SPOILERS ahead for The Bachelorette 2020, aka Season 16, and The Bachelor 2020, aka Bachelor Peter Weber's Season 24.
Finally! The Bachelorette is going to be the person I wanted. Before Clare Crawley starts filming The Bachelorette 2020, let's relive her finest moment from Juan Pablo Galavis' disastrous season of The Bachelor. Let's also revisit that raccoon edit on Bachelor in Paradise. Honestly, in hindsight, it's just astonishing Clare wasn't The Bachelorette before Season 16.
As spoilers already revealed, Clare Crawley, age 38, was announced as ABC's next Bachelorette on Monday, March 2, 2020 on Good Morning America. That's just hours before Peter Weber's The Bachelor "Women Tell All" episode, starting with the results of the overnight date cliffhanger with Madison Prewett.
According to spoiler guru Reality Steve, The Bachelorette Season 16 will start filming Friday, March 13, a few days after Bachelor Peter's mysterious 2020 finale airs March 9-10. So far, Steve has spoiled the ages of some of the men reportedly cast for Bachelorette Clare's season. They range from 23 to one guy who is 40. Most of the ages seem to be in the late 20s, but he doesn't have everyone yet. Hopefully they skew higher.
The Bachelorette 2020 will mark Clare's FIFTH season in Bachelor Nation -- The Bachelor, two brief appearances on Bachelor in Paradise, and then Bachelor: Winter Games. But since Clare's first appearance was back on The Bachelor Season 18 in 2014, some fans may not know her or may have forgotten some of what she did.
Bachelor Juan Pablo was a piece of work. At one point in the season, Clare and Juan Pablo hooked up and he later slut-shamed her for it, saying it was disrespectful to his daughter because he wanted her to be proud of him and they shouldn't have done that. They still hooked up again later and Clare made it to the final two. During the finale, they went on a helicopter ride and she turned to say something to him and he made a reply that was shocking and offensive to her. The conversation was later revealed to be along the lines of her asking him to just tell her he loved her, and he replied something to the effect of "I loved fucking you."
Clare was upset but stuck with Juan Pablo to the final rose ceremony, thinking he would at least tell her then that she was the one. Instead, he dumped her because he really wanted Nikki. After being dumped, Clare told off Juan Pablo right there at the final rose ceremony in a scene that ranked #13 on The Bachelor's 20 most amazing moments.
Watch that scene now:
Tell him, Clare! Do you think Bachelor Peter Weber's final rose ceremony will be that dramatic? Actually, spoilers point to Peter not having a normal finale where he picks either Madison or Hannah Ann and dumps the other one. So as dramatic as Bachelor Juan Pablo's final rose ceremony moment was, it's probably going to pale against Peter's final rose ceremony, especially if Madison does quit right before the very end.
But, see? That's why I'm most excited for Clare Crawley as The Bachelorette. OK, she waited a bit too long to turn on Juan Pablo, but she gave him the benefit of the doubt up until the end. Then she let him have it. She was the same way on The Bachelor: Winter Games. She's not perfect and she's probably going to annoy some people at times, but she never lets a man interrupt her, she stands up for herself, she can be sassy, she's usually articulate, and she's very raw with her emotions.
You know who knows that well? That raccoon. I forgot about the raccoon for a hot minute, but it's just clever editing from the Bachelor in Paradise team. In one Paradise moment, Clare got emotional and was venting to someone off-camera, maybe a producer. But the editors spliced footage of a raccoon in the wild to make it look like she was confiding in a raccoon friend. It was genius:
I don't know if The Bachelorette 2020 will have any raccoons around, but Bachelorette Clare should continue the tradition of venting to animals via editing. There was a report that she might bring her dog, so maybe that'll happen.
Apparently Hannah Brown was The Bachleorette producers' first choice to return, after her own ill-fated 2019 season last year. But Reality Steve said they couldn't agree on money. The "Women Tell All' special airing Monday, March 2 is going to show Kelsey Weier in the hot seat with what's described as a Bachelorette audition, but I guess it didn't work. Other late-in-the-game contenders were reportedly past season bachelorettes like Tia Booth and Tayshia Adams.
I have no doubt many Bachelorette fans will not be happy with Clare as the choice, since there's always pushback at whoever is named. Heaven knows I did not want to watch Bachelor Peter Weber (and I currently feel very vindicated in that decision). I love Clare as the oldest bachelorette and just a warm personality who should bring a lot of humor, heart, and fire to the season. And maturity? I hope so. Please don't be whiny, Clare.
But, really, any season of The Bachelor or The Bachelorette is about the contestants, so it'll be interesting to see who is cast for Clare's season. They do tend to cast all year round, so a lot of guys they picked will probably be locked in before even knowing it's Clare. I hope age talk doesn't dominate her season, but I feel like it's going to be like windmill sex for Peter and virginity for Colton.
Before we get to Bachelorette Clare, we need to be done with Bachelor Peter. Host Chris Harrison warned Peter's season is only just now getting started, even with only three episodes left. There's the "Women Tell All," with the overnight dates rose ceremony, then the two-night finale and live "After the Final Rose" special on Monday, March 9 and Tuesday, March 10. After The Bachelor 2020, there's some time until The Bachelorette stars. We'll have that new spinoff Listen To Your Heart and then The Bachelorette Sweet 16 should premiere in May on ABC.
