Zach Proposes To [Spoiler] While Other Woman Feels 'Humiliated'
See what happened during Shallcross' emotional live finale.
Zach Shallcross chose his final woman on Monday night’s live finale episode of The Bachelor season 27.
Fans of the ABC reality show saw the hunk deciding between Kaity Biggar and his fantasy suite lover Gabi Elnicki.
Here’s how it all went down on the show and “After the Final Rose” special!
How did The Bachelor finale begin?
Host Jesse Palmer welcomed the traditional live studio audience who would watch the final episode and then see Zach’s final three—Kaity, Gabi, and third place finisher Ariel Frenkel—dish the dirt.
Jesse recapped how Zach had broken his no sex in fantasy suites rule with Gabi and then had told Kaity what he had done. Both women were devastated.
What did Ariel say about her Bachelor experience?
Ariel joined the show and told Jesse she'd had a real connection with Zach.
Ariel, who previously dated an actor, revealed about fantasy suites, “I was on the same page with Zach…I didn’t want to be physically intimate.”
But she said, “I’m really hurt,” to find out everything on TV about how Zach had sex with Gabi long afterwards!
What did Zach and Ariel discuss?
Zach joined Ariel on the live show couch and she told him, “You weren’t honest with me.”
“I should have not been left in the dark” in Thailand, Ariel said.
Zach admitted, “I look back with regret on how I handled that week. My actions were…not the right way to go about it.”
Zach apologized to Ariel, who replied that in keeping sex off the table, he had oddly made it all about sex!
Ariel pointed out, “You took away my agency.”
Zach said he'd been selfish, and Ariel sighed, “You owed me the truth.”
“I did mess up,” Zach told Ariel. “I do respect you.”
Ariel said she was grateful for The Bachelor experience.
What happened in Thailand?
Cameras switched to Thailand where the final two women awaited Zach’s decision.
Zach was still wrestling with the fallout from having sex with Gabi and revealing that fact to Kaity.
Zach arrived at his family home and recapped his journey to his parents and two sisters.
Gabi was getting ready to meet his family and still felt like a scarlet letter was on her chest.
How did Gabi and Zach’s conversation go?
Feeling blindsided, Gabi wanted to chat before she met his relatives.
“I feel like I’m the reason you are feeling all this disappointment in yourself. I feel like I was an accessory in a crime,” she said.
“Do you regret the decision you made with me?” she asked him.
“No! I wouldn’t take anything back,” he replied.
How did Gabi's home visit go?
Zach's dad, Chapman, told Gabi that Zach was “born a very sick child.” He was told Zach could pass away.
Zach’s mom, Megan, said Gabi seemed very family-oriented.
“I felt an overwhelming sense of love,” with his family, Gabi noted.
“I am in love with you,” Gabi told Zach.
What happened when Kaity met Zach’s family?
Kaity was still upset that Zach had been intimate with Gabi when she arrived at his family home.
As Parade previously reported, in a sneak peek video, Kaity teared up when telling Zach’s mom another woman was still in the picture.
Chapman told Kaity he wanted Zach’s choice to be his best friend.
Kaity told Zach’s dad, “I’m very in love with him.”
Kaity cried and said, “I am so in love with you, Zach.”
What happened during Zach’s final date with Kaity?
Kaity told Zach she was sure he’d follow his heart.
Kaity said Gabi was a great woman and everything has been “tough on me.”
Zach said they’d been able to overcome him sleeping with Gabi!
“I went through heartache before. I obviously don’t want to go through that again,” Kaity told him.
“You’re worth it. I’m very crazy about you,” Kaity said.
She was “scared and nervous” as their date ended.
What happened during Gabi’s date with Zach?
The two took a romantic horseback ride and kissed on the beach.
Zach said in confessional that Gabi gave him butterflies.
Gabi said, “We just ‘get’ each other. I feel like we’re in a really good spot.”
“I didn’t know you almost died when you were born,” she told him.
Zach told Gabi he felt like he’d been given so many great things in life.
“You are seriously a gem,” Gabi told him.
The tech exec said he was nervous but calm about his decision. He didn’t know where he was going to be in a couple of days.
Gabi started to cry and told cameras she had a “gut feeling it’s not me.”
In the night part of their date, Gabi told Zach she was scared.
She quizzed him on how he would decide between her and Kaity.
