ABC has explained why Gabby Windey was chosen to compete on Dancing with the Stars this season over her fellow The Bachelorette star Rachel Recchia.

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Gabby and Rachel are the dual stars of The Bachelorette's nineteenth season, which wraps September 20 on ABC, but only Gabby was tapped to put on her dancing shoes and compete on Season 31 of Dancing with the Stars, which just premiered Monday night on Disney+.

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Many fans have been wondering why Dancing with the Stars passed on Rachel and why she and Gabby both weren't selected to join the cast, especially since Season 31 boasts more celebrities than ever before with a total of 16 men and women.

"Gabby is actually on -- and this is the God's honest truth -- she's on because of Rachel," ABC executive Robert Mills, who oversees the network's reality programming, said on a recent episode of SiriusXM's Julia Cunningham's "Bachelorette Recap," according to Entertainment Tonight.

"When we were at CMA Fest in Nashville in June, we were having dinner and Rachel said, 'You have to put Gabby on Dancing with the Stars. This is her dream. She would be so good. Please, please put her on.'"

Mills therefore suggested that the flight instructor actually pushed for Gabby to be on the reality dancing competition, without volunteering herself for the opportunity.

"[Up to that point], we were not thinking about Gabby for Dancing with the Stars at all," Mills admitted.

Mills' revelation may come as a surprise to fans considering Gabby, an ICU nurse, previously danced and cheered as a member of the Denver Broncos cheerleading team.

"For whatever reason, she wasn't really [on our radar]," Mills said. "And then I was like, 'Why didn't we think of Gabby?'"

On Dancing with the Stars' premiere Season 31 episode, Gabby and her professional partner Val Chmerkovskiy tied for third place -- after receiving 28 out of 40 judges' points -- on the night's leaderboard with two other couples.

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Gabby and Val took the stage with a jive routine, and Rachel was noticeably sitting in the audience cheering Gabby on alongside Val's wife and fellow DWTS pro Jenna Johnson, who is currently expecting her first child with Val.

Gabby is now following in the Dancing with the Stars footsteps of many The Bachelor and The Bachelorette stars or contestants before her -- including Melissa Rycroft, Trista Sutter, Jake Pavelka, Sean Lowe, Chris Soules, Nick Viall, Joe Amabile, and Matt James.

Former The Bachelorette stars Kaitlyn Bristowe and Hannah Brown also competed on Dancing with the Stars and won their respective seasons.

Hannah won Season 28 of Dancing with the Stars in 2019 with Alan Bersten after an emotional and tumultuous ride on The Bachelorette's fifteenth season.

"With Hannah Brown, we were sort of like, 'We have to put her on.' It just felt like a natural [fit]," Mills explained.

Kaitlyn starred on The Bachelorette's eleventh season and then won Dancing with the Stars' 29th season in 2020 with pro partner Artem Chigvintsev.

"Kaitlyn, when we put her on, that was actually because Kaitlyn released a song called 'If I'm Being Honest'... I'm like, 'You know, you forget, Kaitlyn's a good entertainer. Let's put her on Dancing with the Stars.' So that's why we put her," Mills shared.

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Matt, who starred on The Bachelor's 25th season and was the first Black Bachelor ever, apparently slipped producers' minds at first, similar to the Gabby's casting situation.

"Matt, the last year, was one of those ones that's like, 'How did we not think of Matt? He's so good looking. He'll be fine. He'll be great,'" Mills recalled.

Matt ended up finishing in twelfth place on Dancing with the Stars' 30th season with his pro partner Lindsay Arnold.

The Bachelorette finale airs Tuesday night with a three-hour episode on ABC, and Gabby and Rachel each have one man left.

Gabby gushed about being in love with Erich Schwer, and Rachel said she's in love with Tino Franco.

Fans are hoping Gabby and Rachel get engaged and live happily ever after, but previews suggest there is major drama to come and even a big controversy involving Tino.

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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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