Gabby Windey and Erich Schwer Get Engaged in ‘Bachelorette’ Finale: ‘You Fought For Me So Hard’
Gabby #Gabby
Warning: This post contains spoilers from Tuesday’s finale of The Bachelorette.
Tuesday’s finale picked up with Gabby Windey trying to figure out if her last remaining suitor Erich wanted to get engaged after saying he wanted to date when they left the show
“I want to be with someone who wants to be with me,” Gabby, 31, said in an on-camera interview.
When she spoke with Erich, he told her, “If we were to end right now I would be f—ing destroyed.”
Erich, 29, added that the though what he and Gabby “is genuinely real, which I never f—ing expected.”
The real estate analyst decided he wanted to try a relationship with Gabby outside of the show.
“We came together and just realized how much we love each other and that’s what matters most to me,” Gabby said in an on-camera interview.
She left their final date feeling reassured.
Craig Sjodin/ABC via Getty PROPOSAL DAY
Gabby entered proposal day wanting an engagement from Erich, but didn’t know if Erich would get down on one knee.
But when she got in front of him, Gabby laid out all of her feelings.
“You’ve loved me before I knew how to love me,” she said. “You fought for me so hard.”
Gabby told Erich he meant the world to her.
“I thought that you were too good to be true, but now I know that you are too good, but you’re also true,” she continued. “I love you and I want to love you as long as you let me. And I’m sure for much longer after that.”
They kissed, and Erich professed his love for Gabby.
“You deserve somebody that’s going to give you 100 percent,” Erich said, adding, “the reason why I’m standing in front of you because I want to be that person for you.”
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Erich called it fate that he and Gabby met on The Bachelorette. “I was scared to meet you the first time. I was really nervous,” he recalled. “Then we had our two or three like little chats and I was like, ‘What is this?’ Our connection was insane. Ultimately, what I think about the most is that when I met you I like immediately was 100 percent myself. I never met anyone that I felt that comfortable with.”
He continued, “I love you, Gabby Windey. You are amazing. You are the most amazing person I’ve ever met. It’s you, me until the wheels fall off. I’m head over heels in love with you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I love you, Gabby. Will you marry me?”
Gabby said yes to Erich, who had gotten down on one knee to present a Neil Lane diamond ring to her.
“Oh my God, it’s so pretty!” she gushed.
Gabby gave Erich her final rose and he accepted.
“I do have one final question to ask you,” Erich said, “Can I have your number?”
Then Erich drove the two of them off on a motorcycle.
ERICH ADDRESSES HIS MISSTEPS
Live in the studio, Gabby admitted that she and Erich did hit some rough patches after leaving the show.
“We’re not done learning about each other,” she said.
Host Jesse Palmer asked Erich about leaked text messages that showed Erich breaking up with another woman to go on The Bachelorette. He also claimed to only be going on the show for career advancement.
“I handled it poorly,” Erich admitted. “I led her on and I want to own that. I have no hard feelings towards this girl at all.”
Erich said he “took the easy way out” by dumping her to come on The Bachelorette because he “didn’t want a hard conversation.”
From there, Jesse pulled up some of the text messages from Erich’s ex in which he called the show fake.
“I was taking the cowardly way out,” Erich reiterated. “I fully led this girl on and I was using the show as an excuse to not confront her about our relationship at this point where I didn’t see a future, but we were having fun.”
Erich said he came into the show not expecting anything, but that all changed when he met Gabby. “It is kind of crazy thing to watch this progress,” he said.
Now, “I love this girl with all my heart,” Erich continued. “It’s 100 percent real.”
Gabby confirmed she forgave Erich because he came clean about the situation.
“Our communication has just gotten better,” she said. “And he’s gracious and he’s honest and I do believe what he says. So not saying that you were right in your actions — I mean, you were kind of an asshole to her.”
But they committed to one another, and Gabby planned to honor that commitment. “When you say ‘yes’ to spending the rest of your life with someone, it’s not going to be easy,” she said, “especially in the public eye.”
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The Bachelorette season 19 finale is airing live on ABC.