Love at first sight? Clare Crawley has been candid about her attraction to Bachelorette contestant Dale Moss since the moment he stepped out of the limo.
Fans first met the hairstylist, now 39, during season 18 of The Bachelor, which aired in 2014. After finishing as the runner-up for Juan Pablo Galavis’ heart, Clare tried to find The One on seasons 1 and 2 of Bachelor in Paradise. Following three years off of ABC, Clare gave it another shot on The Bachelor Winter Games in 2018. While she got engaged to Benoit Beauséjour-Savard during the reunion, which aired in February 2018, the twosome called off their romance that April.
In March, Bachelor Nation learned Clare was set to make history as the oldest Bachelorette in the franchise. Season 16 of the show was subsequently delayed for several months amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“For me personally, quarantine gave me so much time to reflect and to actually stop, take a breath, take a long breath, and reevaluate over and over again what exactly and hone in on what I’m looking for,” Clare told Us Weekly ahead of the season 16 premiere. “So I had a clear direction of what I wanted and what I didn’t want.”
After production resumed in July, Us confirmed that Clare stopped filming the series within the first two weeks of production because she was already in love with one of her suitors. While a source told Us that ABC called in Tayshia Adams to take over where Clare left off, the show didn’t address the switch-up during the October 13 premiere. Fans did, however, see how struck Clare was by Dale, a 32-year-old football player turned model and host who resides in New York City.
“Who are these people to decide how long it takes somebody to fall in love? Is it a week? Is it a month? Is it a year? Is it two years?” she told Us. “How people fall in love and the amount of time that it happens or what the process is changes. It’s not for anybody to really decide if there is a cookie cutter for that.”
Despite knowing the names of several contestants in the months leading up to the premiere due to the COVID-19 shutdown, the Sacramento, California, resident has maintained that she didn’t contact any of the men prior to filming. She did, however, check out their profiles.
“There was nothing against the rules of going on social media and looking at people’s [profiles]. I feel like I’d be doing myself a disservice to not do my research and look these guys up,” she told ET. “He could be my future husband! I want to know what they’re doing in their off time in quarantine. I want to know what they’re keeping up with and what the type of content they’re posting — is it them partying? Is it them with a bunch of women? Or is it them with their family?”
For Clare’s analysis of Dale’s social media and what she’s said about her current status — and so much more — keep scrolling: