The Bachelor star Zach Shallcross has revealed how he decided which bachelorette should receive his First Impression Rose on the first night of filming at the mansion.
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RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' STAR ZACH SHALLCROSS' BACHELORETTES ANNOUNCED -- MEET ZACH'S WOMEN! (PHOTOS)
"What I was looking for is, how can I see a real brief glimpse of who you are in a very short window?" Zach told People of the limo entrances on Night 1.
"Because it's 30 women, it's the longest night there is and there's not a lot of time. There were some memorable entrances. There may or may not have been some farm animals included."
Once Zach got to know many of the women better inside The Bachelor mansion, he said "it was kind of a work in progress to figure out" whom he wanted the recipient of the coveted First Impression Rose to be.
"That does carry some weight," Zach said of the decision.
"It came down to a culmination of a few things. But the most important part was if I could have that sense of comfort and enjoying my time with that person on a very unique night. That's how I came to that decision."
In addition to the winner of Zach's First Impression Rose, Brianna Thorbourne will also be safe on Night 1 because she had received America's First Impression Rose during The Bachelorette: After the Final Rose for Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia's season that aired in September 2022.
After Zach was announced as the new The Bachelor star live on After the Final Rose, he met five of the women from his season: Brianna, Bailey Brown, Brooklyn Willie, Cat Wong, and Christina Mandrell.
Brianna had taken a selfie with Zach using a Polaroid camera onstage, and then she flirtatiously slipped it in his pocket to keep.
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Zach said being the one to hand out the roses on The Bachelor was definitely "surreal" after leaving The Bachelorette's nineteenth season with a broken heart.
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"It was this feeling of excitement and kind of disbelief that I'm here, but also a little feeling of sadness of I will be sending home some women [on the first night]. That's the hard part," Zach explained to the magazine.
But he predicted his connections with the women would build and grow in a "natural progression" as filming continued after the first night.
"I went into this whole thing wanting to find my best friend, wanting to find my future, and you can't force that," Zach said.
"If it's going to happen, it's going to happen. If it's not, it's not. If you let your heart figure it out, the right thing will happen. I truly believe that."
Zach said he "handled everything the way that felt right" to him, adding, "I was following what was right for my heart and my gut."
Zach emotionally self-eliminated on The Bachelorette 19 following his overnight Fantasy Suite date with Rachel.
While Zach pictured the flight instructor as "the future Mrs. Shallcross" and gushed to the cameras about how he was madly in love with her, Zach found her to be "inauthentic" in the Fantasy Suite and totally unlike herself.
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Zach ultimately apologized to Rachel for questioning her character, but Rachel insisted no apology was necessary and he had every right to feel that way.
Zach recently said he's looking for a kind and compassionate woman who's always up for an adventure, such as traveling and trying unique foods.
"I think a lot of people can be really self-involved. So how you treat people on a day-to-day basis is really important to me," Zach told BachelorNation.com late last year. "I just want someone who is a really kind, compassionate person."
The Bachelor star also said that going into filming, he was "most nervous" about meeting a woman who was on the show for the wrong reasons.
"I'm most nervous about the fact that there could be people that are on this journey and a part of this experience that don't take it seriously and don't want to actually find love," Zach shared.
"I want to find someone who truly wants a future with me, so that's what scares me the most."
The Bachelor host Jesse Palmer has teased in multiple interviews how this season of The Bachelor is going to be the "most emotional" yet, as Zach cried a lot and became very invested in his group of women.
"I haven't seen any of it yet... [but] I would say that Zach's season is a bit of a throwback season, in the sense that this is really about the love story; it's not so much about the drama," Jesse told Becca Kufrin and Michelle Young on the January 4 episode of the "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast.
"And I know in some past seasons, drama takes over. With every season of The Bachelor or The Bachelorette, there is going to be drama. It's just something that you can't avoid."
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
