We made it, rose lovers!
and then gets things moving.
No surprise: She looks incredible.
Ariel graces the Tealight Candle Thunderdome stage.ABC
It wasn’t until she got in the van that all of the emotions of the split hit her.
Rose lovers, when Ariel saw the episode, she did NOT love it.
“I’m really hurt.
Ariel and Zach.ABC
“I was really disappointed in the way the whole week was handled.”
You and the rest of Bachelor Nation, ma’am!
c’mon welcome the Bachelor to the stage!
Zach and his family.ABC
Ariel greets her ex with a cheeky joke: “It’s good to see you again.
I’m sure you just came off a 30-minute shower scene.”
But that’s where the fun and games end.
Gabi gets to the point.ABC
“It was really difficult to see that you weren’t honest with me.
The audience bursts into “you go, girl!”
applause before Zach can begin his answer.
Chap and Gabi.ABC
“You’re right, I should have told you, probably first,” he says.
There’s no excuse for it.”
“You owed me so much more than that,” she says.
Zach and Gabi.ABC
Read him, Ariel!
Read him for filth!
More applause for Ariel.
Sammy and Payton.ABC
“I’m not here to drag you through the mud.
I’m not here to make you feel worse,” she says.
(Could have fooled us, honey!)
Megan and Kaity.ABC
In fact, Ariel wants Zach to know that she still looks back on their relationship “fondly.”
“I want to attempt to fix and alleviate the mistake I made,” says Zach.
Sir, don’t you mean mistakes, plural?
Kaity puts it all out there.ABC
Can’t wait to see how he explains this mess to his family.
“We don’t need details!”
says Megan, Zach’s mom, when he begins to explain what happened during overnight dates.
Kaity and Zach.ABC
It honestly bit me in the ass.”
That it did, sir.
Little does Zach know that Gabi isn’t even sure if shewantsto meet the family.
Kaity is sad.ABC
“I want to double-check that his feelings toward me haven’t changed…
It feels like there’s some regret there.”
For that reason, Gabi wants to speak to Zach before going inside to meet the family.
Why the long face?.ABC
She needs to let him know that his rose ceremony speech sent her into a spiral.
“I’m feeling blindsided and that I feel like I’ve committed some sort of crime.”
“Like, it’s nothing with, like, us,” he says.
The three words every woman wants to hear.ABC
It’s not enough to make Gabi feel better.
“I felt like I was in the f—ingScarlet Letter, if I’m being honest.”
“No, not at all!”
Catherine and Sean Lowe.ABC
The Bachelor really, really wants Gabi to know that she is not the cause of any pain.
In fact: “In my heart, like, it’s love.
I want you to know that.”
Jesse Palmer fills in for Neil Lane.ABC
Wait, so did he just essentially tell Gabi that he loves her?
It sure sounds like it.
Zach’s dad, Chapman, pulls Gabi for a chat first.
Gabi’s gut has feelings.ABC
“This was going to be tough times, and we had to get through it.”
From there, Gabi sits with Zach’s sisters, Payton and Sammy.
“I come from more of a protective sister background.”
The dreaded “but”.ABC
“I didn’t realize it until I was in there talking to your sisters,” she adds.
And he LOVES it.
What a comeback story, rose lovers!
Gabi takes the stage.ABC
FromThe Scarlet Letterto “I love you” smooches.
Somehow, Kaity might be picking up on those “happily ever after” vibes between Gabi and Zach.
“I’m being very cautious with my heart,” she admits.
Gabi and Zach on ‘The Bachelor’ finale.ABC
“I’m just going to be me and hopefully that’s enough.”
Megan, Chap, Sammy, and Payton greet Kaity with the same warm hugs they gave to Gabi.
“It’s not, um…” Kaity pauses and starts to cry.
Whaaaat?.ABC
“I don’t know why I get emotional.”
Megan goes full mom and pulls the poor woman in for a hug.
“It’s okay to be emotional,” she assures Kaity.
Kaity and Zach.ABC
“This is huge.
and that’s exactly what they do.
Once again, Kaity gets so emotional she can barely answer.
Kaity and Zach.ABC
“It would be very tough, obviously,” she begins, before choking up.
“I honestly didn’t think that I could find somebody so amazing?”
The sisters seem pleased with Kaity’s answers.
Charity begins her Bachelorette ‘journey’.ABC
Payton even smiles a few times!
Chap sits down with Kaity next, and he reiterates what he said to Gabi.
“It is my strong belief that relationships aren’t made in good times,” he says.
Nehemiah goes undercover.ABC
“They’re made in bad times.”
Chap isn’t fazed.
“It was a really good conversation with Chap,” says Kaity.
“I could absolutely see him being a dad to me.”
“Oh, my God,” gushes Zach, before leaning in for a smooch.
Welp, it’s time for the Last Chance dates.
Zach says he’s “still torn” over which woman to choose.
“They’re both so different,” he says.
“It’s literally the hardest decision that I’ll have to make.”
Kaity goes first, and she meets the Bachelor in the middle of a lush national park in Krabi.
Later that night, they snuggle in Kaity’s hotel room and talk about the week ahead.
“It’s tough,” she says.
“It’s going to be hard decision for you.
I’ve gotten to know Gabi and she’s an unreal girl…
I can’t imagine the position you’re in.”
“I hope that I can be somebody that makes you happy for the rest of your life.”
Kaity is left feeling scared and unsure.
“I hope that my heart’s leading me in the right way.”
Gabi, however, is one with her ride almost instantly.
They frolic and make out in the surf, and Gabi is feeling super confident about Proposal Day.
“But am I so excited for us to, like, start our lives together hopefully?
Everything is going great.
“But I feel so good that the right thing is going to happen.”
Do I even need to tell you, rose lovers, that Gabi does NOT love it?
She sits up and sips her champagne in silence.
Well make the f—ing decision!
I was feeling great until then.”
Now, Gabi adds, she has a gut feeling.
You ARE enough, Gabi!
Don’t let Zach or any other guy tell you different.
(Butif you might’t love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love somebody else?)
Still, Gabi pulls it together for the evening portion of the Last Chance date in her hotel suite.
“It’s really scary to think about what if you’re not the one?”
“I truly hope you know that.”
Gabi’s like,Okay, then why haven’t you made a decision yet?
(I’m paraphrasing.)
Zach doesn’t have an answer for her.
“I’m trying so hard to figure this out,” he says, choking up.
“I’m sorry, but…
I’m trying to figure it out.”
Zach could probably have a perfectly nice relationship maybe even a marriage with either woman.
I’m not sure he’s going to have the “A-ha!”
moment he’s clearly hoping for.
But Gabi is not convinced.
“All of my fears were not relieved,” she says in her confessional.
Her voice is barely above a whisper.
Indeed, he is!
Sleep well, buddy.
You’ll most likely have a fiancee in the morning.
And we’re back in the Tealight Candle Thunderdome.
“Apologies for the technical difficulties earlier,” says Palmer.
Good one, Jesse!
c’mon welcome, Sean and Catherine Lowe.
Awww, these two are adorable.
(Side note: Did you know there are currently 31 Bachelor Nation couples who are still together?)
I’m just gonna skip over this part, rose lovers.
Proposal Day has arrived!
“Obviously, Neil Lane couldn’t make it today,” says the host.
“But I am going to help you pick out a beautiful ring.”
“That’s a really muddy spot!
Y’all shouldn’t pull in right there,” says Gabi, scolding some off-camera producers.
“When itactuallymatters, when Kaity arrives, don’t do that to her.”
Looking resplendent in yellow, Gabi makes her way down the muddy path to where Palmer is waiting.
“How you feelin'?”
Gabi smiles wistfully and is silent for a second before answering.
“I know,” whispers Gabi.
“You don’t have to say it.”
And yet, Zach keeps going.
“As much as I was falling in love with you…”
Gabi cuts him off.
“I don’t want to hear it!”
she cries, her voice tight with emotion.
And yet… Zach!
It’s Gabi’s turn to talk now.
“I knew it was coming.
I’ve known it was coming,” she says, wiping away tears.
“What I don’t know is why you wouldn’t tell me when you knew.”
Zach insists that he didn’t make the decision “fully” until the night before, in bed.
She doesn’t buy it, and I don’t blame her.
“You’ve known,” she snaps.
“You’ve known.
You’ve known!”
“I don’t need you to say that, Zach,” she says, waving him off.
“I’ll find love somewhere, somehow.
It’s okay.”
Yes, you will, Gabi!
Maybe not as the next Bachelorette but there’s always season 21?
Once in the SUV, Gabi takes off her torture heels and just lets loose.
“That was f—ing humiliating!
I’ve been strung along now this entire f—ing time, for what?”
“Your gut’s always right,” she says tearfully.
“Yet again, I’m not good enough.
If I were, I wouldn’t be here…
There’s something wrong with me!”
There, there, honey.
There’s something wrong withallof us.
But you are not unlovable.
Your other half is out there, and you will find him.
Zach freaking Shallcross is not the be-all and end-all of romantic options, I promise.
Palmer asks, even though it is freaking obvious how she feels.
I don’t even have words right now.
“You spend all morning waiting and waiting and waiting,” Gabi continues.
I felt humiliated.”
Gah, my heart just breaks for this poor woman.
Gabi says she felt “so many emotions” during that week and they weren’t all negative.
“I felt very supported by him.
In that week I felt so connected to him, and I felt very in love and safe.
And we made the decision together because I think we were feeling in love.
It’s a television show.
“I’m sad, I’m hurt, I’m still hurting.
I’m hurting even more, honestly,” she says.
That final day, she continues, “There was so much to our night that wasn’t aired.
We said that that night.
“I didn’t know you had told everyone until I watched it last week.”
And she found out BY WATCHING IT ON TV.
The audience in the Tealight Candle Thunderdome is SHOOK by this bombshell:
Same, lady.
And Gabi is not done making Zach feel her pain.
“I feel ashamed,” she says through tears.
I just thought it was between us… “The way I handled things was completely wrong,” he says.
“There’s no excuse for the way I handled things…
The last thing I wanted to do was hurt you like that.”
(Then again, it’s probably easier to do that off-camera.)
Now for a truly uncomfortable segue: From a brutal breakup to a romantic proposal!
Who do I want to wake up to every morning?
Whose face do I want to see every day?”
Kaity arrives to the Proposal Platform wedding ready in a slinky white cut-out gown.
“With every kiss, with every laugh, and with every ‘Hello, hello.’
The feeling is mutual.
But Zach must get one last producer-prompted fake-out in before letting her know.
“I can no longer say I’m falling in love with you.
[absurdly long pause] Because Kaity Lane, I am so in love with you!”
Okay, then… put a ring on it!
Her answer is quick.
In case you were wondering, Kaity also accepts Zach’s final rose.
Congrats, you crazy kids.
hey welcome Kaity to the Thunderdome stage.
“You both look so in love!”
“How great does that feel?”
Kaity says they’ve been “counting down the days” until they could go out in public together.
“Am I ever going to watch that episode again?
That’s gonna be hard to pull off when they break up in six months.
I’m sure this relationship will last FOREVER.
We don’t, so I’m just going to glide right past that, too.
Let’s turn our attention to thenewBachelorette.
His disguise is… not great.
Then again, the guys will probably be so focused on themselves that they won’t even notice.
Holy guacamole, rose lovers… that’s it!
We’ve made it through anotherBachelorseason together.
Before you go, rose lovers, tell me: Do you think Zach and Kaity will last?
Are you excited to watch Charity’s season ofThe Bachelorette(premiering June 26)?
And what the hell are you going to do with your Monday nights for the next three months?
Post your thoughts below!
