Mixed feelings! Andi Dorfman isn’t totally on board with The Bachelorette naming both Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia as season 19’s leads.
“I want to be supportive because it’s a franchise that literally put me here right now, so I always feel a bit of support, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t bummed that it’s two women,” the 35-year-old reality star told Entertainment Tonight on Monday, June 13. “I’d like to see two men go at it. I don’t know. It gives me a little sexist vibe there that I don’t really love.”
The former attorney joined Bachelor Nation on season 18 of The Bachelor before helming season 10 of The Bachelorette in 2014. While she ended up with Josh Murray at the end of her season, the duo called it quits in January 2015. Dorfman has since moved on with Blaine Hart, whom she got engaged to in March.
“I know all these Bachelorette leads and what it takes to be onscreen and to hold your own on a show, and production and castmates. I have a lot of respect for those people,” she said on Monday. “So I think I will show my support in that way.”
The It’s Not Okay author added: “I don’t really love the fact that two women have to share the screen. I think we’ve progressed a little further. It’s 2022. … I want each girl to have it for themselves. It is such an incredible thing.”
Bachelor Nation met Windey, 31, and Recchia, 26, earlier this year as they vied for Clayton Echard’s heart on season 26 of The Bachelor. After Echard, 29, chose to give his relationship with Susie Evans another shot, ABC announced during March’s After the Final Rose special that the ICU nurse and the pilot were chosen to helm the next season of the spinoff series.
At the time, the women revealed they were happy to have a wing woman by their side as they each looked for The One. “It’s crazy. This is insane and I’m excited to do this journey with you,” Recchia told Windey on March 15. “We did it once together and we’ve been through the [craziest] experience together.”
Nick Viall, who competed on multiple seasons of The Bachelorette before becoming the lead himself in 2017, exclusively told Us Weekly in March that he “can’t wait” to see the two ladies run the show for an entire season.
“Don’t know how that’s going to go, but I’m sure it will be wild,” the “Viall Files” podcast host said at the time, noting he hopes the network doesn’t try to “pit them against each other,” because that would not be a “good look for anyone” at this point.
He added: “I hope and expect to see a lot of camaraderie and … a sisterhood between the two [women]. I’m sure there’ll be drama and there will be ways to kind of elicit that, but I’m optimistic that it won’t be in any way Gabby versus Rachel. That’s my hope.”
Season 19 of The Bachelorette premieres on ABC on Monday, July 11 at 8 p.m. ET.
