ABC/Craig Sjodin Clare Crawley and Chris Harrison on the set of date on 'The Bachelorette.'
As Tayshia Adams emerged from a pool in the final seconds of The Bachelorette’s promo for next week, it seems ABC is finally admitting what many have known to be true: Clare Crawley will not finish this season as Bachelorette.
Reports emerged throughout the summer that Crawley exits early after quickly falling in love with just one of her suitors, Dale Moss. While some chalked it up to love and others to Crawley being difficult, a new theory has emerged that she was ‘forced out’ of the dating franchise. This theory has been emboldened after Crawley liked a thread of tweets by Marietou Sangare on the subject.
Among the thread, Sangare wrote, “I think they were trying to force her out on some real. It was reported that she quit 12 days after filming and she locked herself in her room and wouldn’t come out, which was hard to believe considering how bad she wanted it.”
@girlfighter2013 @DalidaDavid85 @BacheloretteABC @Clare_Crawley I think they were trying to force her out on some real. It was reported that she quit 12 days after filming and she locked herself in her room and wouldn’t come out, which was hard to believe considering how bad she wanted it.
“And I really feel like they are giving her a bad edit( just my opinion). They are feeding into the narrative and the rumors and making it seem like it was Clares decision that this ended and i feel like that’s not the case,” read another tweet.
Now, the host of the popular franchise, Chris Harrison, is finally weighing in on the matter during an interview with ET. While he said she was “certainly not” forced out, he said, “But that’s totally up to interpretation, and I think next week will be very enlightening.” He added, “I’ll let everybody judge for themselves.”
It Was Clear Night One Crawley Liked Moss
Crawley’s connection with Moss started night one, declaring “I definitely feel like I just met my husband” after meeting him for the first time.
“The first night, I went in more of just to capture that moment and lean into that moment,'” Harrison, who immediately spoke with Crawley about her declaration, told ET. “I kinda thought, ‘This’ll be good because we won’t be going in this direction in just another week or two, and this’ll be interesting that she was falling so hard for this guy and felt so strong, yet here we are on this other path.’ That tends to be what happens.”
“That’s not what’s happening here, and that was just the tip of the iceberg, and it’s only gone more severe in that direction,” said Harrison. “So, I go back to that and I wanna go, ‘Wow, OK, maybe she was onto something and maybe she really did feel that strongly.'”
Crawley has maintained her interest in Moss, discussing him with former Bachelorette DeAnna Pappas who said, “when you know, you know.” And Crawley seems to know, referring to Moss as her “fiancé.”
Harrison said he has “never seen a lead fall that hard that heavy on Night One.” He continued, “I’ve had lead say, ‘Wow, I’m really blown away. I really like that person,’ and end up with that person in the end, but it was not a just out and out, ‘Let’s just stop this right now’-type of a feeling.”
Being unable to understand the intense bond, rumors started to swirl that Crawley and Moss were already in communication. However, she insists she only researched the men already announced as a part of her season.
When it came to Moss, Crawley liked what she saw, telling Jimmy Kimmel, “He was one of the guys that was on, cast for earlier in the season when it was supposed to air earlier and being able to look him up, there were just a lot of good things that aligned with what I’m looking for that he kind of embodied.”
Harrison Asserts Crawley Has Been in Control
“I would just say she has complete control,” Harrison told the publication. “This season of The Bachelorette was completely about Clare. It’s all about Clare, and she will decide where we go from here. It’s totally, completely up to her.”
There were concerns when production was delayed during the COVID-19 pandemic that Crawley’s season would be canceled. Yet, ABC maintained filming her season was the top priority. When filming resumed, the season looked a little different, being filmed entirely at the La Quinta Resort and Club near Palm Springs, California.
“It was all really about Plan A, and it was all about, ‘What do we do with this season with Clare, and where do we go with that?'” he said. “Really, it was about Clare and her decisions. It’s her decisions that you’re gonna see — well, you saw obviously, in Tuesday’s episode.
“I really put it in her court, it is completely up to her,” he continued, saying, “And while I’m saying that, it really is something that you’re all gonna need to see next week… I like for you to see everything and then you can judge, but in my humble opinion, I really feel like you’ll see next week, it’s her call where we go from here.”
Tayshia is expected to transition into being the lead during Thursday’s episode, airing on a different night because of the election.
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