Telling his side. Former Bachelorette contestant Tino Franco gave his first interview since splitting from fiancée Rachel Recchia during an appearance on Nick Viall’s “The Viall Files” podcast on Thursday, October 20.
Tino, 28, and Rachel, 26, met during season 19 of The Bachelorette. He remained a frontrunner all season, and they eventually got engaged during the finale after she ended things with her other top contestants, Tyler Norris and Aven Jones.
Their bliss was short-lived as viewers saw the leading lady break things off with Tino during a “happy couple weekend” post-season after he admitted to cheating on her. Since their highly publicized split, Rachel told her version of events during an appearance on the “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast with Bachelor Nation hosts Becca Kufrin and Michelle Young.
“He has his own story and he has the right to tell that, but Gabby, my family, and my friends know that there was never a point where we were broken up,” the pilot began in response to speculation that she and Tino were on a break when he kissed another woman. “There was never a point where our engagement was called off. Did we have conversations about focusing on dating and really get to the core of this? Yes.”
Rachel acknowledged that Tino must’ve had “confusion” about her wanting to focus more on getting to know each other versus their engagement, and she noted that they were “struggling” as a couple.
“I don’t think there’s an excuse. I’m not making excuses, but I never said I was giving the ring back. I never said our engagement was called off. He was just upset that we were in a bad place,” she continued. “Instead of sitting there and doing the work like I did, he ran straight to someone that he was somewhat seeing before the show. That’s where the struggle is.”
In addition to Tino keeping his infidelity a secret from her for “weeks,” he raised a red flag with Rachel when his account of what happened kept changing.
“Every single time he told his story, something changed, a detail would change. First it was a kiss at a party, then it was a kiss in an Uber to her house where his car was parked, so where is the story connecting?” she said. “When you’re lying, you can’t get your story straight.”
Now that you’ve read Rachel’s side, keep scrolling to see what Tino said on “The Viall Files” podcast.
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