The craziest and most unpredictable The Bachelorette season may soon get even more crazy and unpredictable.
Due to the FIRST-EVER star switcheroo before episodes even air.
As previously reported, ABC may be already thinking about replacing Clare Crawley for Season 16.
Why?
Because it's kind of a stale franchise that's badly in need of a shakeup and some diversity ... maybe.
But more urgenty because, according to Life & Style sources, the 39-year old is already in love!
And wants out!
Crawley has been filming in an isolated California location for just two weeks ... and The Bachelorette spoilers claim she's decided that she wants to marry Dale Moss, who is pictured below.
Why continue filming, Crawley allegedly figures, if she's ready to start her life right this very instant with Moss?!?
According to this shocking celebrity gossip tabloid report, producers were totally "blindsided" by Clare's declaration.
It's even been rumored that Clare "refused to come out of her room" at one point during shooting in quarantine.
Her reason? She did not want to continue dating men who are not Dale. How sweet, right?
Very sweet. And also: How sort of totally weird after just knowing this guy for 12 whole days.
Not to mention, how incredibly inconvenient for the long-running reality show itself, right?
Having just scrambled to put together a pandemic season and sequester everyone at a resort?
Very inconvenient if this is truly what's happening, but if 2020 has taught us anything, it's that you gotta adjust on the fly.
So, in a pivot to salvage the season - which has already been delayed and presented with countless challenges by the coronavirus outbreak - producers have maybe come up with a solution:
Forget Clare Crawley. Enter Tayshia Adams!
Adams finished third on Season 23 of The Bachelor behind Hannah Godwin and Cassie Randolph, nearly winning over Colton Underwood.
Tayshia went on to date Bachelor Nation member John Paul Jones (below) before the couple broke up toward the end of last year.
She has been considered a pretty strong fan favorite ever since - some wanted her to be the lead on Clare's season from the onset ...
... and now executives supposedly want to take advantage of this situation by turning her into the new Bachelorette.
Potentially amazing, right!?
While Clare already sent home a few of her contestants before falling in for Moss, producers would like to “match [Tayshia] up with the bachelors who are left," Life & Style writes.
The suitors, of course, signed on for Season 16 under the impression that they'd be competing for Crawley.
However:
“Execs hope the guys will still want to participate” with the 29-year-old replacement because “it took them time to test them all for COVID and they’ve already been quarantined at the resort for 14 days,” an insider says.
Adams, who also participated in Bachelor in Paradise, had previously been considered for the role Clare eventually earned.
Viewers got really excited over the possibility a few months ago (see Tweet below), while Ashley Iaconetti said in February:
“[Tayshia would be a] really good choice,” show alum Ashley Iaconetti gushed to Life & Style in February, adding:
“She is just so likable … She’s just pretty fantastic."
it's worth noting, of course, that Adams is also African-American and the series has been under fire of late for its lack of diversity.
Hence why it has already cast Matt James as The Bachelor for the 2021 season (assuming that happens in some form).
“Producers are scrambling to figure out what to do,” this magazine source says of the Clare situation.
“They are frantically trying to pick up the pieces without having to start over completely.”
Seems to us that Tayshia would be a strong choice for both TV viewers and the men in quarantine.
I mean ... look at her:
Us Weekly, meanwhile, has not gone as far, and won't confirm that Crawley is out and Adams is in.
However, this publication has indeed acknowledged that something seems to be amiss with filming.
Apparently, the alternates are already being summoned for duty ... again, after a whole two weeks.
“Last weekend, producers reached out to backup Bachelorette contestants who had been vetted for Clare’s season but were ultimately not cast to film at La Quinta [Resort],” an insider has said.
“When producers reached back out, out of the blue, it was very apparent that something had happened with production.”
Ya think?
Wild, right?
Stay tuned to The Hollywood Gossip for more Bachelorette news as it breaks in the coming days, weeks, and decades.
And get ready for a whole new set of spoilers if we actually have a new Bachelorette ... because that'd be bonkers.