Even in the days leading up to Clare Crawley's announcement, her name came up and she was discussed as a possible new Bachelorette.
But why did producers look at a sea of potential candidates and single out Clare Crawley?
Reality Steve is as close to an expert on this subject as you can get.
He spoke to Page Six about the casting decision that has made waves this week.
"I do think a lot of it had to do with the backlash they took this season," he expresses.
Steve Carbone notes that ABC got a lot of flack "from having so many young, catty women."
But it was more than just Clare's age of 38 that had producers pulling her name out of the hat.
"I know they’ve always liked Clare," Steve notes.
He reminds the Bachelor Nation that "she’s been on four times already."
Ratings or not, if production doesn't like you, you're probably not coming back to a show four -- and now five -- times.
Peter's season had a lot of contestants, but the eldest of them was only 31.
Clare Crawley is not only 38, but has appeared on the show multiple times in the past.
Most notably, she was the runner-up on Juan Pablo's infamous season (though she thankfully dodged that bullet).
But fans have seen her more recently, on The Bachelor: Winter Games in 2018. Her selection, to many, seemed random.
Even when Clare's name was nothing more than an unsubstantiated rumor, Reality Steve weighed in.
"Here’s my opinion on Clare IF she does end up being the 'Bachelorette.' Yes, it’s random," he began.
"And yes," he continued, "she’s not on anyone’s radar really."
That's true.
"But 1) that gives them major shock value," Reality Steve pointed out.
He continued: "2) gives them some1 older and 3) it kinda puts her as a combination of being the female Arie & Nick."
"Arie came out of nowhere," Steve correctly recalled. "He hadn’t even been on Bachelor programming for 5 years."
"It’s only been 2 for Clare since Winter Games," he pointed out.
"And Clare has had chances, just like Nick did multiple times, that for whatever reason didn’t work," Steve noted.
"Would it still surprise me?" he asked, answering: "Absolutely."
But, he explained, there is a method to the producers' apparent madness.
"This show is all about who has a story they can sell to their audience," Steve spelled out.
"And Clare no doubt has a story," he continued.
"Not saying it’s any better or worse than someone else’s story," Steve quickly clarified.
"I’m just saying," he reasoned, "I can see where they’re going if it does end up being her."
Steve had previously spoken to fans about how casting of contestants is done before the final winner is even chosen, let alone announced.
But with Clare's very special circumstances, the absolutely cowards in the production are actively recasting.
"Another one of the 25 year olds that was on my list and originally told he was cast has now been removed from the show bc of his age," Steve shares.
He adds: "Casting is still happening this week."
The 25-year-old in question is a man named Jackson Canfield.
Imagine how many worms you'd have to have in your brain to actively prevent this season from being a Cougar's Feast.
Clare deserves a buffet of buff 20-something himbos, but instead, we're going to end up with some men in the cast who look almost as old as Arie.
(Arie is technically Clare's age, but looks like a well-preserved 50)
Maybe they'll keep half of the young dudes just for the drama of it all, but in my opinion, since they have young women for the older men, they should do the same for Clare.
