Getting back out there! Rachel Recchia didn’t get her happy ending on The Bachelorette, but she’s ready to give dating another shot.
The 26-year-old pilot went on a successful date just last week, she revealed during the Tuesday, November 8, episode of the “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast with Michelle Young and Becca Kufrin. The mystery man is not, however, a member of Bachelor Nation — he’s a “random person” who slid into Rachel’s DMs.
The Florida native, who appeared on season 26 of The Bachelor, joked that she initially had trouble adjusting to dating outside the world of the reality franchise. “I don’t know how to date not on a camera,” she quipped. “I’m like, how do you date outside of sitting down and being like, ‘Tell me everything about your life right now in this next five minutes — go!’ … Do I give him a date card? Do I say, ‘Meet me at the coffee shop, XO, Rach?’ What do I do?”
Rachel, who recently moved to Los Angeles, co-led season 19 of The Bachelorette alongside Gabby Windey. She got engaged to Tino Franco during the finale, but he later confessed to cheating on her after his proposal was filmed. The Bachelor alum confronted him about their split at After the Final Rose, which aired in September.
“There is no excuse for what you did. You broke my heart,” Rachel told the general contractor, 28. “I don’t understand, like, you are literally still running in circles. We are up here and nothing is making sense to me still.”
Rachel’s runner-up, Aven Jones, then returned to set and asked if she’d like to “get out of here and just catch up.” The flight instructor told her former suitor that she would “love nothing more.”
In October, Rachel said she was “definitely open” to reconnecting with Aven, 29, but she hinted that she wasn’t quite ready to date at the time. “I just got back to L.A. from everything that happened [on the] show — New York, I was in Vegas,” she explained during an episode of Kaitlyn Bristowe‘s “Off the Vine” podcast. “So, I think we’re both kind of just going to see where it goes — if it goes anywhere.”
One person she’s definitely in touch with is Gabby, 31, who’s currently competing on season 31 of Dancing With the Stars. “She is so busy right now,” Rachel said of her co-lead on Tuesday. “She really is practicing all day every single day. As much as we can talk and exchange texts we do, and I go and support her in person really any chance I can get.”
The ABC personality added that she also plans to be there for her former costar in the aftermath of her recent split from fiancé Erich Schwer. “Whatever support and whatever she needs right now, I’m gonna try to give to her,” Rachel said. “Just because we all know how difficult it is, especially in the public eye.”
Keep scrolling for more revelations from Rachel’s appearance on “Bachelor Happy Hour.”
