Behind Closed Doors
Rachel Lindsay takes the overnight dates in a surprising new direction
Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay takes her fantasy suite dates to a whole new level.
Rachel Lindsay had no doubt she’d find her soul mate on The Bachelorette. “I’m ready to find love,” she excitedly told Jimmy Kimmel before filming began. “A husband!”
But things didn’t go as smoothly as Rachel hoped. By the time the fantasy suite overnight dates roll around, most Bachelorettes have a clear frontrunner. Not Rachel. As much as she liked her final three guys, Eric Bigger, 29, Bryan Abasolo, 37, and Peter Kraus, 31, Rachel hadn’t fallen in love with any of them — and she worried she might be the first Bachelorette to leave the show single. “She only had a few more days to figure out who to accept a proposal from,” says an insider, “and her heart was divided in so many different places.” So Rachel, 32, saw the fantasy suite dates in Spain as her desperate last chance to get to know the guys and make up her mind. “Rachel said, ‘I need to get down to the serious stuff in the fantasy suites,’ ” the insider says. “And that’s exactly what she did.”
THINGS GOT INTENSE
Getting time away from the cameras was crucial to Rachel. The no-nonsense attorney has frequently said that her motto is “keep it 100 and keep it real.” And though Peter, Eric and Bryan all seemed as though they were being honest about their feelings for her, she couldn’t be sure until she got to know them alone.
“She spent the night with all three of them,” reveals the insider, who says Rachel used that time not only for intimacy but for extremely
practical matters — including asking them about their credit scores! “She also asked them, ‘How much do you make?’ says the insider. “She asked about religion, whether they’d move to LA, where she wants to live. She asked whether they wanted kids and how many, and if they wanted to send them to public or private schools.”
A HARD DECISION
In the fairy-tale world of The Bachelorette, grown-up conversations like that are a rarity. But Rachel’s fantasy suite nights weren’t all talk. Though the Texan isn’t one to kiss-and-tell, there
was definitely some sizzle — but also some fizzle. She called one of her dates “amazing,” says the insider, and another “passionate.” Her date with one guy, though, “felt more like a really good friend,” and she opted to send him home. As she moved into her final two dates, an emotional Rachel found herself smitten with both men.
“It was an agonizing decision,” says a source. “In the end, it was one of the toughest decisions a Bachelorette has ever had to make. She decided to go with her heart and hopes she made the right choice.”