The Bachelor's Rachel Reflects: Regrets Tears Amid Confronting Racist Messages on Women Tell All tram

Rachel Nance used her time in the spotlight to call out racist messages she received from The Bachelor viewers.

During Monday’s episode, Bachelor Joey Graziadei eliminated Rachel, 26, after they spent the night in the Fantasy Suite. That meant that Rachel got to take the stage with host Jesse Palmer in the Women Tell All portion of the show, during which she got emotional while talking about the hate she experienced online throughout the course of the season.

“I was nervous to talk about it because I know some people feel uncomfortable when they hear that racism is still going on in 2024,” Rachel tells PEOPLE. “But I think people need to sit in feeling uncomfortable because, how do you think I feel getting those messages?”

The reality star calls seeing those hateful messages “very triggering,” but she wanted to speak up about them in order to help other people in her position.

“I thought for further people who look like me, who are going to go through what I go through, I need to speak what's happening and bring light to it because ignorance is not bliss,” Rachel says. “And I wish I didn't cry as much, but I think you could really feel how much it affected me by sharing that.”

Rachel says that her family seeing those hurtful messages “is what really bothers me because I want them to enjoy this whole journey.”

Viewers met her Filipino and African American family when Joey, 28, took her on a hometown date in Rancho Cucamonga, California. “To see hate after something so beautiful is disheartening,” Rachel says. “But hopefully we can do better moving forward and people can just be kind and just pick what you say. Think before you speak. It's not that hard.”

The ICU nurse, who grew up in Hawaii, ultimately considers herself “blessed to represent people who look like me.”

“Growing up as a mixed girl in Hawaii, there wasn't many people who looked like me on TV,” she continues. “I'm very honored that moving forward, girls can say, ‘Hey, if Rachel can do that, I can do that. If Rachel can speak her truth, I can speak her truth.’ Being in an interracial couple, there's nothing wrong with it, it's totally beautiful, and I don't see why it should be an issue. And hopefully moving forward, girls who look like me can get that recognition, representation more.”

The show also taught Rachel another important lesson. “Before I came into this, I didn't have a lot of self-confidence. I just dated because I thought, hey, I don't want to be alone,” she admits. “And after dating Joey, he really taught me that I can get what I deserve and there's someone out there for me. It wasn't him, that's totally fine. Whoever it is, call me up because I'm tired!”