As we reported just a couple of weeks ago, Clare Crawley's very special season of The Bachelorette is really happening in quarantine.
ABC says that it's still casting suitors for her ... but apparently that's just a big fat lie to trick fans.
Reality Steve saw ABC's ads inviting men to try out to win Clare's heart.
"Not sure you should buy ABC’s commercial about applying to be on Clare’s season," the reliable source of Bachelor Nation news tweets.
"Her guys arrive in Palm Springs this week and then will be quarantined," he points out.
"So," Steve reasons, "someone who hasn’t even applied yet isn’t getting on."
This is fully consistent with Steve's statements from two weeks ago.
"(SPOILER): I’m hearing that Clare, cast, & crew will arrive in Palm Springs, CA around July 9th/10th," Steve tweeted in late June.
According to Steve, "everyone will be quarantined for a week, then filming will begin around the 17th."
He concluded: "The resort where the whole season will be filmed, I believe, is the Ritz Carlton Rancho Mirage."
"(SPOILER) Obviously plans can change," Reality Steve shared, "maybe stuff gets pushed back, but that is what I’m hearing as of the last couple days."
"This is the booking calendar for the Ritz Carlton Rancho Mirage as of today," he tweeted.
"Blocked off until end of Aug," Reality Steve pointed out, "which is when her season would be done filming."
True to his word, he included photos that reportedly show the hotel's schedule.
"In terms of the cast, they released 32 guys that were set to be on her season back in March," Reality Steve noted.
"Clearly not all of them will be back on," he acknowledged. "They did recast."
"How many?" Steve asked rhetorically. "I don’t know if it’s 5, 10, half the cast?"
It will certainly be interesting to find out!
"Of new names I have, they definitely went older," Steve teases.
"So," he adds, "that’s good I guess."
There has been considerable controversy over the ages of Clare's prospectuve suitors.
Some fans and viewers are tired of the age gaps and want more mature contestants, especially for an "older" leading lady.
Others want Clare to live her best cougar life with a bunch of young, handsome studs.
A mix of both is probably the best approach.
"We will know the new cast when they release them," Steve has affirmed on Twitter.
He speculates that it will be "prob middle of July before filming begins since that’s what they’ve done the last 4 or 5 seasons."
Obviously, he was referring to the timing of the release of the cast lists, not claiming that July is a normal time to film. It is not, for this show.
"I don’t know who’s being replaced from the original 32 (obviously besides Matt James)," Steve acknowledged.
Matt James will of course be the franchise's first ever Black Bachelor, a long overdue milestone. (It took literally a quarter of a century)
"But," Steve teased, "they are skewing older from what I have.[been told]."