sex with another girl?' People seem to get very, very angry about it, and maybe it sounds demeaning to myself of, like, not being angry about it," Gabi reasoned.
"But I was also very aware of the fact there were other relationships here and there were probably other people here he's falling in love with as well, who he has a physical connection [with] too."
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Gabi continued, "And why should they not be able to explore that part of their relationship as well? Ultimately, I knew that, and for somebody who's been cheated on before, I didn't get to choose who those girls were and I didn't get to be aware of that."
Gabi suggested that she took solace in knowing Ariel and Kaity are both wonderful women.
Even though Gabi was the only woman whom Zach had slept with on The Bachelor, Gabi still left Fantasy Suites feeling "violated" and "blindsided" by Zach.
Gabi told Joe that Zach had allegedly asked her multiple times to keep their sexual encounter a secret, only to later change his mind and spill the details with Kaity. (Zach suggested in an interview with Us Weekly that Gabi had been the one to ask him to keep their sex secret).
Gabi said she believes Zach must be trying to protect his current relationship with Kaity and so she doesn't want to engage in a he-said, she-said battle with him going forward.
When Gabi approached Zach at the Final Rose Ceremony in Thailand, she said she had a gut feeling that Zach was going to dump her and choose Kaity.
And then when Zach confirmed her suspicion and broke her heart, he insisted, "I only could make this decision fully last night in bed."
But Zach told The Bachelor host Jesse Palmer on After the Final Rose that he had picked Kaity during their last-chance date in Thailand.
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Zach informed Us that his last-chance dates aired out of order and Gabi's horseback-riding date actually came first.
"That's the beauty of reality TV and editing. I'm not going to lie about it. I didn't know when I left the last-chance [date] with Gabi. I truly didn't know," Zach explained.
"It was the moment I saw Kaity after [my date with Gabi]. I was like, 'This is my wife. There's not a doubt in my mind.'"
But Zach's explanation that the two last-chance dates aired out of order still doesn't appear to address how his Final Rose ceremony conversation with Gabi in which he insisted he only made his decision "last night in bed" was truthful given his date with Kaity would have ended well before that time.
Gabi therefore claimed Zach had let her down and disappointed her twice.
"For him to say, 'I didn't know until last night,' and then for him to say to Kaity, 'I've known,' it was kind of conflicting views," Gabi acknowledged.
"And to me, you know, I felt like he knew. Maybe he didn't want to admit it."
But Gabi said she is "truly" happy for Zach and Kaity, whom she remains friends with today.
"From the bottom of my heart, I want nothing but the best for them. I told Zach and his family, I said, 'You're not getting rid of me because I'm friends with Kaity, and so if it's not me, I'm going to be around,'" Gabi joked.
Zach and Kaity plan to move in together in Austin, TX, this summer and then tie the knot in 2025.
"If I'm not invited to the wedding, Kaity and I have beef. No, I don't think she'd ever do that to me. That's different, I know," Gabi concluded.
Ariel, meanwhile, said she didn't feel ready to get engaged to Zach and she also wishes him well.
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
