The Bachelorette star Gabby Windey has revealed how her flirty relationship with former Jersey Shore star Vinny Guadagnino got started.
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Gabby and Vinny, who met on Dancing with the Stars' 31st season, have been publicly flirting on social media since November 15, sparking rumors they're romantically interested in each other and prompting fans to ship them as a potential reality TV couple.
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Gabby confirmed she'd "of course" go on a date with Vinny, whom she also recently called her "celebrity crush," but the ball is apparently in his court now and he needs to ask her out.
"I'm like, 'People need to go straight to the source! People need to be asking him these questions because he's the one who started all of it!'" Gabby said on the December 15 episode of the "Click Bait with Bachelor Nation" podcast, which was co-hosted by Joe Amabile and Natasha Parker.
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Natasha asked Gabby to go back to the beginning and share how she and Vinny initially became buddy-buddy.
"We were friends. I was in a relationship. I was in it to win it, [Vinny] never had a chance!" Gabby insisted.
"So I was, like, tunnel vision and I really didn't flirt or anything. I'm always myself and [my ex-fiance Erich Schwer] was in and out of the studio, so I didn't even [look Vinny's way]."
Gabby and Erich got engaged on The Bachelorette's Season 19 finale, which aired in September, but they called off their engagement and announced their split on November 4.
Gabby said later that month that she and Erich simply weren't "in sync" or "the best match" for each other. She suggested their goals were taking them in opposite directions.
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Gabby revealed that Vinny "gives her sh-t now" and jokes about how she didn't even know he existed until about two weeks ago, in the aftermath of her split from Erich.
"I'm like, 'Oh, are you mad at me?!'" Gabby said with a laugh.
Gabby said on Dancing with the Stars, she got along great with Vinny's DWTS pro partner Koko Iwasaki and so it was just "a natural relationship" between the two pairs. Gabby and her pro partner Val Chmerkovskiy would show Vinny and Koko their dances and vice versa.
"So we were fun co-workers and stuff, and then I went through the breakup [with Erich]," Gabby recalled.
"But we were nearing in on the [Dancing with the Stars] finale. I was so zoned in and I think Vinny got eliminated [before semifinals], a week before it was announced."
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Gabby said she had bumped into Vinny in the elevator "in passing" where they rehearsed for the show and then she randomly saw him in a Starbucks one day.
Gabby admitted it was an embarrassing run-in that morning for her considering she wasn't wearing any makeup and had no bra on. Gabby confessed that she hadn't even brushed her teeth yet because she wanted to drink her coffee first.
"My hair was a mess... My boobs were down to my knees. I was just trying to get a coffee," Gabby said with a laugh.
"He was sitting there having a coffee, and I was like, 'Oh, I guess I'll talk to Vinny, he's nice. We'll shoot the sh-t.' And I was laughing over how my arch nemesis was an 18-year-old with like the best dance technique in the world... It was all jokes and we were kidding."
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(Gabby was referring to Dancing with the Stars' Season 31 champions Charli D'Amelio and her pro partner Mark Ballas. Gabby and Val ultimately finished Dancing with the Stars as the runner-up couple.)
Because Gabby hadn't brushed her teeth, she said she sat at a table diagonal from him.
"I didn't want him to smell me," Gabby told Joe and Natasha, "I was just so tired!... I just rolled out of bed to get a coffee and get my day started... but I never did it again in case I ran into Vinny."
Gabby said from that point on, Vinny started commenting "funny stuff" on her Instagram photos.
Last month, for instance, Vinny playfully dubbed Gabby his "Baby mamma" on social media, and she in turn called him, "My main man."
Gabby also called Vinny a "ten" on Instagram and he joked in reply about how she needed to stop talking about herself. Gabby has also dropped her fair share of flirty comments on Vinny's pictures.
"But I just think all men are full of sh-t, so I'm, like, this is fun for me! It's just flirty cute [banter]," Gabby claimed.
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Natasha said she spoke to Vinny recently about Gabby and he allegedly gushed about her being "beautiful" and "great."
"With Vinny, he would never tell me that to my face," Gabby noted.
Natasha went on to share, "He said, 'She's amazing and she was just engaged. Of course I'm a [respectful] person. We are cool. But once that ended, I was already gone.' He literally said that."
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Natasha also said that Vinny joked about how he and Gabby were already basically married in the eyes of reality TV fans and "he loves it."
"That has been the best part. I'm like, 'You kind of created this monster yourself, where now all of your comments are like, 'Where's Gabby? Where's Gabby?' They are so stoked for us. But yeah, I think it's all led to good things," Gabby shared.
Last week, the Season 19 The Bachelorette star confirmed to Us Weekly that dating Vinny could be a real "possibility" for her.
"I don't know, we'll have to wait and see. Gabby, tan, laundry," she joked, referring to the famous tagline, "Gym, tan, laundry," that the Jersey Shore cast would often say when the reality series aired on MTV.
Gabby, who also briefly dated The Bachelorettes alums Dean Unglert and Blake Horstmann before her stint on The Bachelor's 26th season starring Clayton Echard, has been wanting a commitment from a man who will love her unconditionally.
Gabby said her stint on Dancing with the Stars was therapeutic for her as she dealt with her split from Erich.
As for Vinny, Jersey Shore fans probably remember that he hooked up with Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi and Angelina Pivarnick. He also dated Instagram model Elicea Shyann from 2017-2018.
In 2019, Vinny and his Jersey Shore co-star Paul "Pauly D" DelVecchio looked for love on Double Shot at Love, but a lasting relationship didn't come from the show.
Vinny also dated Too Hot to Handle star Francesca Farago in 2020, according to Life & Style.
When asked if he'd like to get married and have kids, Vinny told In Touch Weekly in June 2021, "I would never just settle down just to settle down. It would have to be for the right one."
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