Rachel Recchia sent Tyler Norris home during his hometown date on the Aug. 22 episode of The Bachelorette. Rachel went on the daytime portion of her date with Tyler, but decided to eliminate him before meeting his family. Going into the date, Rachel was admittedly further behind with Tyler than her other three men — Aven Jones, Zach Shallcross and Tino Franco. Of the four men, Tyler was the only one Rachel hadn’t gone on a one-on-one with.
For their hometown date, Tyler took Rachel to the boardwalk in Wildwood, New Jersey. “I’m in my hometown with the most amazing woman in the place I grew up,” Tyler gushed. “To me, Rachel is the one. This could be my future wife. I am falling ofr her like crazy.”
During the date, Rachel got to meet some of Tyler’s friends, and it began to overwhelm her. At this point, she had already been on a hometown date with Zach, and she felt much more comfortable with where she was at in that situation. While Tyler had an amazing day with Rachel, she began to second guess things.
“It was great meeting his friends and seeing them but I’m feeling more apprehensive about everything because there’s something bigger happening tonight,” Rachel admitted. “Meeting family and friends is so overwhelming. I definitely feel like we have a strong connection, but I feel like my last hometown had a different feeling going into the night than I feel today. I realize my relationship with him is a little farther behind than what I would’ve liked to feel at this point.”
After the daytime portion of the date, Rachel took a moment to herself, and admitted to producers that her relationships with the other remaining men were stronger than what she had with Tyler. “I feel like a horrible person,” Rachel said. “It just isn’t enough time. I don’t feel like I’m ready. I just feel so bad. He’s such a good guy.”
Eventually, Rachel had to tell Tyler the truth, too. Before she could get the words out, though, he confessed that he was in love with her, which brought Rachel to tears. “Right now I think I’m just struggling because I just feel like tonight we’re bringing other people into this and I want you to know that I’ve never met anyone like you who just loves so much and isn’t afraid of being hurt,” Rachel explained. “I feel like we had the most incredible day but I’m still not feeling 100 percent confident. And I don’t know if I’m ready to meet you family. When I have this bit of reservation and I don’t know where it’s coming from…I just feel like there’s something missing. I don’t know if it’s time or what, but I just don’t know if I’m going to be able to get there with you.”
Rachel was in tears as she broke Tyler’s heart, but he was very understanding. He told Rachel that he understood and was glad that she respected him enough not to meet his family if she was having reservations. Rachel was heartbroken over breaking Tyler’s heart. In the end, he went home to his family and had to explain to them that he and Rachel had broken up.