Throughout the most recent season of The Bachelorette, leads Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia sorted through their individual journeys to find love whilst dating the same pool of men. This provided viewers with a season full of love, heartbreak, laughs, and tears watching these two ladies navigate through the always-dramatic process of finding a husband on reality television. For one, this is the first time the show has had two women date the same group of men, which gave way to a ton of drama on its own. However, all of this season’s drama led up to the unexpected twists and turns that occurred in the Bachelorette finale.
First, I’m going to jump right into discussing my favorite couple that has emerged out of the Bachelor franchise: Gabby and Erich. Their earnest, lighthearted, and goofy moments made America root for these two from the get go. However, there was turbulence between the couple in the finale episode that had me questioning if they were going to get their happily ever after.
In the beginning of the episode, we saw Gabby and Erich on their final date in Mexico where Erich voiced some hesitation for an engagement. Gabby was understandably taken off guard because this was the first time he had expressed these thoughts. However, Erich redeemed himself when telling Gabby “I just want to leave here with you, whatever that takes,” which Gabby reciprocated to him in return. After this rocky end to the date, I truly had no idea if they would proceed with an engagement or if Erich would let his hesitations get in the way. Fast forwarding, the day of the engagement arrived and I was on the edge of my seat anticipating whether or not there would be a proposal. Watching the couple voice their feelings for one another was touching because their genuine emotions were showing through teary eyes and shaky voices. I could clearly see they had so much love for each other in that moment. Erich ended up proposing to Gabby, she said yes, and as a Gabby and Erich fan, I couldn’t be more excited for them.
Moving on, I saved the messiest portion of the finale for last. Watching Rachel fall head over heels for Tino was hard to watch because I had suspicions that Tino wasn’t going to be the man that gave her her fairy tale ending. Despite my doubts for these two, Tino ends up proposing to Rachel, promising to “love her until the end of time.” Rachel, in a whirlwind of emotions, accepts the proposal and the two ride off in the sunset (they literally ride a horse).
Unfortunately, this eternal love doesn’t last for long. The cameras cut back to real time where Rachel, teary eyed, expresses to the live studio audience that Tino cheated on her. We even get to see a clip of Rachel confronting Tino for the first time since she found out he cheated. This confrontation basically consisted of Tino placing the blame on Rachel over and over again and refusing to take accountability. This was hard to watch knowing how much Rachel genuinely loved Tino and then realizing her relationship was coming to a screeching halt. I was however, proud of her for standing her ground in this argument and demanding the answers she deserves.
The cameras cut to the live studio audience where poor Rachel has to have yet another confrontation with her ex-fiance. Can this girl catch a break? It gets worse though— Tino provides no closure for Rachel and continues to keep justifying the reasons he cheated. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, Aven, Rachel’s second choice, comes on stage to interrupt Tino and Rachel. My jaw dropped in shock. Aven asked Rachel for a chance to catch up and whisked her away off stage. Finally, Rachel got her happy ending. Kinda? Who knows if Rachel ends up with Aven, I was just happy he interrupted Tino’s BS excuses.
This season of The Bachelorette took so many twists and turns, but I’m glad that Gabby and Rachel both found happiness in their own unique ways. Even if Rachel doesn’t end up with Aven, she and Gabby both developed an amazing friendship with each other through their hectic journeys to find love. A friendship that is stronger than most considering the challenges these two had to overcome throughout the whole process.