There was an emotional touch to ABC‘s The Bachelorette on Monday, August 22, as the episode was dedicated to Allan Schwer, the late father of contestant Erich Schwer.
The highly-anticipated hometown dates episode introduced viewers to Erich’s dad as he met Season 19 co-Bachelorette Gabby Windey for the first time. Prior to the visit to Bedminster, New Jersey, Erich told Windey that his father had been diagnosed with cancer years earlier and “was legitimately supposed to die like three times.”
Allan was fit enough to make it to the hometown date, where he revealed he had been in the ICU with appendiceal cancer for about 40 days before the hopeful couple showed up in New Jersey. “But I’m still here. I’m happy. I’m positive, so that’s good,” Allan said before sharing his respect for Windey, who is an ICU nurse. “I really admire the ICU nurses. They’re so sharp.”
During the episode, he told Windey about his latest CT scan, which revealed that his cancer had returned. “I already went through three rounds of chemo,” he explained. “The first two did nothing. And the third one almost killed me.”
“He’s struggling for sure to be there to meet Gabby and for it to be like a family thing,” Erich said of his father on Monday’s episode. “I have to show my dad how much she means to me because it’s really important.”
Sadly, Allan did not get to see his son’s season of The Bachelorette on television, as he passed away on Wednesday, July 6, just five days before the nineteenth season premiered on ABC. He was 65.
At the time of Allan’s passing, Erich posted a heartfelt tribute to his father on social media. “Thankful for everything you’ve done for me,” he captioned an Instagram photo of his dad. “We are gonna miss the hell out of you Big AL. I love you so much dad.”
The Bachelorette, Mondays, 8/7c, ABC
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