‘The Bachelorette’: The Moment ABC Execs Knew They Needed To Switch Clare Crawley for Tayshia Adams
On Tuesday night’s episode, we officially caught a glimpse of the new bachelorette: Tayshia Adams. It’s become abundantly clear that Clare Crawley is going to end her season with Dale Moss and, hopefully, the two will ride off into the sunset while Adams gets her shot at love.
According to the head of ABC’s Alternative Series, Specials & Late-Night Programming Robert Mills, there was actually one moment when Bachelor producers knew they had to make the call to Adams.
‘The Bachelorette’ producers expected Clare Crawley to be ‘unpredictable’
When Mills was interviewed by former bachelor Nick Viall on “The Viall Files,” he said Crawley “was exactly what we thought she’d be, which is Clare — unpredictable.”
Unlike past bachelorettes, Mills said Crawley wasn’t at all interested in the fame bonus that comes along with being the lead. Apparently, that makes her a wild card.
“She sort of faded, and this is what really appealed to us when we met with her last February,” he said. “She kind of faded out of the spotlight, she was just back in Sacramento, being a hairdresser and she really came into it like, ‘Look, if you guys want me, that’s totally great, I would be honored. I would love it. If not, [I] get it, too.’”
Robert Mills says Clare Crawley insisted Dale Moss be on her first group date
Moss was awarded Crawley’s first impression rose. Typically, that would mean he wouldn’t be included in the first group date. But Mills says that Crawley insisted.
In past seasons, production has encouraged leads to not zero in on one person so quickly. But Mills says Crawley was persistent.
Viall responded by saying he didn’t give his season winner Vanessa Grimaldi the first impression rose or a group date rose because he didn’t want to be obvious.
When ‘The Bachelorette’ producers knew they needed to replace Clare Crawley with Tayshia Adams
Mills also commented on the moment he knew they had to bring in someone else.
“When she didn’t give out that rose and she just gave it to herself [after the roast group date], that was it,” Mills said. “That was really it, when we started making the call [to replace her].”
As for what comes next, Mills had this to say:
“The guys are starting to be in revolt. … Those shots with producers that we don’t really like to show, breaking the fourth wall … we had to show [so] you could see what’s going through Clare’s head,” he explained. “Tayshia will be part of the season starting next week. … This is where, as Chris Harrison says, The Bachelorette will blow up.”
