EXCLUSIVE: The Bachelor’s Rachael: ‘Alex is playing a game’

She made it to the home visits, but sadly she wasn't set to stay.

The look of shock in Rachael Gouvignon last night’s episode of The Bachelor said it all. For those thinking that the brunette beauty was treating the whole thing as 'just a competition', they couldn’t have been further than the truth.

In an exclusive chat with Be, Rachael admits she’s still trying to figure out why Richie Strahan sent her home.

“I just got back from my hometown date and we had such a great time. Our relationship was going really well. I didn’t see any negatives along our journey. I was shocked he sent me home,” she says. “Once I walked away, that was it. I had to figure out for myself, why he chose to send me home.

“I would love to ask him 'why?' It would be interesting to see if his thinking was the same as mine.”

Both Nikki Gogan and Alex Nation dropped the L-bomb on their home visits, and we asked Rachael, 31, whether or not she thought that had helped sway Richie’s thinking.

“I didn’t want to force something I didn’t feel. I could see myself falling in love. As far as actually being in love, that didn’t happen for me. I wouldn’t just be saying something like that to be getting ahead in a competition,” she says. “For me it’s quite serious. It’s a life long partner.

“I know Alex has said it... but it’s not a game, it is real life. I wouldn’t want to mislead Richie in any way shape or form.”

And when asked whether she butted heads with Alex on the show, Rachael says she was surprised Alex had told Nikki that she had told her to “just go home.”

For those of you who missed it, here’s a quick recap of what went down:

“Rach did come to me and say, ‘You know, you're a single mum. What's the point in you being here when Nikki is already the chosen winner?’ She was very open in saying that she thought that Richie had chosen and that you were his person, and she pretty much told me to go home,” Alex told Nikki on the episode, that was aired a few weeks ago, before bursting into tears.

However, Rachael insists that never happened!

“The night Nikki got pulled away for her one-on-one chat with Richie, I think that was the night all of us girls sat around after the rose ceremony,” Rachael tells us.

“It became apparent he had already made a decision with whom he would end up with. But it didn’t just come from my mouth. It came from a lot of the other girls.

“It was a general discussion. As far as Alex saying that that I said he would never pick her because she’s got a child - I would never say something like that! I never had that discussion with Alex. I’m not a villain.”

RELATED: The Bachelor: Insider says Alex is ‘the biggest b---- in the house’
RELATED: The Bachelor: Two ladies drop the L-bomb on Richie
RELATED: Keira Maguire’s shocking Bachelorette announcement!

Meanwhile, when we asked Rachael what she thought of controversial Keira Maguire becoming the next Bachelorette, she replied: “Not before I do!”

“I think you’d need to be a strong man to date Keira; she’s a powerful woman.”

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