Rachel Recchia wants fans to be kind to Zach Shallcross after he once again referenced her on The Bachelor. Zach was named the next series lead after appearing in Rachel and Gabby Windey's season of The Bachelorette. Things between Rachel and Zach ultimately fell apart during the fantasy suite dates.Now Zach's former flame is responding to his comment about their fallout. While speaking with contestant and date Gabi Elnicki during the latest episode, the Bachelor season 27 lead expressed, "Last season, I thought that I knew someone and then learned that I didn't." The next day, The Bachelorette's Rachel Recchia tweeted, "Let’s all be mindful and extend a little bit of compassion and grace towards the leads of the show," punctuating the sentiment with a white heart emoji. While she didn't name names or even tag The Bachelor, it was clear Rachel was referring to the previous night's episode.
In the replies to her tweet, viewers of the ABC dating series applauded Rachel for taking the high road. Twitter users also expressed that controversial Bachelor series lead Zach should've shown her the same kindness instead of continuing to reference her in a negative way, with @Fashion_Nexus saying, "I'm just over his hypocrisy and being vague." It's still unclear what exactly went down between Zach and Rachel before their split. After the future Bachelor lead's exit, Rachel ultimately chose Tino Franco, but their romance ended soon afterwards.
Bachelor's Rachel Recchia & Zach Shallcross Have Traded Shade Before
This tweet wasn't the first time Rachel reacted to Zach's comments about her. While promoting his season on Bachelor Nation podcasts, Zach emphasized that he wanted to be better at communicating with his contestants, insulting Rachel's skills in comparison. He also implied that the pilot was acting when they were on-camera. Even Zach's promos appeared to shade Rachel. At the time of these podcast appearances, his ex fired back, expressing how shocked and hurt she was by the drags. Unlike her latest tweet, Rachel initially responded by throwing shade his way. For all the back and forth, neither one of the 26-year-olds have been specific about what happened in the fantasy suites once the cameras were off.
In addition to Rachel not getting her happily ever after, co-Bachelorette lead Gabby Windey also quickly split from winner Erich Schwer. Their groundbreaking season lead to complaints the show prioritized drama over romance. In the lead-up to Zach's run, it was touted as a back-to-basics type of season. Host and former Bachelor lead Jesse Palmer emphasized that the latest lead's priority really was to find love. This also appeared to be a response to complaints about Zach's casting.
Like his predecessor Clayton Echard, there were a lot of questions around why the Texas resident was picked over other, more diverse candidates. The Bachelor season 27 has been a welcome surprise in some ways. However, Zach is still considered boring, and he's still receiving criticism, most recently from Clare Crawley. Fans will have to wait and see if Zach's winning romance is more successful than Rachel's, and if he apologizes for all the shade thrown her way.
The Bachelor airs Mondays at 8 p.m. EST on ABC.
Sources: Rachel Recchia/Twitter, @Fashion_Nexus/Twitter