A less than rosy choice of words. Hayden Markowitz is speaking out after Bachelor Nation was less than pleased when he suggested Gabby Windey was “rough around the edges” during the Monday, July 25, episode of The Bachelorette.

“What a night, with so many emotions going on I have to say I have an overwhelming amount of respect for Gabby and Rachel. Looking back I can definitely say I may not be the most eloquent with words at times but I aimed my heart in the direction of my intentions,” Hayden, 29, wrote on Monday via Instagram.

During the latest episode, Gabby, 31, got visibly emotional as she struggled to feel like she was good enough to be the co-Bachelorette alongside Rachel Recchia.

“Extremely glad Rachel saw me for who I am inside and allowed me to continue the journey with her,” Hayden added, along with the hashtags: “#idoacceptthisrose,” “#twobachelorettes” and “#findinglove.”

The leisure executive was one of many contestants who expressed to Gabby on Monday’s group date that he wanted to pursue Rachel for the remainder of the journey.

“I looked at today and my own life and what my values line up with and you know, I do have my intentions fully for Rachel. And I think you have the bubbly aspect to you, the goofy aspect and you’re a little bit more — I don’t want to say rough around the edges — but you want people to be very direct with ya’ll so I wanted to make sure that I express that to you,” Hayden said.

Jacob Rapini subsequently told the ICU nurse: “Even if say, you were the only person here, I don’t think I could have the heart to continue.”

Gabby broke down to the cameras as her biggest fear was being “too much for people.”

“Hayden tells me he feels his morals more aligned with Rachel and being called ‘rough around the edges,’ like, definitely hurts,” she said. “When it comes down to it, I want to be rough around the edges ’cause I know who I am on the inside and I’m f—king proud of it.”

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After the tough group outing, Gabby and Rachel, 26, opted to change the format of the season and informed the men that they would be handing out individual roses. The flight instructor was then the one left feeling “rejected” when three men turned down her roses for a chance with Gabby. All three contestants — Termayne Harper, Alec Garza and James Clarke (a.k.a. Meatball) — were eliminated when Gabby didn’t give them a rose. (In a post-credits cliffhanger, however, Meatball returns for a second chance with Rachel.)

While Gabby has nine suitors left in the running, Rachel has eight men looking to be The One.

The Bachelorette airs on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET. Keep scrolling for how Bachelor Nation rallied around Gabby:

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