Clare Crawley of The Bachelorette revealed she did have contact with a contestant before filming began, but it’s not the man you're thinking of.
The upcoming season of The Bachelorette has been the topic of conversation even before it began filming. Production shut the show down due to the pandemic lockdown right after revealing who was lined up to date the 39-year-old for season 16. Crawley, who is the show’s oldest lead, first made an appearance on the infamous Juan Pablo's season. The hairstylist has made multiple appearances on the franchise’s spin-off shows like Bachelor in Paradise and Winter Games. The latter led to Crawley’s brief engagement to Benoit Beauséjour-Savard in 2018. Crawley was then cast as the next Bachelorette, shocking fans and breaking The Bachelor mold of casting young contestants as the lead. The new season found itself at the center of a media storm after they announced they would be filming in a “pandemic bubble” at the La Quinta Resort in Palm Spring. But the real source for the headlines came when news leaked that Crawley decided to quit filming after falling in love with contestant Dale Moss after only 12 days. Bachelor Nation started speculating that the pair had contact prior to filming, which is a direct violation of The Bachelor code of conduct, which prohibits the lead from having any contact with contestants before the show starts filming. Those rumors were quickly shut down by many sources, including Crawley herself.
But it has since been revealed that Crawley did have contact with a different contestant during the production hiatus. According to ET’s exclusive clip of the premiere episode, Crawley opens up about contestant Blake Moynes, who contacted her through Instagram before they even met. In the clip, on night one, Moynes explains, “During the quarantine, Clare posted on Instagram on a Story that she was really struggling right now because of what her mom was going through in the hospital.” He then drops the bombshell, “So, I want to check in if she's OK."
The clip then shows Clare confronting Moynes on the controversy. She tells him “So, over quarantine, it was really hard for me. And I didn't want to bring this up, but there are these weird rules that we have to follow for the show of not contacting somebody, and you were the only guy who reached out to me the entire time.” Crawley continues, “So, you broke the rule that you're not supposed to contact somebody."
Fans will have to wait until the episode premieres to see what happens to Moynes, but Crawley doesn’t seem impressed with Moynes breaking the rules and reaching out. Although Crawley herself has broken some Bachelor-isms this season by deciding to quit the show, it is yet to be seen what the aftermath will be of all the controversies that keep appearing throughout this highly-anticipated season.
The Bachelorette airs Tuesdays at 8 pm ET on ABC.
Source: ET