Gabby Windey

Windey was born in Sacramento, California, to parents Rosemary Hewitt and Patrick Windey.^[5] She has an older sister named Jazz. Windey is half Mexican with some Apache ancestry.^[6] She attended O'Fallon Township High School, where she was the sports editor in the school paper and won Miss O'Fallon in 2008.^[7][8] She graduated from the University of Colorado Colorado Springs in 2013,^[9] and then moved to Denver, Colorado.^[10]

Windey worked as a nurse in the intensive care unit at University of Colorado Hospital.^[11] She was also an NFL cheerleader for the Denver Broncos for 5 years.^[12] In 2021, she was the co-winner of the Pop Warner Humanitarian Award for her service on the frontline of the pandemic. She is the first woman and NFL cheerleader to receive the award.^[13]

Windey hosts a podcast called Long Winded with Gabby Windey.^[14]

Reality television

The Bachelor

In September 2021, Windey was revealed to be a contestant on season 26 of The Bachelor, starring medical sales representative Clayton Echard.^[15] She was the co-runner-up with fellow finalist Rachel Recchia.

The Bachelorette

During the live After the Final Rose special of Echard's season, Windey was announced as The Bachelorette alongside Recchia. This marked the first time that there would be two leads for an entire season.^[3]

Dancing with the Stars

On September 8, 2022, Windey was announced as a contestant on season 31 of Dancing with the Stars. She was partnered with Val Chmerkovskiy and they finished in 2nd place.^[16][17] During the finale, she was announced as one of the co-hosts for the Dancing with the Stars Live 2023 tour and was at all stops.^[18][19]

Average: 36.6

More information Week #, Dance / Song ...

Week #	Dance / Song	Judges' scores					Result
		Inaba	Goodman	Hough	Tonioli	Total
1	Jive / "As It Was"	7	7	7	7	28	Safe
2	Viennese waltz / "Can't Help Falling In Love"	8	8	8	8	32	Safe
3	Cha-cha-cha / "Die Another Day"	8	8	8	9	33	Safe
4	Quickstep / "Mr. Blue Sky"	9	9	9	9	36	Safe
5	Foxtrot / "If the World Should Ever Stop" Tango / "Good Girls Go Bad"	9 10	9 10	9 10	9 10	36 40	No elimination Safe
6	Rumba / "Home"	9	9	9	10	37	Safe
7	Argentine tango / "Shivers" Team Freestyle / "The Witches Are Back"	10 8	9 8	9 9	10 8	38 33	Safe
8	Samba / "Livin' La Vida Loca"	10	10	10	10	40	Safe
9	Waltz / "I'm Kissing You" Paso doble / "Malagueña"	10 10	10 10	10 10	10 10	40 40	Safe
10	Cha-cha-cha / "I Like It (Like That)" Freestyle / "Cell Block Tango"	10 10	10 10	10 10	10 10	40 40	Runner-up

Close

The Traitors

On June 5, 2024, it was announced Windey would compete on the third season of The Traitors.^[20] She won the series as a Faithful, alongside Lord Ivar Mountbatten, Dolores Catania, and Dylan Efron.^[4]

Love Overboard

In 2026, Windey was announced as the host for the reality dating television series Love Overboard, produced by Alex Cooper.^[21]

In August 2023, Windey came out during an appearance on ABC's The View when she revealed she was dating a woman.^[22][23] She subsequently announced her relationship with comedian and TV writer Robby Hoffman, and the couple married in January 2025.^[24][25] In 2025, Windey stated that she identifies as a lesbian, describing her attraction to women as central to her identity and saying that she does not see herself dating men again.^[26][27]

Windey was featured in the GCDS Fall/Winter 2025 “Hottie Index” campaign.^[28]