November 21, 2023 • bachelor insider
Rachel Recchia Discusses Second Chance with Jordan V. and Her Connections with Brayden & Tanner
Getting candid.
Bachelor Nation fans are watching former Bachelorette Rachel Recchia look for love again on the beaches of “Bachelor in Paradise.”
Now, she stopped by for an honest conversation with Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt on the “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast about her time in “Paradise.”
Joe and Serena asked Rachel about her connection with Jordan V. and the moment she accepted a date with him despite receiving a rose from Tanner the night before.
Rachel said, “When Jordan came down, I was really excited to see him and really excited for this possibility to have another date with him and see if something could be there. I also remember thinking, should I pull Tanner and ask him if I could go on this date? I didn’t want to ask him and have him say that we’re just friends, so now, looking back, I absolutely should’ve been like, ‘Are we friends and what do you think?’”
She went on, sharing, “But at the time, I didn’t want to be embarrassed and have Tanner be like, ‘Why are you pulling me?’ It was a very weird week. And I don’t think I was treated any differently because I was a former Bachelorette. I was always treated as part of the cast. I don’t think there was ever a hierarchy on the beach.”
Rachel then explained more about how she and Jordan have stayed in touch since her season.
She said, “I was just really excited because I’ve had a really good friendship with both Jordan and Tyler since the show. They have been consistently in my life since our season. Jordan and I’s first date on ‘The Bachelorette’ was this perfect storm of the worst case scenario of everyone not feeling great. it was my first date and his first date and I always look back on it and wonder what if. So regardless of where everyone’s feelings were, it was amazing to truly get our first date that I think we should have always had. It was really nice to be able to do that.”
Joe and Serena revealed that they didn’t feel like the date seemed too different than the one she and Jordan had on Rachel’s season of “The Bachelorette.”
The couple said they didn’t feel like Rachel was as into him as she was some of her other connections.
Rachel replied, “People had just watched me go on this date with Brayden and even watching it back going on so many dates, with Brayden there was chemistry flying off the screen. It was very intense.
“Me and Jordan have more of a sweet, different kind of relationship. I think coming off seeing Brayden, it can totally appear that way, but connection-wise, we’ve always had something there. I had an incredible time on the date. However, I feel like I took an experience away from Jordan in a way by sending him home so early on my season and I didn’t want to take ‘Paradise’ away from him as well.”
Rachel continued, “We had a long conversation about him really exploring and if it’s meant to be that we come back to each other, we will. At this point, I had told him that Tanner was a friend thing, but I really wanted Jordan to have the full experience. Maybe that was me trying to allow him to do that as well.”
And when it comes to which connection was the strongest, Rachel remained tight-lipped and said we will have to wait for the Rose Ceremony to see who she picks.
However, she did say, “In that moment, it was really hard to say which connection was strongest because Tanner just came out of nowhere in my mind. The romantic part of our connection came out of nowhere and I really wanted to explore what could be with him while Jordan was going to explore as well. It’s hard to say!”
Make sure to tune in to “Bachelor in Paradise” next week to see how it all unfolds and check out Rachel’s full conversation with Joe and Serena below.