Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you have probably seen the headlines about this season of ABC’s The Bachelorette. And, this season is just as crazy as the year it’s airing in. If you can’t seem to keep up with the rumors about Dale, Clare, Tayshia, and countless other twists thus far, you’re not alone.
If you’re at all familiar with the Bachelor franchise, you know that Chris Harrison tags each show of every year as “the most dramatic season yet.” But, this year, he is definitely stating the truth.
Back in March, the chosen bachelorette for the season was announced to be the 39-year-old, Clare Crawley. Crawley was the runner-up on the 18th season of ABC’s The Bachelor and also appeared on seasons 1 and 2 of Bachelor in Paradise, and on Bachelor Winter Games. Fans responded positively to the franchise’s Bachelorette pick, hoping that the oldest lead- cast yet in the history of the show would mean that it would be a more mature season. Little did they know. LOL. But the audience was looking forward to an older crowd of contestants too, after a few crazy seasons (Peter Weber, I am looking at you!)
After a huge pause in production in the spring, four months later, they finally continued filming. Along with the return, came rumors surfacing quickly. People were claiming that Clare supposedly left the show mid-season, and would be replaced mid-season by Tayshia Adams, former contestant on season 23 of The Bachelor, and the sixth season of Bachelor in Paradise. The evidence was pretty concrete, thanks to Bachelor franchise gossips like Reality Steve.
The show finally premiered on October 13, and aired for long-lost bachelor nation fans who had been deprived of their weekly obsession since the pandemic hit. Though it may seem like the whole season was laid out for us prior to the airing of the show, there were still plenty of details and dramatic cocktail party catfights to get through. I’ll get into what we have so far.
Night one, limo night, was pretty standard. Oh yeah, besides when Clare met a certain contestant, 32-year-old Dale Moss, and literally said “I think I just met my husband,” immediately after he walked away. That was certainly telling.
In my opinion, the next few episodes were pretty irrelevant. I’m happy for Clare! But, it does not make for the most entertaining television when you immediately focus on one guy out of the 31 sitting there waiting to fight over you. I mean, she literally ONLY dated Dale.
Week four is when it really went down; this isn’t really a spoiler because it already happened, but if you are behind and planning to watch, this is one part that the rumors didn’t quite predict to happen. Chris Harrison sat Clare down and basically told her that they couldn’t proceed with the way things were going. She was giving way too much attention to Dale and neglecting the other men to the point that it was only obvious that she would end up with him. Her response? She said that she was completely head over heels in love with Dale and ready to be engaged (cue Dale peeing his pants). So, they spent a night together and the next day, BOOM! Dale was on one knee, Clare said yes, and off they went. Honestly, I was GLAD that was over with.
That same episode, in week four, we got the most amazing teaser for Tayshia’s arrival.
Fast forward to week five and six, and it was everything we could have asked for out of a bachelorette and MORE. Ah, all is finally right in the world!
Tayshia began her journey with 16 of Clare’s men, and an additional four added on her night one, which came with plenty of drama. The front runners, in case you care about filing these names somewhere deep in the reality TV files of the brain, are Brendan, Spencer, Eazy, Zac C., and Ben. Be sure to tune into The Bachelorette on Tuesdays at 8/7c on ABC! The rose ceremonies ahead are looking handsome and hopeful!