‘The Bachelorette’: This Is Why Production Chose Tayshia Adams to Replace Clare Crawley
Last night’s episode of The Bachelorette was historic. Not only did Clare Crawley cut her season off early and get engaged, but a new Bachelorette was also brought in. Given the reactions of some of the men in the preview, Tayshia Adams was the perfect replacement for Crawley. But what made production take a chance on her?
Why did Clare Crawley have to be replaced?
The Bachelorette typically has a few frontrunners in her first few weeks of filming. Crawley only had one. From the moment he stepped out of the limo, Dale Moss was it for Crawley. She even called him her husband on that first night. It quickly became obvious that none of the other men stood a chance. Though Crawley went on dates with the other men and sort of pretended to give them time and attention, eventually even they realized that her heart was somewhere else.
On last night’s episode, host Chris Harrison had to pull Crawley aside and tell her that the season could not keep going the way that it had. Together, they decided that Crawley would go all in with Moss.
“I do have so many other great guys here and I genuinely wanted to get to know these guys and give them a chance, but nothing compares to what I have with Dale. Nothing,” Crawley said during the episode. “And I could most definitely gladly spend the rest of my life with Dale.”
She, then, told Moss her feelings and broke up with the other guys. They ended the season engaged.
Bringing Tayshia Adams in
Early on, Crawley’s feelings for Moss became clear.
“The guys felt a little spurned that they’re going all in for Clare,” ABC executive Rob Mills told Variety. Because of this, production didn’t have much time to figure out what they wanted to do.
“They’ve left their jobs to be there, they’ve quarantined there, it’s insanely hot in Palm Springs, and they never really had a chance because Clare only had eyes for one guy. You just go with instinct at that point.”
Fans know Adams from Colton Underwood’s season, where she made it to the top three, and Bachelor in Paradise, where she ended up with John Paul Jones.
After filming episode 3 of this season, production started thinking that Adams might be a good replacement for Crawley.
“At that point, the producers started discussing like, ‘What would happen if she wants to leave with Dale?'” he said. “And that’s when the producers thought that maybe we should reach out to Tayshia.”
Why did ‘The Bachelorette’ choose Tayshia?
Getting the men to completely forget about Crawley and pledge their love to a new Bachelorette was a huge feat. So, production tried to pick one kind of similar to Crawley.
“Tayshia had been through a divorce, so I think there is a lot of maturity that comes with that, and she is super serious about settling down, just like Clare was, so it actually did not seem like a huge stretch for these guys,” Mills said. “Also, you have to remember that we cast a lot of guys that weren’t necessarily announced for Clare because she was announced as the Bachelorette so late, so some of these guys would have been there for someone else that was chosen as the lead, anyway.”
