Why did Gabby Windey and Erich Schwer break up? 'DWTS' curse continues as another Bachelor Nation couple falls apart
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Gabby Windey and her fiancé, Erich Schwer, have ended their relationship. According to a Bachelor Nation insider, the ICU nurse called off her short engagement with the real estate expert earlier this week.
Gabby Windey and Erich Schwer met on Season 19 of 'The Bachelorette' in 2022 when Gabby was the Bachelorette with Rachel Recchia. Gabby gave Erich her final rose and picked him as her winner in the finale, and the two got engaged. Gabby stated in an interview with People following the finale that she moved from Colorado to Los Angeles to be closer to Erich and that the two had "lots of FaceTimes" and "lots of communication" while keeping their relationship a secret. So, what happened between Gabby and Erich?
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Why did Gabby and Erich break up?
Gabby and Erich called it quits less than two months after the Season 19 conclusion of 'The Bachelorette', according to E! News on November 4, 2022. According to the report, Gabby broke up with Erich because they "weren't on the same page." "She felt they weren’t aligned and weren’t on the same page," the insider explained. "Gabby was hoping they could give each other space and work it out, but ultimately decided they didn’t have a future."
The news comes only days after Gabby was photographed sans her engagement ring while filming Season 31 of 'Dancing With the Stars', when she was partnered with Valentin Chmerkovskiy. The allegations were further aroused when Erich was not seen in the crowd for a 'Dancing With the Stars' filming at the time. Though Erich was not in the crowd, he appeared to confirm that he and Gabby were still together at the moment by posting an Instagram Story encouraging people to vote for Gabby. "Vote Team Gabby!! Ten times PPL. She keeps on crushin it," he wrote.
Gabby addressed the claims in a Fox News interview at the time, implying that her and Erich's "busy" activities at the time were an issue in their relationship. "I think life is just really busy for the both of us right now," she explained. "So, I understand their concern, but we’re just kinda, you know, going forward with each of our individual interests and supporting each other from afar." Reality Steve, at the time of the interview, also stated that he learned Gabby and Erich's relationship was not "long term" the day after they recorded their 'After the Final Rose' special. "None of this should be much of a surprise since I said the day after the ATFR that they weren’t long term, and it’d be sooner rather than later," he wrote on his blog at the time.
Reality Steve also reported on the 'DWTS curse', which afflicted previous Bachelor Nation leads who went on 'Dancing with the Stars' right after their season concluded and then split up. According to Reality Steve, Season 17 Bachelor Sean Lowe and his winner Catherine Giudici were the only Bachelor Nation pair to survive beyond 'Dancing with the Stars'. "To immediately come off the show as an engaged couple, and then all the sudden one of the parties involved is rehearsing 6, 8, 10 hours a day when you’re finally allowed to be a public couple? Yeah, makes sense as to why these couples haven’t made it," Reality Steve wrote on his site. “I’m not saying Gabby should’ve turned DWTS down to focus on her relationship, because it’s too good an opportunity, and certainly she’s thriving in it. I don’t think it would’ve mattered, really. I said it then, and I’ll say it now, her star is on the rise, and she’s insanely more popular in that relationship than Erich and always would be. And that’s a dynamic that is difficult to navigate. We see it in real Hollywood a lot. This is that on much smaller level.”
Following the split news, an eyewitness informed Us Weekly exclusively that the Illinois native was seen out and about in Los Angeles sans her engagement ring. The reality star then uploaded an Instagram Story shot of herself during a 'Dancing With the Stars' rehearsal on Friday, with the diamond obviously absent.