The Bachelorette featured Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia kicking Chris Austin to the curb for offensive and premature talk, denying roses to a total of eight bachelors, and both crushing on Logan Palmer, Mario Vassall, and Johnny DePhillipo during the Season 19 episode that aired Monday night on ABC.
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Rachel and Gabby jointly chose to send Chris, a 30-year-old mentality coach from Redondo Beach, CA, packing at the second cocktail party of the season for talking about how he would quit The Bachelorette during Fantasy Suites if the woman he was interested in slept with another guy first.
And the dual Bachelorettes also chose to eliminate the following men at the first Rose Ceremony of the season: John Anderson , a 26-year-old English teacher from Nashville, TN; Brandan Hall, a 23-year-old bartender from Carlsbad, CA; and Colin Farrill, a 36-year-old sales director from Chicago, IL.
Justin Budfuloski, a 32-year-old physical therapist from Solana Beach, CA, was also eliminated from the Season 19 competition as well as Matt Labagh, a 25-year-old shipping executive from San Diego, CA, and Ryan Mula, a 36-year-old investment director from Boston, MA.
RELATED LINK: GABBY AND RACHEL'S 'THE BACHELORETTE' SEASON 19 BACHELORS -- MEET THE MEN! (PHOTOS)
The Bachelorette episode began with Gabby and Rachel discussing how they had 29 guys left and barely got to talk to half of them. The girls wanted to host a pool party to see the men's six-pack abs, but since it was raining, they decided to have a male beauty pageant comprised of a swimsuit competition, brief interview question, and talent.
Meanwhile, the men had no idea if Gabby and Rachel were going to embark on dates together and if there would be any one-on-ones with each woman. The men were totally in the dark, but they acknowledged how that's what made the experience fun.
For the pageant in the mansion, the bachelors had to model for the ladies in Speedos, and Ryan stuffed his package while other guys oiled up and did pushups and sit-ups.
Whoever performed the best -- showing the most heart, creativity and maybe skin (front and back) -- would be invited to join Gabby and Rachel at an afterparty held at their house.
Logan, a 26-year-old videographer from San Diego, CA, said his ex would describe himself as stubborn, honest and kind, and he did the worm. Rachel noted how Logan was definitely on her radar.
Quincey Williams, a 25-year-old life coach from Miami, FL, apparently ditched the Speedo entirely and just wore suspenders, and Gabby joked about how there was "stiff competition."
Aven Jones, a 28-year-old sales executive from San Diego, CA, spun a basketball on his finger, one suitor did a headstand with his legs wide open, Jacob "Jake" Rapini, a 27-year-old mortgage broker from Scottsdale, AZ, turned himself into a mortgage broke and gave financial advice.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOWAnd James Clarke, a 25-year-old meatball enthusiast from Winnetka, IL, poured pasta sauce all over his body.
Gabby said she loved Johnny, a 25-year-old realtor from Palm Beach Gardens, FL, and Rachel also found him attractive.
Gabby asked Johnny whom he'd prefer to kiss, and he decided to give each woman a little peck instead of answering the question. Chris performed a musical routine with a basketball, asking everyone to clap to help him along. He also sang a song which didn't exactly win the Bachelorettes over.
After the pageant, the men learned who would be accompanying Gabby and Rachel at the afterparty: Aven, Logan, Johnny, Brandan, Colin, and Jason Alabaster, a 30-year-old investment banker from Santa Monica, CA.
Chris announced how Gabby and Rachel didn't need a "test" with certain bachelors, including himself, and already knew how they felt -- and so that's why they invited another group of men on the date. Chris' words raised eyebrows and surprised the other suitors.
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That night, Rachel wanted to find out whom the guys were more compatible with and whom they vibed with more.
Rachel wanted to talk to Jason first, who caught Gabby's eye as well, and he admitted that he felt more of a connection with Gabby. Rachel said she appreciated his honesty but was "a little disappointed."
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"I'm a little bit unsure of where I stand tonight... I'm still trying to find my footing. It definitely wasn't going the way I expected it to... [There] was small talk you could have with your cousin," Rachel said, adding how she wanted the guys to step up their game and have deeper conversations with her.
Logan then called Rachel "brave" for starring on The Bachelorette after having her heart broken on The Bachelor, and the pair kissed. Rachel said he wasn't a bad kisser and Logan had turned the night around for her. She enjoyed their banter and thought he's very cute.
"We'll see! I really like Logan!" Rachel gushed.
But then Logan also complimented Gabby's many layers and kissed her also. Gabby said their conversation was great and he's fun and charming.
"I think I could definitely see myself giving him a rose," Gabby noted.
Rachel and Gabby then talked, and Gabby shared how she and Logan had a nice connection and banter. Rachel then admitted she kissed Logan and really liked him but would back off if Gabby was super interested in him.
"My heart kind of dropped a little bit. I think Logan is exploring both sides, which we asked of the men, but I already felt like I had a really strong connection with him and I was excited to see where things go. So it feels weird... It is a weird place for Rachel and I," Gabby confessed. "Everything is just way harder than I expected."
