ABC Dale Moss and Clare Crawley had an electric first meeting in front of the Bachelor mansion.
Clare Crawley‘s love-at-first-sight moment with Dale Moss was the highlight of The Bachelorette‘s season premiere, but many fans think it was all an act.
Crawley was visibly affected by her meeting with Moss in front of the Bachelor mansion.
“It feels like I just met my husband,” Crawley said after Moss walked away. “I’m shaking. Every other guy I felt confident with, but with Dale everything else went dark around me.”
It was shown by ABC as a fairy tale moment of true love, but was it a contrived act? Did Crawley and Moss already have contact prior to their meeting on the first day of filming?
Clare Crawley Insists She Only Spoke to One Contestant Before Filming & It Wasn’t Moss
Despite her infatuation with Moss, the former NFL receiver wasn’t the recipient of the first kiss of the season. That honor went to Blake Moynes who won over Crawley by reaching out to her prior to filming to see how she was doing during a tough time.
“You broke the rule,” Crawley told Moynes. “But I want you to know that that time you broke the rule meant everything to me. The fact that you risked not coming on here and putting that on the line, at a time where I was really struggling, it meant everything to me.”
Crawley said that was the only time she had contact with any of the contestants vying for her heart this season. She reiterated that in an interview with Lauren Zima of Entertainment Tonight.
“Blake was the only person that messaged me, the only person I had any contact, talked to, any sort of communication with,” Crawley told ET. “We’re given these rules to respect the process of it all and I definitely 100% respected the process.”
Not everyone is convinced, though.
Some Fans Are Convinced Crawley and Moss Already Knew Each Other
After their electric moment in front of the Bachelor mansion, Crawley and Moss weren’t shown together again until a one-on-one conversation during a cocktail party. Moss asked how Crawley’s mother was doing and many thought that was even more evidence of a prior relationship.
Dale said “how’s she doing” about Clare’s mom like they have had this conversation before #TheBachelorette
clare and dale pretending they didn’t know each other before filming
I love the thought of Clare and Dale conspiring to trick America into thinking this is a love at first sight situation #TheBachelorette
Crawley says there’s a simple explanation for her head-over-heels reaction on night one, though.
Clare Crawley Says Quarantine Gave Her a Ton of Time to Search Through Social Media
Crawley says if it seems like she knew contestants ahead of time it’s because social media helped her figure things out.
“I don’t know who’d not look them up!” Crawley told ET. “There was nothing against the rules of going on social media and looking at people’s [profiles]. I feel like I’d be doing myself a disservice to not do my research and look these guys up.”
She says that’s when Moss stood out from the crowd.
“Dale, in a lot of his [Instagram] Stories, he would talk about his mom and he’d talk about his family. He was with his family a lot and that is something that deeply resonates with me,” Clare told ET. “I just felt on any level, whether it be friendship, whether it be a romantic connection, I just felt like there would be that good connection with him. But you ultimately don’t know if it’s a romantic connection, because you’re just seeing him through social media.”
She told the same thing to Jimmy Kimmel following The Bachelorette premiere, saying several other contestants displayed red flags on social media.
“For example, I’m not a drinker at all and some of the guys were boozing it up, partying, doing backflips off boats, and I was like ‘Is that my husband? Probably not,'” Crawley told Kimmel.
Does that explain Crawley’s reaction to meeting Moss? Or is there reason to be suspicious of their incredibly speedy connection? The world may never know.
READ MORE: Dale Moss on ‘The Bachelorette’: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know