When Clare Crawley gave out her final rose earlier than expected on The Bachelorette, prompting ABC to bring in Tayshia Adams to replace her, it wasn’t too surprising. It seemed that her fairytale just so happened to be on the fast track after she fell in love with contestant Dale Moss. Things didn’t pan out so well for the two after The Bachelorette though, with the couple eventually breaking up. Now, Crawley saying that her season didn’t “come out” the way she hoped in the final edit.
Bachelor Nation alum Clare Crawley only had four episodes of her time on The Bachelorette air before she walked off into the sunset, engaged to Dale Moss. Their love story was portrayed as picture perfect, with Crawley even saying on the first night that she “just met my husband” after meeting Moss. Apparently though, this magical reality television edit wasn’t what Crawley wanted. She told the Girl Powerful Project during an Instagram live session:
That was one thing that propelled me to want to do The Bachelorette initially, was to be able to show the imperfections of who we are, not in a negative way, but the imperfections just in general of who we are and to be loved and to love ourselves regardless of that and to set these standards for our heart regardless of that. I wanted to have the perfect fairytale be imperfect human beings and still be loved because of that. It didn’t come out that way, and it wasn’t edited that way, but that’s OK.
Clare Crawley’s claim is probably a first for The Bachelorette, wherein the leading lady thinks she was edited out to be too perfect or too magical. One must admit that the alternative seems a heck of a lot worse. Some women have been denied, even at the final rose ceremony, while others have been heavily criticized for poor behavior. Leaving the show with supposedly the perfect man and on your own terms actually sounds like the best-case scenario for a reality competition.
Still, despite the idyllic love story between Clare Crawley and Dale Moss on The Bachelorette Season 16, it wasn’t exactly a “perfect fairytale” journey for Crawley, who took on the moniker of being the oldest Bachelorette in the show’s history. In fact, there was a lot of drama just in her four episodes. The men complained that Crawley spent too much time with Moss, and it culminated with the explosive exchange between Crawley and Yosef Aborady. Aborady apparently had a problem with Crawley stating that the men were “there for her” and with the concept of a naked dodgeball date, telling her at the time that it was “degrading,” “humiliating,” “immature,” “distasteful,” and “classless” of Crawley.
Suffice to say, Yosef Aborady was asked to leave. But it was Clare Crawley’s impassioned and emotional line that she was the oldest single Bachelorette precisely because she didn’t “settle for men like that.” She was widely applauded for her defense of herself. Still, Crawley hoped that other facets of her personality would come through on The Bachelorette. She continued:
All my friends are always like, 'I wish the public saw what kind of person you are, and what a nerd and goofball you are in our every day life. Do you. Be your awkward, funny, weird self.
Being one’s true self isn’t always the chief aim of reality television, however. As we saw recently from Matt James’ Bachelor season, things eventually come out that perhaps contradict who you present as on TV. Former Bachelor Nation contestants are now allegedly wary of signing on to do the next season of Bachelor in Paradise for exactly this reason.
Clare Crawley might not be so ecstatic for her Bachelorette Season 16 edit. But as we all know now, things could have played out worse. Much worse.
