Getty Clare Crawley Visits EXTRA at Westfield Century City on April 16, 2014 in Los Angeles, California.
UPDATE: On Good Morning America Monday morning, Clare Crawley was confirmed as the 2020 star of The Bachelorette.
With only two weeks left of The Bachelor season 24, it’s no surprise that fans are anxiously awaiting ABC’s reveal of who their next Bachelorette will be. The stars identity was supposed to be announced on Good Morning America on March 2; however, top gossip source for all things “Bachelor Nation” Reality Steve claims to already know who the woman chosen is.
According to Reality Steve, the season 16 star of The Bachelorette is…
BEWARE OF SPOILERS BELOW.
… Clare Crawley!
In a tweet published o February 29, Reality Steve revealed:
“Monday morning on GMA, Clare Crawley will be named the ‘Bachelorette.’ As a refresher, she finished 2nd on Juan Pablo’s season, was on BIP 1 & 2, and was recently on Winter Games. Refer back to my thoughts Thursday as to why I could see this decision. I know those that don’t want Clare will say ‘but how do you know’ or ‘dont multiple people sign contracts, what if they change it’ and a bunch of other stuff. Don’t know what else to tell ya’. Guess you’ll have to wait 2 days, but it’s her and you’ll see Monday morning on GMA.”
The choice to make Crawley the Bachelorette is an unexpected one, as each year’s star is almost always a jilted contestant from the most recent season of The Bachelor. That’s not to say Crawley is a stranger to longterm Bachelor Nation fans: as Reality Steve points out, after an unexpected rejection from Juan Pablo in the season 18 Bachelor finale, she appeared in three seasons worth of spinoffs for the franchise. At the end of “Winter Games,” she was engaged to Benoit Beauséjour-Savard, but the couple ultimately called off the engagement and ended their relationship.
Since Reality Steve’s announcement that Crawley is the next new star, the 39-year-old has been silent on social media. Her last post was a poignant quote from Brené Brown, which reads “Choose courage over comfort. Choose whole hearts over armor. And choose the great adventure of being brave and afraid. At the exact same time.”
‘The Bachelorette’ Season 16 Has Not Started Filming & Casting Is Still Underway
Reality Steve reports that filming for The Bachelorette will begin on March 13, days after the season 24 finale of The Bachelor. This timing makes sense since the anticipated start date for season 16 is the end of May.
With the show only a little over a week from filming, producers were well into casting before Crawley was announced; however, since she is 39 years old, Reality Steve suggests that some last-minute changes are being made to the cast to give her a batch of contestants better suited to her age and what she’s looking for. He writes “As of right now, of the guys that I have, 4 of them have kids. And they are definitely going to be doing some late casting of more older guys this week after Monday’s announcement. They’ve already told a couple of the 25 year olds they’re no longer cast bc of the age difference.”
Fan Reactions Were Mixed to the News That Clare Is the Next ‘Bachelorette’
Of all the fan-favorite names circulating around the Bachelor Nation community as they tried to predict who would be “Bachelorette” next, Clare Crawley’s name was not one of them.
As the rumor spread that Crawley was the anticipated Bachelorette lead, many took to Twitter to voice their divided opinions. Sharleen Joynt wrote “Just want to put out into the Twitterverse that if these @Clare_Crawley for #TheBachelorette rumors are true I am ALL FOR IT. She deserves it, is 100% sincere & I’ve always felt she’d make a fantastic lead. Bonus: bring on more folks in their 30s, hopefully 40s! IT’S TIME.” A major complaint for this past season of The Bachelor was how young so many of Peter Weber’s contestants were, so it’s possible that Crawley’s casting is in response to that.
Those who were hoping for a different Bachelor alum to win the coveted title of Bachelorette were not as excited. Tia Booth, Tayshia Adams, and Kendall Long were all named as “Bachelorette” frontrunners by the fans, and even Kelsey Weier from the most recent Bachelor season was named as a welcomed option.
All I wanna know is how the fuck did Clare Crawley’s name come into play for #TheBachelorette and WHY?
The world deserves @tiarachel91 as the next lead, we’ve been waiting since 2018!
@_vivalavivda lamented “All I wanna know is how the f— did Clare Crawley’s name come into play for #TheBachelorette and WHY? The world deserves @tiarachel91 as the next lead, we’ve been waiting since 2018!”
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