Be warned: major spoilers ahead!!!
I’m an avid Bachelor franchise fan. I mean I was devastated when Bachelor in Paradise 2019 was cancelled, that’s my main form of entertainment people! So I had no choice but to wait until October for the Bachelorette season.
I was disappointed when Clare Crawly had been chosen as the Bachelorette, mainly because she had been on so many times, for lack of a better term she was old news. She was on the Bachelor once, Bachelor in Paradise twice, and Bachelor Winter Games once, where she had “found love” (but apparently not!).
Obviously, spoilers had leaked and we quickly knew that Clare had left the show early and was replaced by (my favourite!) Tayshia!!! Although the beginning of the season was ruined, I still wanted to see for myself how everything went down, what led Clare to leave.
So I must admit, I had some bias against Clare from the beginning, however, I did try to keep an open mind. During the start of the first episode, I had actually thought she wasn’t that bad. However, as it continued I felt the sense that Clare was trying to prove something by being there, that she knew she was old news and had to show she wasn’t.
I knew there was trouble coming by the way she handled the first confrontation with Yosef and Tyler, where she didn’t listen to what either of them had to say, and decided to kick Tyler off (the one who hadn’t even brought up his problem with Clare yet, just asked Yosef about what he heard) and kept Yosef who brought up the whole conflict and made Tyler look bad, clearly the wrong one to keep. If Clare was trying to prove a point that she was tough and no funny business — she failed. I’m sure she thought she was being tough by sending Tyler home, however, if she really wanted to eliminate that toxicity, she would have sent Yosef home too.
So, that was the first strike for me, not really understanding her motivation in keeping Yosef and getting rid of one of the men that was actually one of the better-looking men! This makes me wonder if she had been attracted to Tyler and didn’t want that conflicting with her instant attraction to Dale, so she sent him home.
My biggest problem with Clare from her short season, however, was not this overconfidence or her obsession with Dale (which I’ll get to in a little bit), it was her strip dodgeball game. I still find it inconceivable that she thought it would be appropriate to force these men to strip down to practically nothing because they lost a game of dodgeball. It especially bothered me because she is going back on everything feminism stands for. She forced these men to strip down, and if they hadn’t they would have been deemed as poor sports or unmasculine. Had she been a man, Clare would have been scrutinized even harassed in the media. If it’s not okay to sexualize women, why is it okay to sexualize men? Oh wait…it’s not! I strongly believe that to be treated equally we need to treat others equally, Clare was taking advantage of her position to force these men into doing something, they clearly were hesitant to do. When she had first announced that the game was turning into one of stripping, the men looked confused and hesitant. It was clear they didn’t think this was something they had to have done.
Even more disgusting was when she was called on her actions by the infamous Yosef, she played the victim. She did not like being called out on her actions and decided that he shouldn’t speak to her like that. I will admit Yosef became aggressive, however for Clare to turn the whole thing around onto him, was completely uncalled for and just showed her immaturity and disrespect for these men.
Finally, the cherry on top of her whole Bachelorette career was Clare’s obsession with Dale. For as long as we’ve watched this show, my mom and I have been waiting for someone to say early on that they know who they want to marry, just to give some truth to the show — that they could really be in love! However, I never thought it would end up like this!
Trust me, I get it that Clare does not see the point in continuing the season after she’s had this intense attraction and connection with Dale. But the disrespect, ignorance, and attitude towards the other men, really showed that Clare did not on any level respect the process. Clare left the men alone for an entire HOUR just to make out with Dale, pouted when Dale wasn’t around, complained when the other men made fun of Dale, and (this one really grinds my gears) did not give out a rose on a group date because she didn’t feel like she enough deep conversations with the men. UMM Clare?? That’s because you were asking every single one of them about Dale on the date??
So yes, I was very excited when Clare finally left engaged with Dale, and Tayshia arrived! I honestly believe she should have been the one chosen as the Bachelorette, to begin with, and (although yes I’m still sad she broke it off with JPJ) I can’t wait to see her “find love”.
All this being said, I truly do hope Clare is happy with Dale, if only because that will mean she’ll never be on another Bachelor show again!