Before he was The Bachelor, Zach Shallcross competed on Season 19 of The Bachelorette. He made it all the way to the Fantasy Suite, but that’s where his relationship with co-lead Rachel Recchia hit a wall.
Zach and Rachel seemed to be on-track for love, but something changed in the overnight, according to US Weekly. Everything seemed peachy when the pair decided “forego [their] individual rooms” and accept host Jesse Palmer’s standard offer to “stay as a couple in the Fantasy Suite.”
But the next morning was a different story. The tech executive emerged from their love cocoon with an obvious chip on his shoulder, rather than a twinkle in his eye. Zach pretty quicky told Jesse that he felt Rachel was “very inauthentic” behind closed doors and that they had “communication” issues.
“Her response — it felt so cold. I thought, maybe, that I meant more. One of the things I fell in love with was she made me feel, like, special,” Zach said at the time. “And I cared for her and I question if any of that was real or if that was just an act.”
Rachel defended her behavior in the Fantasy Suite. “There are things that you talk about in fantasy suites that . . . aren’t discussed on camera,” she told The Hollywood Reporter in September 2022. “Zach and I both realized once we got behind closed doors that we just didn’t align on certain things. That chemistry we might have thought was there, wasn’t.” She added, “There were just a couple of things that all came really tumbling down, but ultimately there are just conversations that are private, and that is our opportunity to have them.”
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While promoting the new season of The Bachelor, Zach has repeatedly mentioned his “lack of communcation” with Rachel. “There was a lot of question marks and a lot of guessing [during his time with Rachel],” the Austin resident said. “And for me, one thing that I pride myself on is the fact of having communication throughout [my time as the Bachelor]. So I even told all the women on night one, like, good or bad, please tell me how you’re feeling. Because I will.” He continued, “I know what I want out of this and I know what it takes to have that healthy relationship: communication. And that lacked with Rachel and I last season,” Zach added.
Rachel ended up getting engaged to her final choice Tino Franco, but they broke up while the show was still airing amid accusations of cheating (he kissed another girl in a bar). Despite the rocky end to their relationship, she is supportive of Zach becoming the next Bachelor.
“I haven’t had a conversation with him,” Rachel said at the time, “but I truly think he is a great pick for The Bachelor, just from what I know of him, and I think he’s going to do a really great job. Gabby [Windey] and I are both supporting him as lead. We know it’s a really difficult position to be in, but [it] can definitely be so worth it if you follow your heart,” she added.
In the meantime, Zach is now saying that he has “1,000 percent” more empathy for Rachel now that he’s the one handing out the roses. “You can never really foresee what the actual experience is,” he admitted. “They put you through the wringer and it’s an amazing experience, but oh my gosh, you can do and say some of the dumbest stuff that you would never normally do. But you were just in this world that’s moving a million miles an hour and it’s not easy,” Zach stated. “It’s fun, but it’s not easy.”
Here’s hoping that Zach finds a woman with better “communication” skills this time around.
TELL US – DO YOU THINK ZACH WILL FIND LOVE THIS TIME AROUND? WHO LOOKS GOOD TO YOU SO FAR AMONG THE WOMEN AS A POTENTIAL PARTNER?
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