Making amends off the air. Zach Shallcross and Rachel Recchia are on good terms, according to the Bachelor.
“She actually reached out and she sent a very sweet message,” the ABC star, 26, exclusively told Us Weekly at the recent Women Tell All taping in Los Angeles. “And she’s very supportive. It was a very nice message. I’m very happy.”
Zach and Rachel, also 26, ended season 19 of The Bachelorette on rocky terms after he claimed she acted differently in the fantasy suites without the cameras rolling. While they seemingly buried the hatchet during After the Final Rose, Zach threw shade at Rachel during the season 26 premiere, claiming the pilot didn’t provide the “honesty and clarity” he needed during their romance.
“There was a lot of question marks and a lot of guessing,” Zach explained on Us’ “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast about the remark. “And when it came down to last season with Rachel, a lot of stuff came to fruition and a lot of big question marks and surprises and that leads to shock. 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. 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.”
The flight instructor, for his part, said she was “actually shocked” by the diss and by the comments he made on the “Almost Famous” podcast about Rachel treating him “like a stranger” and asking him “interview questions” in the fantasy suites.
“All this talk about, ‘I want someone who’s authentic on and off camera,’ as if me choosing or feeling stronger feelings for other people somehow made me not authentic or if us not aligning on certain important views, makes him wrong. It’s just really honestly shocking to hear him still kind of paint me in this, like, really negative light where I thought at our After the Final Rose, we kind of did make up,” Rachel said earlier this month.
She further denied being fake off camera, noting that she just had a stronger connection with Tino Franco. (Rachel and Tino split while the show was airing after he admitted to kissing another girl.)
“People watched me, time after time, send people home on the spot when I knew it wasn’t right,” she continued. “And I genuinely cared about Zach so much that I wanted to give him this time. And I wanted to see if we can align. And when you get behind closed doors, you’re like, ‘OK, let’s honestly have a conversation.’ … Even after an apology, it’s still being painted like this, it just really is so hurtful.”
While Zach referenced their past again on the February 20 episode, Rachel took to Twitter to defend him. “Let’s all be mindful and extend a little bit of compassion and grace towards the leads of the show,” she tweeted on Tuesday, February 21.
The Bachelor airs on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET.
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With reporting by Hannah Kahn