At the end of the evening, Rachel gave her rose to Logan for making her feel special and making her laugh. And then Gabby offered her rose to Johnny, who had surprised her that night.
"Rachel feels strongly about Logan. I want to give her that space in order to nurture [it]. It's truly not worth stepping on her toes in this scenario," Gabby explained. "Two Bachelorettes is causing some hurdles... and I don't know how we're going to figure it out."
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The next day, The Bachelorette host Jesse Palmer revealed to the men that Gabby and Rachel would each be going on a one-on-one date. Rachel asked out Jordan V.
Rachel said she was concerned no one wanted her the previous night but it ended well, and so her spirits were high.
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The couple got to float around like astronauts, but Jordan was actually terrified and said he's afraid of heights. Rachel had to comfort Jordan and she was shocked by that, but they had a few sweet kisses while suspended in the air.
Meanwhile, Chris confided in a few of the men -- including Logan; Jacob; Zach Shallcross, a 25-year-old tech executive from Anaheim Hills, CA, and Spencer Swies is a 27-year-old venture capitalist from Chicago, IL -- how he planned to go all the way in this process but had some dealbreakers.
"For me it would be a dealbreaker if we got down to the Final 4, which I plan to be in, and we go into Fantasy Suite and we have this sexual experience, and then the person who I'm most interested in decides that she's going to have sex with multiple people and feel it out. That would be the situation where I'm like, 'I'm out. There's no chance,'" Chris said.
Spencer thought Chris talking about Fantasy Suites already was "presumptuous" and "disrespectful" to Gabby and Rachel.
The other guys agreed that Chris was talking about something that comes way down the line, and Zach noted it was "a jerky move" that would probably start a wildfire.
Quincey later confronted Chris about his Fantasy-Suite conversation, and Chris stood by his initial opinion. Chris said he wouldn't be interested in a woman if she just had sex with someone else.
When asked if he'd vocalize his perspective to Gabby and Rachel before Fantasy Suites, Chris said "it would be dependent on the situation" and he wasn't interested in the men's way of going about this process.
Chris said there was guarantee for love if he's in the Final 4, and the guys accused him of playing a game and trying to control the conversation. Logan accused Chris of being intense and having "a condescending tone."
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Nate Mitchell, a 33-year-old electrical engineer from Chicago, IL, added how Chris was coming across "manipulative."
"This could be our Queen. This could be the mother of our children. This could be someone we spend the rest of our lives with. You cannot have pre-conditions to love. It's a form of control a lot of men don't realize they do that damages good women," explained Nate, who has a daughter.
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Jordan V. said he was forced to grow up very quickly and he learned things aren't always going to go as planned. Rachel called Jordan V. "perfect" and loved how he was there for her and being honest, but she realized "something is missing" and the more she was feeling it, the more she was trying to push it down.
Rachel therefore excused herself from the table and told a producer how she felt "really bad" and "confused." Rachel said she wanted to feel confident in Jordan but didn't. She really wanted to like him a lot, but her feelings simply weren't showing up.
"I know it's not him. I feel it in my gut," Rachel told a producer. "It's hard because he's this incredible guy. I don't want to be the one who sends an incredible guy home."
But Rachel did just that by explaining to Jordan V. how something was missing between them and she didn't want to lead him on.
Rachel denied Jordan V. the date's rose, and she walked him out. There was just something Rachel couldn't shake, and Jordan was a good sport about it. Rachel ended the night with a private concert by Ashley Cooke and Brett Young -- but she listened to the music alone.
Rachel said she never expected to be the Bachelorette and so it was hard for her to feel like she really deserved it.
"I don't want to be Rachel the Bachelorette, I just want to be Rachel," she cried.
Before Gabby's first one-on-one date with Nate -- who thought his name would be the last to get called for this date and was overjoyed -- Rachel told her to trust herself and be 100 percent honest.
Gabby and Nate kicked off their date with glasses of champagne in Gabby's house, and Rachel could see the pair had a spark and Gabby looked at him differently from the way she had looked at Jordan. Nate and Gabby wasted no time in sharing a kiss on the balcony, and Nate let her know that he really cared about her.
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Nate called his first kiss with Gabby "magical," and then the pair took off in a helicopter. The couple enjoyed laughs on the plane, and Gabby noted she was "super into" him.
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Nate talked to Gabby about his six-year-old daughter that evening and how she's his world, and he brought the Bachelorette to tears. Gabby said she had never dated anyone like him before, and Gabby -- who is very close with her father but not her mother -- loved the way Nate talked about his mini-me.
"I had to be independent, self-sufficient, and really re-learn what it means to be loved, because I didn't totally get it as a child. So for you to step up and want to give that to your daughter, it's amazing," Gabby said of her childhood.
Gabby wasn't sure if she wants to be a mother and if that's the life she envisions, but she realized she didn't have to decide right away and all she knew in the moment was that she was connecting with Nate and felt much closer to him. Gabby gave Nate a rose as a result, but she had a fear in her heart about becoming a mother.
