March 29, 2023 • bachelor insider
Ariel Frenkel Discusses What Happened Behind the Scenes During Her Fantasy Suite Date with Zach
Spilling the tea.
Bachelor Nation fans saw Ariel Frenkel look for love with Zach Shallcross on Season 27 of “The Bachelor,” and this week, the two reunited on “After the Final Rose” for the first time since their breakup in Thailand.
Zach sent Ariel home after their Fantasy Suite date, and now, she’s stopping by the “Viall Files” podcast to open up about their night together and what fans didn’t see.
Ariel shared that she and Zach spent the night talking and getting to know each other on a deeper level.
She told Nick, “We had so many laughs, and it was really nice to talk to someone about the entire experience. Because there’s so many moments — you have 30 minutes to talk to someone, you have to tell them about who you are as a person, your entire life. So I feel like I really wanted to, for once, not have to say everything about myself in a short period, but actually talk about the experience, how he was feeling, what’s going on with him what this whole, like, crazy process feels like off camera.”
Ariel went on, adding, “Obviously, we had the most authentic conversations on camera, but when you’re off camera, it just feels more lighthearted. You can kind of breathe in a way. Even if you’re always authentically being yourself, it’s nice to talk about how weird everything is and address kind of how strange this process is to get to know someone. We talked through the whole night. We fell asleep, probably, in the last 10 minutes.”
And while they had a great night together getting to know each other on a deeper level, Ariel shared why she was put off by Zach making the night about sex before they were even in the Fantasy Suite.
She said, “I had the same intentions as Zach that week. I personally was not ready for intimacy in that setting. And I felt like, if I’m in an open relationship, and I know the other person could be with someone else the next night — they’re entitled to do that, in my opinion. It’s not for me to say yes or no — but I’m personally not going to do that in my own, like, experiences.”
Ariel continued, saying, “So I really didn’t like that he started the entire date off that way. And he started the whole night off, like, predicated on sex versus us having a private conversation, being off camera, enjoying that time seeing even what happened. I don’t like when you set a standard for how a night should go or date should go.”
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The Bachelor Nation star also shared why she was disappointed that Zach didn’t privately share with her what happened between him and Gabi before she was sent home.
Ariel said, “Although he might have known he was sending me home — I’m not going to speculate when that was or when he made that decision — but regardless of me potentially going home and that relationship ending, it doesn’t mean you don’t show that relationship respect with honesty. So even if you know something’s closing and a chapter is ending, it doesn’t mean you should change the way you’re acting in that dynamic. So I was still owed an honest conversation.”
Overall, Ariel told Nick that she still has a lot of really positive things to say about Zach and is grateful for their time together.
She also continues to wish him and Kaity the best and hopes they are both really happy. To hear more of Ariel’s conversation with Nick, check out the full video below.