“I’m trying so hard to figure it out,” teary-eyed Zach told her. “I’m so torn….my heart’s being tugged in two places.”
She told the cameras, “None of my fears were relieved.”
“I could see a future with you,” Zach said.
“He’s also falling in love with Kaity,” she concluded.
What happened next?
Successful Bachelor Sean Lowe and his wife Catherine talked to Jesse on the couch about their shining example of what Zach could have.
Then cameras showed the two final women getting ready to meet Zach on the beach. Gabi arrived first and told Jesse, “I know what’s about to happen,” looking sad.
She told cameras she had a gut feeling Zach wouldn’t choose her.
What did Zach tell Gabi?
Zach told Gabi, "There’s so much I love and adore about you.”
“But,” he paused.
“I know. You don’t have to say it,” Gabi told him, crying.
“I don’t want to hear it,” she said as he started to talk.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“Can you stop,” Gabi sobbed.
“I knew it was coming.”
He claimed he’d decided last night.
“You’ve known!” she said. “I’ll be okay. Kaity is a really special person and she’s really lucky, so good luck. Goodbye.”
She hugged him. “I don’t need no apology.” She said as he walked her out.
Zach tried to talk about their good times, but she said she didn’t want him to feel guilty.
He insisted, “You have part of my heart. I’ll never forget you.”
“I’ll find love somewhere, somehow. It’s okay,” she told him, wiping tears away as she entered the van.
In the vehicle, Gabi cried, “I just want to go f---in home!”
“That was f----ing humiliating!” she shouted. “I’ve been strung along!”
“I’m so unlovable for some reason,” she sobbed. “Why am I so hard to love?”
What did Gabi say onstage?
She told Jesse, crying, that watching it back was worse than when it happened!
“It just hurts because I had a little bit of hope going into that day,” she said.
Gabi didn’t think someone who cared about her would let her go through all that stress.
“I felt humiliated,” she fumed.
Jesse told Gabi she was getting tons of social media love.
Gabi told Jesse her gut was right but “it doesn’t make the goodbye any easier.”
“I chose him but he didn’t choose me back.”
Gabi said she was still healing from Zach dumping her.
Jesse talked about fantasy suite and she replied,"In that week I felt so connected to him and very in love and safe. We made a decision together because I think we were feeling in love. It's a part of me I’ll never get back that I shared with him. It’s extremely violating that the entire nation knows everything.”
What did Gabi say to Zach?
“I have a lot of thoughts, a lot of feelings…I’m sad, I’m still hurting,” she told Zach in front of the audience.
About the fantasy suite revelation from Zach, she said, felt "I’m disappointed how everything in evening portion was aired because there was so much …we spent so much time talking about emotional health, mental health…how we both connected on that.”
“We both were happy about that…and it was what we wanted. We decided it was going to be between us.”
Zach then blindsided her.
Gabi didn’t know “you had told everyone until I watched it last week,” she said, to the crowd's shock.
She sobbed, “I feel ashamed from a moment that felt like love to me. It’s a very painful."
“Sex sells but now I’ve become a narrative.”
Zach told her, “The way I handled things was completely wrong....The last thing I wanted to do was hurt you like that. From the bottom of my heart, I’m sorry.”
How did Zach propose to Kaity?
Kaity told Zach they had "a love you only read about in books. I’ve never known what real love is.
“I built my walls up so high that I couldn’t see past them.”
Zach brought her walls down, she said. “I’m so in love with you…I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
Zach replied, “I love you so much…with all my heart. You’re the face I want to wake up with every morning. Kaity, I want to be with you forever!
“You’re the only one I want in my life,” Zach said, shaking and crying.
He got down on one knee with the ring and proposed: “Kaity, will you marry me?”
“Absolutely!” she said.
“That is so pretty” she said as he put the ring on her finger.
“We’re engaged!” she laughed to the cameras, and accepted Zach’s final rose.
What did Zach and Kaity say onstage?
The happy couple said they've been longing for the moment they could face the public.
Zach said to his fianceé, “It's always been you.”
Kaity said, “I had this confidence in us. I just knew Zach was going to follow his heart."
Although the fantasy suite controversy was tough, “Zach and I have amazing communication…and loyalty to each other," she told Jesse.
The two revealed that they are moving in together this summer in Austin, Texas, where they both live, and might get married in 2025!
