Meet Clare Crawley’s new crop of men! The coronavirus outbreak forced production on Crawley’s season of The Bachelorette to shut down just hours before she was supposed to meet her suitors at the Bachelor mansion in March. Over three months later, Crawley is gearing up to start filming again — with a new cast.
Host Chris Harrison previously told 360aproko that the Bachelorette team expected to do some recasting, as the previously-announced cast might not be available when they were finally able to film again.
“Are they going to be healthy enough? Are jobs going to be on the line if they leave? All of our lives are turned upside down, so it’s naive to think that all of these guys are going to be able to come back and pick right back up where we left off,” Harrison said. “We are going to continue casting.”
Of course, the biggest difference between Crawley’s previous cast and the newly-announced group is the absence of Matt James. The 28-year-old was announced as a contestant on Crawley’s season in March, but amid the coronavirus shutdown, the Bachelor franchise decided he’d be best suited to being the Bachelor. He was revealed to be the first black Bachelor on June 12.
There are 42 contestants in total in the quest to win Crawley’s heart. Of this list, 25 are new names and 17 stayed from the original contestant pool. There are 15 men that were cut from the original list, including, of course, Matt James. Crawley’s new group of suitors range in age from 25 to 40 with the majority of the men in their 30s.
Many fans were hoping that recasting also bring in men more suited for Crawley — or for actually trying to find love. Fans critiqued her group of men, announced earlier this year, for being too young overall. And even Harrison told 360aproko he was hoping to see more age appropriate contestants in Crawley’s new cast. Crawley is 39, though she has said she has dated younger men in the past.
Crawley recently admitted on the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast that she had looked up some of her men during the shutdown.
“Obviously. What woman wouldn’t, are you kidding me?” she told hosts Rachel Lindsay and Becca Kufrin. “I will say this. At first, I really didn’t. I really did not and it was because, I don’t know. I just kind of felt like I want to get to know them and regardless, I know how my Instagram is. It’s a piece of my life. … You have to see and feel it in person and so regardless of what their life is and what it looks like on their Instagram, it’s nice to actually see them in person and I am huge on pheromones, so that’s like the end for me.”
The Bachelorette is expected to air on Tuesdays this fall. A premiere date has yet to be announced.
