How Bachelor Nation Reacted to Rachel's Rose Ceremony Rejections

Following The Bachelorette's awkward rose ceremony, Katie Thurston, Clay Harbor and more spoke out in support of Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia.

By Cydney Contreras Jul 26, 2022 4:44 PMTags

Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia knew being co-Bachelorettes would be difficult, but I don't think anyone thought it would be this rough.

The July 25 episode of The Bachelorette saw Gabby and Rachel divide the men between the two of them during the rose ceremony so each Bachelorette couldfocus on their own romantic journeys and eliminate any potential love triangles.

The pair took turns offering roses to the contestants and at first, it appeared to be going well. That is, until Rachel asked Termayne if he'd take her rose. 

It turns out Termayne felt he had a "deeper connection with Gabby," so he declined Rachel's offer. This meant that Rachel lost the opportunity to ask another man if he wanted to pursue a relationship with her. 

But this was only the beginning as she lost two more after Alec and James, a.k.a. Meatball, also rejected her offers. Suffice to say, Rachel was disappointed by the outcome of this new arrangement. As she told Gabby, "This was supposed to be us taking the power back. We literally handed it right back to all of them by doing this."

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Ultimately, Rachel had one less man in her group than Gabby, and she wasn't happy. She tweeted during the show, "not the boys acting like this is a fantasy football draft."

ABC/Craig Sjodin

At this point, with the way the boys are behaving themselves, the only couple Bachelor Nation is rooting for is Rachel and Gabby. As former Bachelorette contestant Clay Harbor tweeted, "My favorite relationship so far is Gabby and Rachel. They are both pulling for each other regardless of the fact they are forced to compete in a way. Loving this friendship. #TheBachelorette"

Former Bachelorette Katie Thurston was just as appalled by the way the episode unfolded, tweeting, "THIS IS SO F--KING RUDE I HATE THIS."

She added in a separate tweet that Gabby, who was totally disrespected by a contestant named Tyler, shouldn't let any of these men make her feel bad about herself. "Gabby—you don't need to be someone's cup of tea when you're a shot of whiskey!" Katie encouraged. "Rough around the edges? Find yourself a man who LOVES your boldness."

ABC/Craig Sjodin

As for the Bachelor Nation fans, well, they're furious. "It's okay for the men to prefer one bachelorette over the other," one Twitter user wrote, "but no need to degrade them and put them down."

"The stupid thing is," another added, "that Rachel and Gabby each should've had their own group of guys to begin with."

As disappointing as this episode was, Gabby previously told E! News they have no regrets about how this season unfolded. "We just both respect each other and love each other so much that we would never, ever want to make the other one feel compromised or like we were competing against each other," she said. "To me, there was no other way. There was no other option."

The Bachelorette airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC.

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