The Bachelorette alum Gabby Windey has confirmed if her dinner out with Alan Bersten was a real date and if they’re currently dating now.
Gabby and Alan went on a dinner date in Beverly Hills on March 15, and sources told People at the time that they seemed “very into” each other and Alan “was so excited to take” the single Season 19 The Bachelorette star out.
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But according to Gabby, there’s nothing romantic going on with Alan — and there never was.
“We’re just friends,” Gabby said during the April 25 episode of the “Off the Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe” podcast.
Gabby, who got to know Alan when she competed on Dancing with the Stars 31 last year, said her night out with Alan wasn’t a real date.
“We were literally fresh off the [Dancing with the Stars] tour. I was in L.A. apartment hunting and he was like, ‘Do you want to get dinner?’ And I was like, ‘F-ck yeah. F-ck yeah, dude!'” Gabby shared.
Kaitlyn — who starred on The Bachelorette’s eleventh season and also won Dancing with the Stars’ 29th edition — joked about how Alan is annoying. She even called him “the most lovable turd.”
Gabby admitted she feels “such little-brother [energy]” with Alan, adding, “I just love to watch him, though, so I’m not annoyed. I’m like, ‘Oh, you’re funny!'”
Kaitlyn went on to say that Alan has “the most flirtatious energy” she’s ever seen in a person.
“People might not know that, but he is very flirty and touchy and lovey. So are most dancers,” Kaitlyn said.
“It’s a dancer thing,” Gabby agreed.
Kaitlyn continued, “So when people see that, they’re like, ‘Oh, they must be on a date.’ And I’m like, ‘I was just having lunch with Alan too. Where’s my rumor?! Nobody’s taking photos of me!'”
After Gabby and Alan went to dinner together, the source told People of the pair, “He wants to find love and so does she.”
“He asked her out. This is their first date,” the source noted. “They haven’t been out at all. He was so excited to take Gabby out.”
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Alan and Gabby developed a friendship on Dancing with the Stars’ 31st season when Gabby competed with pro partner Val Chmerkovskiy and Alan was partnered with Jessie James Decker. (Gabby and Val finished the season in second place, while Alan and Jessie placed tenth).
However, Alan also served as Gabby’s substitute pro partner when Val tested positive for coronavirus during the Dancing with the Stars season’s “Halloween Week” round, resulting in the pair spending significant time together while Val was sidelined.
They each then joined the Dancing with the Stars LIVE cross-country tour, which wrapped in mid-March after 60-plus shows in three months.
“They grew really close while Gabby was on DWTS and they remained close. The hope for both of them is that something blossoms from this,” the People source said last month.
“The hope for both of them is that something blossoms from this.”
An eyewitness at the restaurant told the magazine that Gabby and Alan sat outside at a private table and ordered champagne shortly after they were seated.
They were both “constantly smiling and giggling” throughout the evening, according to the eyewitness.
The eyewitness said the couple looked “so cute together and seemed to give off the vibe nobody else was in the room.”
“They were very engaged in each other’s conversation,” the onlooker shared. “They ate fried zucchini chips and Gabby took photos of their food as Alan looked at her and smiled. They seemed very into one another.”
The eyewitness also claimed Alan “often leaned in close to Gabby.”
Instead of progressing things with Alan, Gabby said she’s actually still talking to her Dancing with the Stars 31 competitor, Jersey Shore star Vinny Guadagnino.
Gabby confirmed that she thinks Vinny is “hot” and he likes her, but she said dating would be difficult since she lives in Los Angeles and he lives in New York.
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Gabby and Vinny reunited on Dancing with the Stars’ 2023 tour in January following more than a month of flirty social-media banter, which began in November and sparked speculation the two reality TV stars were romantically interested in each other.
Gabby — who had repeatedly voiced to the press that Vinny was her “crush” and she’d “of course” go on a date with him if he formally asked her out — took to Instagram in late January and posted a slideshow photos of her friends and Vinny.
Jessie James commented on the post, “Dancing with your honey @vinnyguadagnino. Can’t wait to double date in Nash.”
Since Jessie was suggesting a double date with her husband Eric Decker, many fans interpreted the comment to mean Gabby and Vinny had officially begun dating.
But Vinny clarified to Us Weekly in late January that he and Gabby were not an item.
“It takes a lot more for me than just, like, a couple Instagram comments to be dating someone,” Vinny explained.
“But I would go on a double date with her and Jessie and her husband. I would actually go to dinner with Gabby. It’s just that we just met, you know what I mean? It’s not like anything serious.”
Vinny, however, gushed about how he has “great chemistry” with the former ICU nurse and NFL cheerleader.
“We’re both, like, comedians. So, that’s why we get along and that’s also why we flirt so much on Instagram because we have that same banter with each other,” Vinny shared.
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Before all the Alan and Vinny gossip, Gabby had her heart broken by Clayton Echard on The Bachelor’s 26th season. She then starred on The Bachelorette alongside Rachel Recchia and got engaged to Erich Schwer on the Season 19 finale, which aired in September 2022.
But Gabby and Erich called off their engagement, in an alleged amicable manner, less than two months later.
News of Gabby and Erich’s split surfaced on November 4, and then Gabby revealed on Dancing with the Stars later that month how she and her former fiance weren’t “in sync” or “the best match” for each other.
Gabby told the magazine that she and Erich weren’t compatible once they started their lives together in the real world after being in The Bachelorette bubble.
Gabby said her stint on Dancing with the Stars was therapeutic for her as she dealt with and tried to move on from her split from Erich.
Erich, who said his mental health struggled during and after The Bachelorette, announced in mid-February he’s in a new relationship with model and social media influencer Elizabeth Turner.
Although there are no pictures of Elizabeth on Erich’s Instagram account, her account features Erich often and shows they’re still going strong.
For Alan’s part, he was last publicly linked to his Season 27 Dancing with the Stars partner, model and social media influencer Alexis Ren, whom he began dating in Fall 2018.
The pair, however, appeared to split by the end of that year.
“She is a beautiful person, in and out, but, that didn’t end up so well,” Alan told Jana Kramer during an April 2019 episode of her “Whine Down” podcast.
“We met on the show, and you know, that is her whole career… she is a social media influencer. How could I tell her whether she should post something or not? You know, that’s not my duty as a boyfriend. I personally am a super private person.”
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Alan swore off showmances at the time, claiming he was “done” with dating his Dancing with the Stars partners in a 2019 interview with Us.
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About The Author:
Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.