Gabi Says Zach Is Changing Story About Sex to 'Protect' Kaity Relationship
As Zach Shallcross and Kaity Biggar continue their post-Bachelor press tour, Gabi Elnicki is starting to speak out about her side of the story — and the fantasy suites.
“It’s gonna become a he-said, she-said thing here and I don’t want to do that. And ultimately, at the end of the day, like, he has a relationship he’s trying to protect,” the 25-year-old runner-up began on the “Click Bait” podcast on Thursday, March 30, before denying Zach’s recollection that Gabi was the one who wanted to keep having sex “between” them. “I’ve seen some of his interviews and if he wants to look at things one way of, like, ‘She asked can we keep things a secret?’ I felt like he asked me that. And I agreed — I was like, ‘Yes, I obviously want to keep this between us.’”
She continued: “Ultimately, at the end of the day, what happened happened, and I thought we were in a place where it was coming from a place of love. And I looked at this as way more than a TV show. And I felt like we had connected on that throughout the season of what’s going to happen after we leave this bubble. … I just felt like we had an agreement, ‘This is going to be between us because this is our relationship.’”
The day after Zach, 26, and Gabi slept together — despite him setting a “no sex” rule for himself — he informed her that he wasn’t comfortable keeping things a secret. What Gabi didn’t realize, however, was that he was going to tell Kaity, 28, what happened.
“When he came to speak to me the next morning, I had no idea who was coming in my hotel room. I was completely blindsided,” Gabi recalled. “He had doubled down on it being a secret that morning before the camera crews came in. I said it on After the Final Rose. I remember I was brushing my teeth, he came up behind me, he kissed me on the back of the head, and he said, ‘This is just between us.’ And I said, ‘Yes, this is just between us.’ It was probably the second [or] third time we had said, ‘This is just between us, it’s our relationship.’ And so when he came into my hotel room, what he said to me was, ‘I don’t want to start a relationship up with secrets.’ And I thought maybe at the time, ‘Maybe, he’s giving me space to be able to speak to my support team about this. He wants me to not feel like I have to keep a secret.’ And it left some room for interpretation because [he had said], ‘Sex of any kind is off the table.’ People can interpret that however they want to. What I was not aware of is the conversation that was being had with Jesse [Palmer] and his interviews where he was using my name speaking — what I think is in detail — about what had happened that caught me very off guard watching it back.”
She added that it wasn’t about Kaity knowing what happened: “I’m OK with her knowing and the people that should have known being made aware of it. But I think that there could have been some discretion used to when speaking about it, which is where I think that that hurts me.”
Zach, for his part, told Us Weekly that he was having “immense guilt” about sleeping with Gabi after setting the intention not to have sex on the show to not overcomplicate things.
“In that moment, I told her, I was like, ‘OK, yes, this can be a secret.’ And the guilt ate at me,” Zach said on Us Weekly’s “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast during a joint interview with his fiancée on Tuesday, March 28. “When things did not go the way I thought they were gonna go, I felt immense guilt, but I also didn’t want to hurt Gabi or freak her out. I [wanted to] just let her know like, ‘Hey, I feel really bad about this because of like, from what I personally did — me going against what I thought I was gonna do.’ And thinking that there’s an engagement right around the corner and I’m holding in a secret, like, I don’t know, that is the scariest thing. That’s not who I am as a man. That’s not what I want to be — to hold secrets and not give the full truth. Obviously, it caused a lot of pain though, and I don’t take away from that.”
While Gabi maintains that Zach knew earlier than he admits that he was going to choose Kaity, the sales exec denied to Us that he wanted to confess about the fantasy suite because he was prioritizing his relationship with Kaity.
“I wasn’t thinking like that [or] much in advance, I’d say, because every moment counts,” Zach said. “And I was very adamant about that — every conversation, every time you have together, you have to live in the moment. And with that, I tried to do my best and compartmentalize every relationship separately because I think that’s the best way. You know, to be able to just look at each relationship and see what was the best for me and then also focus on you and all the other relationships.”
Despite it all, Gabi jokingly told Joe Amabile that she would have “beef” with Kaity if she didn’t score an invite to her wedding to Zach.