"He gives me the confidence to not be so scared. Some people have the ability to love greater and maybe feel things more, and I can see him having such a great capacity for love," Gabby said. "It's easy to see my life with him. He really is a true, true man."
The next day, the men had no idea how the first Rose Ceremony of the season was going to work.
And at the beginning of the cocktail party, Rachel worried if the guys even liked her because she felt she was at "square one" with most of them. She began to question if this process was going to work for her this time around.
However, Rachel got attention from Mario, a 31-year-old personal trainer from Naperville, IL, who received Gabby's First Impression Rose. Mario showed Rachel some personal training moves and made her laugh, but she was careful in order to respect Gabby's initial connection with him.
"I do think that I could feel something for Mario. He is very attractive and passionate and he picked me up!" Rachel gushed.
Rachel also played a little basketball game with Tyler Norris is a 25-year-old small business owner from Wildwood, NJ, who kissed her. The guys planned out fun activities and games, and Rachel said she had a blast and finally felt like the Bachelorette.
Gabby was then shown kissing Erich Schwer, a 29-year-old real estate analyst from Bedminster, NJ, while some of the men discussed exposing Chris and his character.
Quincey and Jordan Helman, a 35-year-old software developer from Tampa, FL, decided to break the news to Rachel because he didn't want to feel like he was keeping a secret from his potential future wife.
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Rachel felt "almost sexualized" in a way, and she said to hear that before she even had a conversation with Chris was her biggest fear.
"The fact Chris is already discussing ultimatums and trying to take control of our journey, it's just extremely upsetting," Rachel told the cameras.
Rachel pulled Gabby aside and shared the news, adding how Chris allegedly had no intention to tell them about his Fantasy-Suite ultimatum ahead of time. Gabby felt shocked and thought the early Fantasy-Suite chatter was "ridiculous." Gabby thought it was controlling and disrespectful to her journey and this process.
Gabby and Rachel then pulled Chris aside and asked if it was appropriate to be talking about Fantasy Suites this early. He said it was an appropriate thought because he thinks things through all the way until the end and then works backwards from there.
Rachel expressed how it was an issue Chris would quit the show and not ever tell them about his sex ultimatum ahead of time.
Chris attempted to explain himself, saying he wouldn't want the woman he's interested in to have a sexual relationship with somebody else and then himself.
"In that situation, I wouldn't be interested anymore in continuing the relationship," Chris said. "I'm not taking away anyone else's decision and that's not something I would ever want to do to a female."
Gabby said Chris was thinking way too far in and his calculated thoughts about Fantasy Suites were inappropriate at this time. Gabby also said if Chris had watched their first journey on Clayton's season, he would know a sexual connection is important to them and would respect them as women in a position to make their own decisions.
"It seems if we went against something you believe in, you would take that time to leave," Gabby complained.
Chris said he wanted an opportunity to get to know each woman, but Rachel said he had an opportunity to apologize and instead continued to defend himself and act in a condescending manner. Rachel said he was dancing around the issues.
"It's so early... We don't even know if we have a connection... To not even put you in that place, I do think it's time for you to go," Gabby concluded.
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The women thought Chris bringing up these things so early and trying to control and dictate their journeys was "disgusting," but Chris didn't leave.
Chris returned to the mansion and pulled aside a handful of men to talk and seek answers -- only for Gabby and Rachel to kick him out one more time. This time, Gabby and Rachel demanded that he leave, and Nate had the women's back in pushing Chris out the door.
"What Chris did does not show any of the qualities I want in a partner. The fact he just thought he can do whatever he wants, I don't know if it's because Gabby and I are women, but we told you to leave," Rachel said.
The Chris drama unfortunately took time away from some of the men who had been hoping to talk to the Bachelorettes.
At the first Rose Ceremony of the season, Jesse announced how there would be a big cut that night and the roses being handed out would be coming from both women.
"It means that both Gabby and Rachel want you around," Jesse said.
Logan, Nate and Johnny already had roses and were safe. Anyone who did not receive a rose would be asked to leave.
Ryan admitted he's a one-woman type of guy and wanted to go all-in on Rachel. He said Rachel was every guy's dream and he hoped to receive a rose from her.
Rachel and Gabby proceeded to hand out roses in the following order to: Jason; Aven; Erich; Zach; Jordan H.; Quincey; Michael Vaughan, a 32-year-old pharmaceutical salesman from Long Beach, CA; Tino Franco, a 28-year-old general contractor from Playa Del Rey, CA -- who had received Rachel's First Impression Rose -- Jacob and Tyler.
Termayne Harper, a 28-year-old crypto guy from Naperville, IL, received a rose next, and then he was followed by Hayden Markowitz, a 29-year-old leisure executive from Tampa, FL; James "Meatball;" Kirk Bryant, a 29-year-old college football coach from Lubbock, TX; Spencer; Alec Garza, a 27-year-old wedding photographer from Houston, TX; Ethan Kang, a 27-year-old advertising executive from New York, NY; and Mario.
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
