Two Bachelorettes, one happy ending — Gabby Windey’s journey as The Bachelorette concluded on Tuesday night with an engagement to Erich Schwer, a 29-year-old real estate analyst from Bedminster, New Jersey. Co-star Rachel Recchia‘s romance with Tino Franco, unfortunately, didn’t have the storybook ending they’d hoped for.
Gabby and Erich’s relationship seemed to be on the skids, after their final date with him saying he wasn’t ready to for an engagement and just wanted to “date” her.
That sent Gabby storming off in tears, insisting “I don’t want to do this anymore,” adding, “So, here we are, a big fat dumpster fire.”
However, when the big moment arrived, Erich ultimately did get down on one knee and proposed to Gabby.
Their young romance hasn’t exactly been rosy, though. During the live After the Final Rose part of the show, the couple admitted they’re “not done learning about each other.” Specifically, revelations on social media where an ex-girlfriend of Erich’s said he broke up with her to have an opportunity to be on the show.
“I handled it poorly a hundred percent. I led her on and I want to own that,” he said about his previous relationship. “I have no hard feelings for her at all and I understand her actions…but I kind of took the easy way out…I didn’t want a hard conversation.”
He went on to say that he was “using the show as an excuse to not confront [the girl] about our relationship.” Referring to Gabby, Erich insisted, “I love this girl with all my heart. It’s a hundred percent real, I never expected it and, you know, I want this thing to be forever.”
Earlier, Rachel and Tino seemed to have gotten their happy ending when he proposed. Unfortunately, that’s not how the story ended.
The couple hit a rough patch shortly after that last episode, during which Rachel accused Tino of cheating on her. The two arranged a meeting to try and patch things up, which failed when he insisted on placing at least some of the blame for his alleged indiscretion on her, claiming he interpreted her reference to not wearing her engagement ring “if they broke up,” to mean they were through as a couple.
Tino got one more chance to save the relationship, but failed again, leading to a surprise appearance from Aven Jones, who surprised the audience — and Rachel — by asking if she’d like to step out and “catch up.”
“I’d love nothing more,” she said, before the two strolled off the set, indicating her Bachelorette journey may not be over after all.
In other news, Zach Shallcross, whom Rachel had cast off after hometowns, was introduced as the next Bachelor for the show’s 27th season, premiering January 23 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
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