“I’m happy for him and Kaity. I truly from the bottom of my heart, like, I want nothing but the best for them. I told Zach [and] I told his family, I said, ‘You’re not getting rid of me because I’m friends with Kaity. So even if it’s not me, I’m going to be around,’” she recalled.
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“My family has been so supportive of me. I think that they are, like, a little bit angry and disappointed,” she said. “Because they asked him to protect me. And that's all my mom's been saying. She was like, ‘I asked him to protect you!’ But they've been nothing but supportive of me and checking in on me every day.” ABC
“We remained good friends,” Gabi said of Kaity, noting she had “no malicious intent” when she made the comment about knowing what happened between Gabi and Zach at the rose ceremony in the March 20 episode. “Honestly, maybe, she was trying to reassure me like, ‘It was only you.’ But at the same time, I don't know what happened in their fantasy suite,” she said. “She didn't know all the parameters. So yeah, you know, that's for them. But only my fantasy suite was put on blast. But we are very close friends. … I don't think she was trying to hurt me or call me out or make me uncomfortable. That was not the case. And honestly, you always know that you're being recorded. But I don't know if either of us thought that us speaking behind our roses was gonna make air.” ABC/Craig Sjodin
Gabi, Kaity and second runner-up Ariel Frenkel have all made it clear that they believe Zach shouldn’t have made an executive decision about not having sex on the show. “[I] was very aware of the fact that there are other relationships here [and] there are other people that he's probably falling in love with as well, who he has a physical connection to,” Gabi said. “And why should they not be able to explore that part of their relationship as well. And ultimately, I knew that and as somebody who has been cheated on before, you know, I didn't get to choose who those girls were, and I didn't get to be aware of that. And so I at least knew these girls are beautiful, smart, funny, intelligent, like, s—t, I would have sex with them if I were, like, a lesbian or guy! They're great girls.” ABC/Craig Sjodin
“I’ve hesitated saying this, but I think it is important to, like, know, like, why did I stay. And I thought about my relationship with Kaity and if I were in her shoes. And it was clear Kaity was the choice. Kaity had been the choice. But if I had left, she could have felt like she was the choice by default,” Gabi explained. “And she was truly the choice. And I never wanted her to feel like, well, ‘Gabi left, so he had to choose me.’ Because no, he was always choosing Kaity. And only reason I would have left is because I knew he was choosing Kaity. But I didn't want her to feel any kind of doubt when he proposed to her and she watched it all back.” ABC/Craig Sjodin
Gabi noted that she got “her point across” at After the Final Rose, and wanted to be “clear” that she didn’t “know the extent of which [he] disclose[d] this information about me.” “I wanted him to know how violating that feels. And, you know, I wish he would have sent me home. I didn't get to say that to him. But I do wish he would have just sent me home when I felt like he knew,” Gabi said, adding that she’s not trying to “accuse” him of misleading her. “For him to say, ‘I didn't know until last night.’ And then for him to say to Kaity, ‘I’ve known.’ It was, like, kind of conflicting views. And to me, you know, I felt like he knew. Maybe he didn't want to admit it … but it was kind of, it was like putting salt in the wound of, like, ‘Yeah, you should have sent me home and you knew I felt like you knew.’ And then for him to be like,’ No, I didn't know.’ And then I watch the next part and it's like, ‘I knew it was you, but I had to keep going but because of the show.’ It’s, like, I'm a person — I am literally a person with feelings and a heart and that, honestly, like, hurt me more watching it back. So that's the only thing I wish I would have said, but I probably should have gotten emotional.” ABC/Christopher Willard
“I think there are parts of myself that still need to heal,” she admitted. “But just because I'm healing and just because there's parts of myself that I don't love — and that I don't completely love yet — doesn't mean I don't deserve love. So, I think I could have done it. but I think it probably would have taken a toll on me emotionally. And I think I probably need more time to heal and figure this all out.” Gabi, who noted she’s “open to dating,” seemingly ruled out going on Bachelor in Paradise. When asked if there were any men in Bachelor Nation who she was interested in, she named Tyler Cameron and Aven Jones. ABC/Craig Sjodin
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