The following article contains potential spoilers for Clare Crawley’s Bachelorette season. If you want to remain unspoiled, click away now.
We wouldn’t dare give The Bachelorette the pleasure of saying this might turn into “the most dramatic season ever,†so we’re going to ask you to take off your rose-tinted glasses and run around a few windmills to get your adrenaline down. Because this may actually have some dramatic merit.
Reports began surfacing over the weekend that current Bachelorette lead Clare Crawley has been replaced with fellow franchise alum Tayshia Adams. The report first surfaced in the franchise’s main subreddit, with a verified account saying that production had “a lot of problems†working with Crawley throughout the quarantined filming process at a luxury La Quinta, California resort. The account claimed that Crawley began canceling dates and events, and as such, “they called in a new Bachelorette†who would be more cooperative with production. Reality Steve, patron saint of Bachelor Nation knowledge, confirmed that there was “serious validity†to the intel, which was further amplified by Us Weekly reporting that producers reached out to several back-up contestants to see if they would be able to join the season. This kind of outreach is unusual and isn’t known to have occurred in past seasons.
Even more intriguing is the alleged reasoning for Crawley’s sudden switch in behavior. Several tabloids claim that the 39-year-old hairstylist immediately fell in love with contestant Dale Moss, who was presented with Crawley’s first impression rose on night one. Moss, a 31-year-old free-agent football player and model from South Dakota, was one of 42 suitors who were vetted to pursue Crawley. (Yup, he’s her type.) She fell for Moss so quickly that she allegedly refused to continue filming out of respect for the other contestants.
As for Adams, she hasn’t posted on social media in days (all Bachelor productions enforce a strict no-phones policy) and she hasn’t yet been photographed at the resort, despite Reality Steve asserting that he’s “really certain†of her presence. Adams was a finalist to lead Crawley and Hannah Brown’s Bachelorette seasons, and she told Vulture in 2019 that she was indeed disappointed when she was passed over for Brown. “I might be more tough on the guys, in the sense I’d need them to stand up a little bit more,†Adams explained when asked what her season would look like. “The guys would definitely have to be much older, I’d tell you that much. I require a little bit more life experience, someone who really knows who they are and still aren’t trying to figure themselves out. Show up, or get out. No bullshit, let’s go, I’m trying to find a husband!†Adams previously competed on Colton Underwood’s Bachelor season and appeared on Bachelor in Paradise.
ABC has yet to return Vulture’s request for comment, and refreshing Crawley’s social media pages every 45 seconds hasn’t yielded any fulfilling results. Time to take a break with a bottle or four of rosé.