Spoiler alert! This story contains the result of Zach Shallcross’ season of The Bachelor. Consider yourself warned!
Zach Shallcross threw a curveball into his season of The Bachelor, when he announced that his Fantasy Suite dates with Ariel Frenkel, Gabi Elnicki and Kaity Biggar would include “no sex of any kind.” So much for the so-called “Sex Week.” However, he wasn’t able to follow through on his no-boinking policy, and Shallcross’ revelation that he’d been intimate with Elnicki — and his handling of the situation afterward — dominated the conversation at the March 27 season finale. Shallcross and The Bachelor finalists all spoke candidly about how his edict “made the entire week about sex,” with Shallcross admitting it “bit everyone in the ass.”
The Bachelor Season 27 got its happy ending, with viewers watching Zach Shallcross get down on one knee to propose to Kaity Biggar at the end of a three-hour finale. This moment followed a surprisingly real moment in which Gabi Elnicki revealed she knew she was about to get dumped and multiple conversations about the events that took place during the week of overnight dates (aka Fantasy Suites, aka Sex Week). First, Ariel Frenkel opened the show by addressing Shallcross’ no-sex parameters, eloquently summing up what he had achieved. She told the Bachelor:
I think by putting sex off the table, you made the entire week about sex, and it didn’t need to be like that.
She went on to say that the decision to have sex or not should have been a conversation between him and his partners, not something he alone mandated. Ariel Frenkel continued:
I just want you to also understand that you took away my agency that night, in that conversation. When you come to all the women with a universal opinion on what should happen, we’re no longer a couple, and we’re not talking as a couple or getting to a conclusion as a couple. So you took away my agency, and you took away my ability to even have a conversation. And if you had waited, you would have found out that I was on the same page as you.
Zach Shallcross admitted that Ariel Frenkel was right and apologized. But that conversation took place in the first 20 minutes of the three-hour affair, so you can bet there was more to be said when Gabi Elnicki came face-to-face with the Bachelor for the first time since her elimination.
After watching their breakup air, Gabi Elnicki revealed that she and Shallcross had agreed to keep their hookup “just between us,” and it was “extremely violating” to realize the entire nation was privy to their secret. In fact, she said she didn’t even know he’d told everyone until she watched the episode live, telling Shallcross:
I just thought it was between us. I thought it was love. I thought it was more than a TV show. I get it, sex sells, but now I've become a narrative.
Zach Shallcross’ fiancée Kaity Biggar was, not surprisingly, more focused on moving past that situation, and she acknowledged that there were challenges (and a lot of tears) to overcome. However, she credited their communication as one of the things that has gotten them through, telling People:
That episode didn't go the way that I thought it was going to. But I think at the end of it, we came out stronger and that's the only thing I could have wanted at the end of that situation. So it was a hurdle, we got through it and I'm proud of us for doing that.
The now-engaged Zach Shallcross agreed with those sentiments, and after a long night of apologizing and expressing regret, he admitted that trying to uncomplicate Fantasy Suite week with his no-sex rule blew up in his face. He told People:
Looking back at it all, it's tough to watch. It was the farthest thing from perfect. I was trying to make it as smooth as possible, and in the end it really just bit me in the ass. It bit everyone in the ass. And that's something that I will always remember, but work to get passed [sic]. Those actions don't define who I am.
Now that Zach Shallcross’ story has come to its dramatic conclusion, Bachelor Nation can turn its attention to Charity Lawson, who’s already begun filming on The Bachelorette Season 20. We’ll have to wait a while, though, before we can see if she’s successful in her second chance at love. The Bachelorette will premiere at 9 p.m. ET Monday, June 26, on ABC, but in the meantime, check out our 2023 TV schedule to find other shows premiering soon.
