The March 20 episode of The Bachelor featured Zach Shallcross and his remaining three women — Ariel Frenkel, Gabi Elnicki and Kaity Biggar — jetting off to Thailand for fantasy suites week. Going into the week, Zach declared that he didn’t want to have sex with any of the women during his overnight dates. He felt that it was more important to use that time to have the important conversations that he wasn’t having with the women on-camera.
Ariel was the first woman to have her date. She was caught off-guard by Zach telling her he didn’t want to sleep with her, as she felt that intimacy was an important part of the relationship. Both Zach and Ariel admitted that their physical connection was off the charts, and even though they spent the night together, Zach revealed that he stuck to his guns when it came to the “no sex” rule. Gabi was next to have her one-on-one date, and she was a bit in her head going into the afternoon with Zach.
During the daytime portion of the date, Gabi got emotional and opened up to Zach about feeling like she was a “second choice” in her past relationship. She said that having the second fantasy suite date of the week began to bring those feelings back up again. Zach assured Gabi about his feelings for her and said he understood how difficult of a process this was. They decided to spend the night together in the fantasy suite, and this time, Zach couldn’t hold back when it came to the physical part of the night. The next morning, he admitted to Jesse Palmer that he had slept with Gabi.
Zach insisted he had “zero regrets” about the “beautiful moment” he shared with Gabi, but said that he wanted to be honest with everyone about it to have no secrets. Before going on his date with Kaity, Zach paid Gabi a visit to let her know that he was going to be open about their intimate night together. Gabi was admittedly “blindsided” by Zach’s decision to share this private moment with other people. “I do feel like my trust was broken,” she said. “I felt like it was between us and now it’s between us and everyone else.”
However, Zach assured Gabi that the fact that he was “in [his] head” about the situation didn’t change how he was feeling about her. He even told her that he was “falling in love” with her, making her the first woman who Zach expressed this to. “I can see a future with you,” Zach told Gabi. “You’re f****** special and I’m falling in love with you. You’re someone who would be awesome to go through life with, too.”
Zach still wanted to be fully transparent with Kaity, too, though. During the daytime portion of the date, Zach told Kaity that he was intimate with another one of the women despite going into the week with different parameters set. Obviously, she wasn’t happy to hear this information. “I figured this was a piece [of it] and I get that you wanted to tell me and I know you’re saying it because you respect me, but I could’ve went without hearing that,” Kaity admitted. “You don’t need to apologize, I get it, it’s part of this journey. I knew that coming into this that this was something that was going to happen. It’s just s***** to hear it confirmed, to be honest.”
There was a looming sense of awkwardness between Kaity and Zach afterward, as she needed time to process the situation. “I just feel very distant from you right now, to be honest,” Kaity shared. Zach assured Kaity that he could “really see it being us at the end of this,” but she still was “not happy” with how their date was going. Kaity was in tears as they parted ways and admitted to producers that she wasn’t even sure she wanted to go into the nighttime portion of the date with the way she was feeling.
In the end, Kaity wound up meeting Zach for dinner, even though she was “not in a good headspace.” Zach reassured Kaity that he was only so honest with her because he didn’t want any secrets going into a potential engagement. Kaity acknowledged that any relationship will have highs and lows, but said that she knew she and Zach could get through it. “It is all worth it sitting here next to you,” she told him. “All smiles from here.” Kaity and Zach agreed to spend the night in the fantasy suite, as well.
At the next rose ceremony, Zach eliminated Ariel, leaving Gabi and Kaity as his final two women. Kaity admitted that there were still a few steps she needed to take with Zach before she would be confident enough to have a ring on her finger. Gabi also said she thought she’d be “a lot happier” as one of the final two. “I feel like I’m wearing a big A on my chest. It’s a very uncomfortable feeling and he’s only making eye contact with Kaity when I feel like I’ve just been put through the ringer here. I have questions that I need answered before I can move forward with an engagement.” The journey concludes on March 27.