Meet Bachelorette Clare Crawley. Bachelor franchise fans were delighted in March 2020,
when Crawley was officially made the lead for the show's 16th season. But how did she
go from being a 2014 runner-up to being named the Bachelorette six years later?
Unlike most Bachelorettes who usually only have a season's worth of Bachelor experience
under their belts, Clare Crawley is entering her search for true love as a seasoned veteran
of the franchise. Hailing from Sacramento, California, Crawley was first introduced to
Bachelor Nation in 2014 when she appeared as a contestant on Juan Pablo Galavis' season
of The Bachelor. Although Galavis ultimately rejected Crawley for Nikki Ferrell, Crawley
became an instant fan favorite, securing her spot on the very first season of the hit spin-off
Bachelor in Paradise.
After leaving that season of Paradise during the fifth week, Crawley was invited to return
to the show for its second season. Unfortunately, she didn't end up finding love on the beach,
eventually getting eliminated again during the third week. However, her journey wasn't
over yet. The hairstylist took another chance on reality TV love in February 2018, appearing
as a contestant on The Bachelor Winter Games. Crawley didn't have luck finding her forever
love on the Olympics-themed spin-off, either.
As a contestant on Season 18 of The Bachelor, Crawley accepted a rose from Juan Pablo Galavis
week after week, eventually becoming one of the final two women left standing at the end
of his season. However, her relationship with Galavis throughout the course of the season
was fraught with drama. So, when Galavis ultimately rejected Crawley during his final rose ceremony,
the usually polite, soft-spoken hairstylist had some choice words for the former soccer
pro.
Upset that Galavis waited until the last minute to break up with her instead of letting her
go sooner, she said,
"I lost respect for you. […] I thought I knew what kind of man you were. What you just
made me go through, [...] I would never want my children having a father like you."
Considering Galavis is widely considered to be one of the least-liked bachelors in franchise
history, Crawley's break-up speech was instantly iconic and a total home run with fans.
The Bachelor Winter Games saw Clare Crawley form romantic connections with two men: Canadian
contestant Benoit Beausejour-Savard and Germany native Christian Rauch. While fans were rooting
for Crawley to end up with Benoit, she ultimately rejected the fan-favorite contestant for Rauch.
Unfortunately, Crawley and Rauch's Winter Games relationship didn't play out the way
the franchise veteran had hoped, and Crawley left the show and headed back to Sacramento
a single woman.
However, after leaving the show, Crawley reconnected with Benoit over the phone. He told People,
"We spent hours and hours each and every day talking to each other."
In fact, Crawley and Beausejour-Savard's connection was so strong that the Canadian contestant
proposed to Crawley during The Bachelor Winter Games: World Tells All special.
While Crawley gleefully accepted his proposal, the engagement didn't last long. The pair
announced their split on Instagram in April 2018, telling fans there were "no negative
feelings."
They wrote,
"We are simply two people who believed in love, and were open enough to give it a chance."
The Bachelor franchise is known for its tendency to splice and dice clips to create a made-for-reality-TV
narrative — no matter how far from reality that narrative might be. Crawley knows all
too well what it's like to be at the mercy of the production and editing teams.
During the very first season of Bachelor in Paradise, Crawley found herself at odds with
fellow Paradise castmate AshLee Frazier. During one unforgettable moment, Crawley sobbed and
vented to a producer about her argument with Frazier — however, the entire conversation
was edited to look as if Crawley was confiding in a raccoon. Yes, you can add this to the
reasons that The Bachelor is totally fake.
In a February 2017 appearance on Steve Carbone's Reality Steve podcast, Crawley said she'd
been approached by fans who genuinely believed she'd held a full-on conversation with the
raccoon.
She said,
"I would have rather talked to a raccoon. [...] I was talking to [...] one of the producers.
I didn't even know there was a raccoon there."
Featuring pilot Peter Weber in the leading role, Season 24 of The Bachelor was criticized
for the way it placed its focus on creating drama between the contestants rather than
on Weber's supposed search for long-lasting love. Particularly, the shockingly young ages
of the contestants left viewers feeling as if The Bachelor had become a show about young
20-somethings gaining an Instagram following and pursuing their social media influencer
aspirations.
By announcing Clare Crawley as the Bachelorette for the show's 16th season, franchise producers
seemed to send a clear, intentional message that it was time to return to the show's roots.
Crawley — 38 years old at the time she was crowned — is a welcome departure from previous,
younger leads who likely could have used a few more years of relationship experience
before trying to find a spouse.
"For me it just is more years under my belt, more learning and knowing what I want, what
I don't want, and what I won't settle for."
Speaking during her official bachelorette announcement on March 2nd, 2020, Crawley said,
"I feel so much younger at heart than my actual age! [...] I'm proud of my age, but I just
feel younger."
While appearing on The Bachelor is pretty much a guarantee you'll be getting paid to
promote FabFitFun boxes within a matter of months, Crawley's Bachelor Nation debut happened
at a time in which social media wasn't nearly as big as it is today. So, instead of becoming
an Instagram influencer after being rejected by Juan Pablo Galavis, Crawley returned to
her career as a hairstylist.
Even after multiple appearances on Bachelor spin-off shows, the California native has
remained committed to making other people feel beautiful as a hairstylist at De Facto
Salon in East Sacramento. In a May 2019 Instagram post, Crawley said her favorite part about
being a hairstylist is making connections with her clients along the way.
