If you were holding out hope for Tayshia Adams and Zac Clark to defy the Bachelor breakup odds, consider that hope over. A representative for Adams confirmed the two have ended their engagement. The announcement comes after weeks of speculation with fans parsing the couple’s mixed social-media signals, which included Tayshia attending the House of Gucci premiere solo and ringless but then running the New York City Marathon “shoulder to shoulder” with Clark. Damn. Maybe the only franchise couples who aren’t doomed are the ones who endure the sweat and tiny crabs of Bachelor in Paradise.
Adams and Clark met on the 16th season of The Bachelorette, which aired in 2020. Adams had taken over as the resident Bachelorette after Clare Crawley “blew up” the show by getting engaged to contestant and Party City Halloween-costume model Dale Moss in the fourth week of her season. (The two have since broken up.)
Though Adams navigated the season with her cards close to her chest, Clark was an undeniable front-runner throughout the competition. During a pandemic hometown date, Clark took Adams around in a wooden replica of a New York City taxi cab, which was cute even though Clark is actually from New Jersey.
Production seemed to know Clark was a front-runner. Who can forget the infamous fantasy-suite episode in which production had Adams and contestant Ivan Hall submerge themselves in separate baths of ice water and spend their overnight in a lackluster aluminum trailer? Meanwhile Adams and Clark spent their overnight in a luxurious private house and their date body-painting each other on a giant floor canvas (the most sexual chemistry I’d seen on the franchise until Maurissa Gunn licked whipped cream off Riley Christian’s toes in Paradise).
The news of the breakup comes shortly after Bachelorette Katie Thurston and Blake Moynes announced their split. Oh, well. Cue the matching Instagram posts.