Gabi Elnicki is still reeling from watching her overnight date and breakup on season 27 of The Bachelor.
The 25-year-old contestant told Kaitlyn Bristowe on Thursday, April 6, that she doesn’t “hold grudges” or have “resentment” toward Zach Shallcross, but she is still struggling to move past the 26-year-old lead revealing on national television that they had sex in the fantasy suite. (Zach went on to propose to Kaity Biggar.)
“Do I think I’m going to be, like, pals with Zach? No. Am I still angry and hurt? Absolutely,” Gabi said on the “Off the Vine” podcast. “But he is going to hopefully marry one of my close friends and I plan to stay in Kaity’s life. And, you know, for me to hold hate toward him and anger and resentment — I’m hoping I can let that go at some point. But I do think that, at this point, I still feel violated. And I’m still getting over all of it.”
Gabi confronted Zach during the live After the Final Rose special on March 27, and despite the drama, Kaity, 28, subsequently told Us Weekly that the two women will remain friends. Gabi agrees, but she admitted to the season 11 Bachelorette that things are “awkward” at the moment.
“It’s difficult because I only want what’s best for Kaity, but I don’t think that Zach is a bad person. I don’t think that he is a vindictive, mean person. I don’t think he meant to hurt me. I think he just did because he wanted to save his relationship with Kaity — that’s a person he loves and he wants to spend his life with. And so I can’t fault him for that,” Gabi said. “I’m upset and I’m disappointed and I have a lot of emotions, and some of them don’t necessarily have words, but I want the best for her. And so, if he makes her happy and he respects her, and he shows her, you know, love and he protects her, then I’m happy for them.”
Gabi continued: “And if I ever see that not happening, I’ll be like, ‘Kaity, you need to walk away,’ just like I would do with any one of my friends and whoever they’re dating. So I’m trying to separate myself and my experience from judging their relationship from this point forward, and it’s gonna take time.”
When asked whether she’s “over” Zach, who is moving in with Kaity in Austin, Texas, Gabi didn’t have a straight answer.
“I think I thought I was over him. But when you leave the bubble, you are saying goodbye for good, right? You can’t call them, you can’t text them. I’m not hitting him up on Instagram. He’s with, you know, one of my best friends and I knew they were together. And I wouldn’t have wanted to reach out to him anyways,” she told Kaitlyn. “But then watching it back was definitely more difficult because I saw it from all points of view. And I also was like, ‘Wait, what is [this]? What is true? What is not true?’”
Gabi hinted that things may have been changed in the editing room. “Because I knew my truth and it’s like, you know, ‘Is any of this fabricated?’” she continued. “You just have so many questions that come up from watching it back, which, I think, was difficult. But for me, I don’t think I’m over how violated I felt by the end of the show and how hurt I felt. But I’m over Zach. … I don’t know. Maybe I’m not over him and I’m just saying that.”
