The Bachelorette is BACK! After many months of delay due to COVID-19 restrictions, Clare Crawley’s season is finally live! If you joined Bachelor Nation recently, or simply have no idea what is going on, you may not be too familiar with Clare, so I’ll give you a bit of background.
For long-time Bachelor fans, Clare is a classic. She was the runner-up on season 18 of The Bachelor with Juan Pablo, starred in both seasons 1 and 2 of Bachelor in Paradise, made an appearance on the Bachelor Winter Games, and is now the lead for season 16 of The Bachelorette. Evidently, she’s had her fair share of experiences within the ABC franchise, but I’m hopeful this is her moment to find her one true love!
Cue Chris Harrison, “welcome to the most dramatic season yet” (but actually, this one is…). Clare’s season is pretty unconventional in a few ways. First off, she is the oldest Bachelorette in the history of the 16 seasons. All of the past Bachelorettes are between the ages of 24 and 32. Tbh, I think having a few more years under her belt just means she’s all the more confident in what she wants! Second, the premiere begins in the context of COVID-19. The men and Clare all had to quarantine for 2 weeks, which off the bat gives the show an unconventional touch in comparison to past seasons. Lastly, Clare shares the second half of the season with Tayshia Adams. Reason? We have yet to find out. Regardless, I’m super pumped to see Tayshia as the Bachelorette too!
Now onto the tea. Overall, plenty of sweet personalities, positive attitudes, good looks, and a couple of interesting cliffhangers… let’s recap from the beginning. Clare is amazing at turning awkward situations into… less awkward situations. Some of the guys’ introductions were absolutely cringe-worthy. Clare, on the other hand, just went along with it and seemed comfortable being herself. This definitely helped some of the men. Once introductions were done, the drama was almost immediate, of course.
Yosef and Tyler C got off to a rocky start. Yosef was, according to Tyler C, all up in other girls’ DM’s right before the show, even during quarantine. Mind you, these were girls Tyler C knew through mutual friends from his hometown. In my opinion, Tyler C handled it the right way, which was privately and directly confronting Yosef as opposed to going behind his back and gossiping to Clare. Yosef, however, didn’t appreciate that and went straight to Clare, claiming Tyler C was just trying to “drag his name through the mud.” In an extremely disappointing turn, Clare left Tyler C out during the rose ceremony and instead gave the last one to Yosef. If you ask me, that move was for the ratings. There has to be a villain, and Yosef is it. Tyler C deserved better. Hopefully, he makes an appearance on Bachelor in Paradise!
Let’s address one specific contestant’s introduction, Jay’s. I was personally shocked that the show would even allow it. He showed up in a straightjacket, claiming he was “going crazy” from not getting to see Clare due to COVID-19 delays and guidelines. If you didn’t know, a straightjacket was commonly used to restrain a violent prisoner or mental patient to avoid them from harming themselves and others. I personally thought it was insensitive and shouldn’t have been permitted, but that’s my take.
Moving on to the juicy romance… Clare made a bold statement in this first episode. After Dale Moss got out of the limo and introduced himself, Clare said, “I just met my husband.” Well… when you know, you know. But do you really? I guess we’ll find out eventually. Dale seems like a pretty stand up guy, although previews of the next episodes suggest otherwise. He’s pretty chill, attractive, a former pro football player, and one way he uniquely relates to Clare is having lost a parent and keeping them close to their heart in their everyday lives. The other contestant I would say Clare really hit it off with (and so did I) is Blake Moynes. Part-time wildlife manager and full-time heartthrob, Blake stole the show. Apparently, he broke a rule by reaching out to Clare during the quarantine period to check in and see how she was doing, but to Clare, there are no rules! She seemed to absolutely appreciate his caring nature and even thanked him with her first kiss of the season. All of this, however, didn’t guarantee our man Blake Moynes the first impression rose. That one was of course reserved for Dale; at least Blake received a rose in the rose ceremony.
In case you want to look up the contestants individually, here’s a list of the ones who received roses on night one, besides Dale,Yosef (ew), and Blake Moynes: Eazy (he’s hilarious), Joe (absolute sweetheart), Brandon, Ivan, Ben, Zach J, Jason (love him), Riley, Tyler S, Bennett, Chasen, Zac C, Jay (meh), Ed, Demar, Blake Monar, Garin, Brendan, Jordan C, and Kenny.
The premiere concludes with some pretty intense previews of the season. First off, some of the other guys seem to accuse Dale of being a totally different person off-camera. Not the love-at-first-sight husband… Lastly, in one clip, Yosef very unmannerly yells that Clare is the oldest bachelorette. So, tell me Yosef… why are you there? Team Tyler C all the way. Guess we’re in for a treat in more ways than one with Clare’s season. I don’t know about you, but I’m so ready!