The Bachelor star Zach Shallcross has revealed what really happened in his overnight Fantasy Suite date with Rachel Recchia that resulted in his self-elimination from The Bachelorette.
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Zach had pictured Rachel as "the future Mrs. Shallcross" and gushed to the cameras about how he was madly in love with the bubbly blonde flight instructor during The Bachelorette's nineteenth season last year, but then Zach found Rachel to be "inauthentic" in their Fantasy Suite and totally unlike herself.
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Once Zach confronted Rachel about his concerns ahead of the Final 3 Rose Ceremony, he decided to self-eliminate and leave the show, seemingly aware he wasn't going to be Rachel's person and he could save himself the embarrassment of being denied a rose.
During the January 20 episode of "The Ben and Ashley I: Almost Famous Podcast," Zach dove into the details about why his off-camera overnight date with Rachel turned into such a disaster.
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"A lot did happen last season, especially in the Fantasy Suite. Essentially what it came down to was there was a complete lack of communication," Zach explained to Ashley Iaconetti, who co-hosts the podcast with Ben Higgins.
"So with Rachel and I, you know, our relationship was getting stronger and stronger through the show and all of our dates -- and it would completely fall off when we wouldn't see each other or we wouldn't talk."
When the couple reunited in the Fantasy Suite, Zach recalled, "[We] had that time to fully talk and figure things out before the most important day of our lives, possibly, and she treated me like I was a complete stranger."
The "most important day" of Zach's life would've been the Final Rose Ceremony, when he planned to propose marriage to Rachel and leave The Bachelorette engaged.
Zach went on to describe Rachel's off-putting behavior that totally threw him off.
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"Think of it like this: you're with someone -- a boyfriend, girlfriend, husband or wife -- and you love them and they start just interviewing you like it's your first interview at a job," Zach said.
"They don't even look at you the same; they don't look at you with any love and it's just, like, treating you like a stranger. And it's just, like, 'Bam, bam, bam' -- interview questions and this and that, and there was no comfort there."
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Zach noted how he didn't want to reveal too many specifics out of respect for Rachel and the relationship they had. But Zach previously disclosed how Rachel had questioned whether he was truly ready for an engagement given his age. (But Zach, who was 25-years-old at the time, was only one year younger than Rachel).
"Everything was just almost like a rapid-fire [interrogation] and nothing was ever a good answer and I was just never good enough," Zach lamented.
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Zach recalled being totally astonished by how the night had played out once he and Rachel finally got ready for bed, seemingly confirming there was no intimacy in the bedroom that night.
"We were just sitting there next to each other, and it was like, 'This can't be true. This can't be how we see each other or how we spend time together. Does she even care for me in the same way I feel for her -- or even at all?!'" Zach said.
Zach described his decision to dump Rachel before she could dump him a "tough move."
However, Zach was able to pick up the pieces, and then ABC named him The Bachelor's Season 27 star in September.
The 26-year-old technology salesman's season just premiered on January 23 on ABC, and he made it clear that he was looking for a sincere and genuine partner for life.
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"Looking back at it as a whole, to me, the only way I could really justify and rationalize it -- and after talking with [Rachel] after the show -- was that her heart was with someone else at that point and she couldn't communicate that to me the right way. She apologized for that," Zach said.
"It wasn't shared with me in the healthiest way," he added.
Rachel had accepted a marriage proposal from her The Bachelorette winner, Tino Franco, but the pair broke up before After the Final Rose filmed in September because Tino cheated on her with another woman.
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On After the Final Rose, Zach apologized to Rachel for questioning her character on television, but Rachel admitted he had every right to feel the way he did at that point in their journey.
Zach said the situation led him to "believe and feel like" he was "being blindsided."
"So it was tough but I wish her nothing but the best," Zach noted.
When Ashley asked if, in hindsight, Zach feels Rachel was acting with him for the cameras during their dates and time together on The Bachelorette, Zach replied, "My mind went so many different directions because it was, like, 'Okay, if this is you, then who was I was with on this entire journey?'"
Zach suggested he started The Bachelor process a little wary with his guard up.
"My fear, and this is [still] my fear for [my The Bachelor] season is, like, people putting it on for the camera or not. Are you here for the followers or Instagram or this and that -- to be famous -- or are you actually open to the idea of finding love and being open to that?" Zach said.
"And I went through that with Rachel thinking about it afterwards, 'Wait, which one was it?'"
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"After [Rachel]'s season," he continued, "I carried that on of being like, 'Hey, we're communicating everything, good or bad. Let me know who you are or it's going to come out.'"
For Zach's part, he insisted he has no interest in fame, clout or becoming a social-media influencer.
Zach also hinted that his experience with Rachel in the Fantasy Suite naturally affected how he handled his time in the Fantasy Suites with his Final 3 women on The Bachelor.
"The last thing I want is any of the women to be blindsided or to not feel like they know where I stand or like where my heart is at, because it sucks when you have that heartbreak or you're just so caught off-guard and you're asking so many questions and you're confused," Zach told Ashley. "I wanted to minimize that as much as possible."
Going into the second episode of The Bachelor season on January 30, Zach currently has 20 women remaining on his journey to find The One and his true love.
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