Kaitlyn Bristowe Explains Her Issue With ‘Team Gabby’ and ‘Team Rachel’

Seven years before ABC named Rachel Recchia and Gabby Windey co-leads of season 19 of The Bachelorette, Kaitlyn Bristowe briefly shared the title — and the season 11 star hasn’t been afraid to question the format.

“I had so many thoughts,” Kaitlyn, who shared night one with Britt Nilsson in 2015 before the men voted for the Canadian to be the lead, said on the “People Every Day” podcast in July. “At first I was like, ‘No, please don’t do this again.’ I thought we learned our lesson the first time — nobody liked having two Bachelorettes. The last time it felt like we were pitted against each other. … Watching [the premiere] and I’m just thinking, like, ‘Why are we doing this again?’”

After the women handed out their first rounds of individual roses, their respective suitors were dubbed “Team Rachel” or “Team Gabby,” and after the August 2 episode, Kaitlyn wasn’t sure how to feel.

“How do we feel about this? I love both of these women. I don’t have a team. There shouldn’t be teams,” the “Off the Vine” podcast host wrote via Instagram during the August 1 episode. “There should be connections. I’m asking myself the same thing, why are we branding it this way? I want to believe it’s all worth it if they are happy. I just disagree with the journey to get there.”

She added: “PS I still love this franchise. It’s a weird relationship. Always has been. #TheBachelorette.”

Former Bachelorette contestant Blake Horstmann agreed, writing in the comments section: “The wording is just terrible lol why not say ‘Gabbys guys’ ‘Rachel’s squad’ Idk how this was approved lol.”

The co-leads, however, don’t have an issue with the terminology.

“If people are talking about pitting us against each other, it never came from the inside. Gabby and I never felt like having our boys in two separate parts of the boat pitted us against each other. We always had open communication. We always put each other first,” Rachel told Us Weekly exclusively on August 2. “So as far as what anyone thinks about it being a competition, it’s really coming from them and not us.”

During the same episode, Rachel got visibly emotional during Gabby’s group date as the pilot felt her men weren’t giving her any attention. Gabby, for her part, told Us that having Rachel on her group date only “added” to the situation, noting that fans may be reading into things too much.

“I was really excited that Rachel got to be by me, and it’s still pretty early on in the process of navigating sussing out your feelings for each guy and stuff,” the former cheerleader explained. “I think anyone in Rachel’s position would’ve felt the same way. We’re always on high alert in these really sensitive situations. Also, everyone has seen both of us, you know — I had a really, really tough week last week. It’s OK to feel those things. I think people are like, ‘Oh, we don’t wanna see them cry and this and that,’ which I appreciate, but love is rough and it’s hard and this is honestly just normal. And how it goes to fall in love is, sometimes, you have some heartbreak. It’s not as deep, I feel like, as everyone is making it out to be. We have low moments, but we also have high ones and we’re entitled to the way that we feel.”

The Bachelorette airs on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET. Scroll through for more from Kaitlyn on the season: