It’s Fantasy Suite week, and our bachelor Zach Shallcross was determined to not make things messy.
Folks, it got messy.
Zach’s intentions heading into the week where physical intimacy is expected — or at least accepted — were honestly coming from a good place. He didn’t want to have sex with any of the three remaining women during the overnight dates, because that would be weird, what with him seemingly proposing to one of them in a week’s time.
Makes sense!
And it seemed to be working well through his first date with Ariel. They visited a market in Thailand, had a private dinner and went to the Fantasy Suite. After waking up all canoodled, it’s revealed they didn’t cross that line, so Zach is still cruising with his plan!
Gabi was the second date of the week, and they spent an afternoon on the beach before she opened up about insecurities in their relationship and the fact that she had been cheated on previously. Another private dinner came before a night alone together, heavy emphasis on the together in that situation.
That’s right. Zach and Gabi got very personal, breaking his one rule for the week. Racked with guilt, he felt the need to confess his sins to host Jesse Palmer.
Imagine having to confess to Jesse Palmer that you broke your self-imposed arbitrary sex rule this is so EMBARRASSING lmao #thebachelor pic.twitter.com/r64R24aJdO
— Bach Rants (@bach_rants) March 21, 2023
That guilt also led him to confess to Kaity, which made for an incredibly awkward date in the jungle for the pair. Kaity would go on to forgive him, deciding to spend the evening with him in the Fantasy Suite (we find out after the rose ceremony that he did not get intimate with Kaity).
All of this was just so unnecessary and messy. Everyone knows that Fantasy Suites happen with three contenders left. Everyone knows that the possibility of intimacy exists.
Instead of keeping things simple, there are now way more emotions and drama. At the Rose Ceremony, Zach sent Ariel home. She was the only one that he either 1. was not intimate with or 2. hadn’t told about his intimacy with one of the other women.
Their chemistry was off the charts, and it’s hard not to wonder if his pick wasn’t influenced. There’s no way Gabi was going home after everything, and Kaity was the first name called. Ariel feels more like a casualty of the situation than a woman we expected to be sent home.
It’s fair to wonder how much of Zach’s decision-making this week stemmed back to his bizarre Fantasy Suite experience with co-Bachelorette Rachel last season, after which Zach removed himself from the competition.
Next week, Gabi and Kaity will meet Zach’s family, and he will allegedly propose to one of them. I can’t imagine it will go smoothly, but we will tune in nonetheless.