Captioning a picture of herself and a smiling customer, Crawley wrote,
"I specifically remember one of my beauty school teachers telling me I'd never be successful
because I care too much what the client thinks. Well, here we are years later, and I'm still
obsessed with my job and surrounded by some of the most amazing clients and friends ever!"
While Crawley went on to solidify her place within the Bachelor Nation books with her
appearances on Bachelor in Paradise and The Bachelor Winter Games, fans were left wondering
why she wasn't chosen for the Bachelorette role she so deserved following Juan Pablo
Galavis' disastrous season.
During an October 2018 appearance on Olivia Caridi's Mouthing Off podcast, Crawley opened
up about why she wasn't named Bachelorette after her split with Galavis. Speaking with
Caridi, Crawley revealed that she'd talked with producers about becoming the Bachelorette
and had even gone through the interview process. However, her mother was sick at the time,
and she simply wasn't in the right emotional state to lead her own season of The Bachelorette.
Speaking again with Caridi on Mouthing Off, Crawley revealed what the "perfect relationship"
for her life would ideally look like.
She said,
"For me, a relationship that I would settle into and be happy to be a part of would be
[with] somebody who is very self-confident in themselves. [...] I have learned and taught
myself how to create my own happiness, so I don't need a man for happiness. [...] I've
created a life that I love. I've created a life that I'm absolutely obsessed with, and
it will take a lot for a man to kind of come in that."
However, while Crawley definitely doesn't need a man to be happy with her life, she
does have an idea of the type of guy who would make for her perfect mate, saying,
"I want him to be able to add value to my life. [...] I want a man that can get me out
of my comfort zone."
Before Crawley's surprise engagement to Benoit, she had talked to her former Canadian beau
about the idea of capturing an engagement on film so that her mother could see and feel
Crawley's excitement.
In an October 2018 episode of Mouthing Off with Olivia Caridi, she said,
"My mom has Alzheimer's and dementia. [...] For her to be able to watch that [...] back would
be beautiful, I think."
In an Instagram post on January 13th, 2020, Crawley opened up about how deeply she'd been
affected by her mother's diagnosis. Revealing to followers her difficult journey to finding
hard-earned happiness in her life, Crawley wrote,
"2019 was awful tough. I don't show it often, but there were so many days where I wanted
to just crumble. […] My CHOSEN family, and [two] sisters fought right [alongside] me
when I was struggling [...] and I am forever forever grateful! They held me up when the
weight of my moms diagnosis crushed my soul."
The Bachelor franchise is known for planning extravagant, romantic, and sometimes downright
terrifying dates for leads and contestants. Whether it's skydiving, eating bugs, naked
bungee jumping, riding in helicopters, or being serenaded by country music artists that
happen to be a contestant's ex-boyfriend, ABC's reality dating show has seen and done
it all.
Hopefully, the guys on Clare Crawley's season of The Bachelorette consider themselves to
be outdoorsy types because Crawley is a known nature-lover. Just one look at her Instagram,
and it's clear Crawley would rather be adventuring outdoors, surrounded by nature, than just
about anywhere else. In a May 2018 Instagram post, she wrote,
"Higher elevations always manage to cleanse my lungs and my soul all in one!"
Alongside another Instagram photo, Crawley wrote,
"My body (and the foggy weather) was telling me to stay in my cozy bed and [watch Netflix]
all day, but my soul was craving fresh air! […] Needless to say, I don't regret my decision!"
During her intro video for Juan Pablo Galavis' season of The Bachelor, Crawley opened up
about the most important man in her life — her late father.
Recounting her father's tragic passing from brain cancer, Crawley said,
"When my dad passed away I feel like it just shattered my world because I was his baby
girl."
Crawley said that before her father passed away, her dad made a DVD for her future husband
to watch. Nobody has ever watched it because Crawley is saving it for the right man.
Between her dramatic relationship with Juan Pablo Galavis, her failed appearances on Bachelor
in Paradise, and her disastrous love triangle and eventual broken engagement from The Bachelor
Winter Games, one might think Crawley would go back in time and change a thing or two.
However, she's not one to harbor regret.
Following her highly publicized split with Galavis, Crawley spoke with Good Morning America
in March 2014.
"The greatest thing is that I have zero regrets.
Adding,
"I went into this feeling I'm going to be 100 percent open and I'm going to be 100 percent
myself and I'm going to think about what I do and, because I thought and then acted,
I'm proud of that."
In a March 2015 Instagram post, Crawley echoed this sentiment, writing,
"When someone asks me [...] 'So, do you regret going on the Bachelor??' My answer has and
will always be the same — NOT FOR A SECOND."
In a September 2017 Reality Steve podcast interview, Crawley opened up to host Steve
Carbone about her dating history, revealing that she'd actually been romantically involved
with another person or people from the Bachelor franchise, aside from Juan Pablo Galavis.
However, exactly who she's dated will likely always remain a secret, as the reality star
admittedly prefers to keep her relationships private, saying
"I really don't put my dating life at all on my social media. [...] I do like to keep
it all private. In real life, in my regular life, I can be very introverted. [...] I have
a very peaceful, calm life. [...] I actually really, really like my private life [to be]
private. So for somebody whose motives are to try to get followers or to be part of the
crew or part of the franchise, it's kind of not what I want to be involved in."
You heard it here first — Clare Crawley has no time for aspiring Instagram celebrities.
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