Clare Crawley is out as the Bachelorette for season 16. Clare was several days into filming the hit ABC show when dropped out because she had already fallen in love with one of her contestants, according to People. Tayshia Adams then stepped in to replace the 39-year-old as the show’s lead. HollywoodLife reached out to ABC regarding these reports and received no comment.
This drama is just the latest in a series of ups and downs for Clare’s season of The Bachelorette. She was announced as the show’s next star back at the beginning of March, with filming set to begin later that month. The original premiere date was at the end of May. However, the entire filming schedule had to be postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic that shut down the U.S. in mid-March.
By the time it was confirmed that production had shut down, the men who had been cast on Clare’s season had already been revealed. People’s report claims that one of the guys “found a way to get in touch with [Clare]” and they began talking. “By the time filming officially began, they were basically already in love,” the mag’s source explained. “No one else stood a chance.”
Luckily, “Tayshia was game and ready to go” when producers reached out to her to come on as Clare’s replacement. However, “what remains to be seen is if more men will be brought in now to give Tayshia a full roster of suitors.” Tayshia first appeared on The Bachelor during Colton Underwood’s season, where she was dumped after her fantasy suite date when he decided that he wanted to be with Cassie Randolph. She then appeared on season six of Bachelor in Paradise, and she briefly dated John Paul Jones after the show.
Season 16 of The Bachelorette just resumed production in the middle of July. Clare, the contestants and crew all began quarantining at the La Quinta Resort & Club in La Quinta, California at the beginning of the month. Only 17 of the men who had been originally cast for Clare’s season were brought back for the second go-around.
Clare was introduced to the Bachelor franchise when she appeared on season 18 of The Bachelor in 2014 with Juan Pablo Galavis. She was the runner-up that season, and famously told Juan Pablo off after he dumped her at the final rose ceremony. Clare then appeared on Bachelor Winter Games in 2018. She left the show in a relationship with Benoit Beauséjour-Savard and they got engaged during the reunion. Unfortunately, the engagement was short-lived, as they split just a few months later.
Of course, there is now a ton of speculation about what really happened that led Clare to end her journey on The Bachelorette early and what it will mean for the rest of the season. The Bachelorette will air on Tuesdays this fall on ABC, rather than its usual Monday night slot (which is occupied by Dancing With the Stars).