Ali Fedotowsky is all for switching things up on The Bachelorette. 360aproko learned on Monday that after falling for a contestant, current Bachelorette Clare Crawley has been replaced as the season’s lead by Tayshia Adams — roughly two weeks into filming.
In an interview with Lauren Zima on Monday, Fedotowsky responded to the news, calling the new chapter “amazing.” 360aproko can confirm fans will see both women’s journeys to love this season, though what will air and the full story are still mysteries.
Fedotowsky reacted to the reports that Crawley fell for a contestant, ending her time on the show early: “I think that’s awesome. I think that’s amazing,” said the mom of two, who was the Bachelorette on season 6 in 2010. Her season was recapped Monday night in a new episode of The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons — Ever!
Fedotowky explained that on her season, she “knew my top two the first night” — Roberto Martinez and Frank Neuschaefer (who actually left the show at the final three). “I feel like Clare, maybe if she was like, ‘There is no top two, there is a top one, and I know it right now and I’m done’ … I think that’s so awesome, not only that she figured it out if that’s the case, but I think it’s awesome of the show to let that happen,” she said.
“I think in my season, if I had said that, that wouldn’t have been allowed to stop everything down or send a bunch of people home, so the fact that they’re shaking it up and saying, ‘Sure, fine, you can go, and we’ll bring in someone new,’ I think that’s so much fun, and I hope that’s the case,” she added.
Several memorable contestants were part of Fedotowsky’s journey, including Justin “Rated R” Rego, who came on the show with a secret girlfriend, and Kasey Kahl, who got a tattoo in honor of Fedotowsky during filming.
It was a date with Kahl that had Fedotowsky so frustrated she thought she would quit the show, she revealed to 360aproko.
“I got into a full-on screaming fight with my producer, saying, ‘I’m not giving him a rose! This is too cheesy, this is not happening!’ And she was like, ‘You have to give him a chance.’ I’m like, ‘I’m not going to give him a chance,’ and I walked off the show,” she recalled. “I said, ‘I’m done, I quit, I’m not going to be the Bachelorette anymore.'”
Fedotowsky remembered feeling “betrayed” as producers rolled cameras, prepared to make her possible exit “part of the show,” but in hindsight, she understands they were simply doing their jobs. “I think every Bachelor and Bachelorette has their ‘jump the fence’ Colton Underwood moment,” she explained. “[The audience] just won’t always see it,” she explained. “I think the show is being more generous to allow us to see those real moments, because that’s ultimately what everyone wants to see.”
The former Bachelorette got engaged to Martinez on her season, but they split about a year later. But even though she focused on two men on night one, Fedotowsky appreciates producers who encouraged her not to zone in on them right away. “One of my biggest regrets even is that I zoned in on two people so quickly,” she said. “I actually wish that I hadn’t done that… [producers are] just trying to make you see potential other relationships.”
Fedotowsky made another big reveal to 360aproko confessing she secretly snuck a cellphone into production in the lining of her suitcase. The 35-year-old said she used it to text her mother and google her contestants early in filming, but had to stop using it once the show began traveling internationally simply because she forgot to purchase an international coverage plan!
She also admitted that before Crawley’s departure for filming, she and the other Bachelorettes were in communication with the San Diego resident. They added Crawley to their group text and kept in touch as she waited for her season to start filming — it was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fedotowsky said she wouldn’t be surprised if Crawley had been talking to her contestants before filming began, which is typically a major faux pas in the franchise.
“We have to assume she was talking to all of them, if not the majority of the ones she was interested in, based off of pictures or initial attraction,” she said. “That’s got to be it, there’s no question.”
Crawley was waiting at home for months to begin filming her season, and did admit on a podcast that she’d looked up her contestants online in her downtime.
Regardless of how Crawley formed a connection with one of her contestants, Fedotowsky is sure the hairstylist “saved herself a lot of stress and tears.” “I think it’s 100% the right decision, and I think it’s going to be so exciting to watch,” she said of the upcoming season.
A source told 360aproko on Monday that Adams would be getting a fresh start as the Bachelorette following Crawley’s departure, but it’s unclear if she’ll get a whole new crop of contestants.
“I think there’s gonna be a lot of focus… on whether or not the guys are going to be there for her, because they all thought it was going to be Clare, and they knew it for a while because of quarantine,” Fedotowsky pointed out. “It wasn’t like it was going to be a surprise who that Bachelorette was.”
“I think my advice to [Adams] would be just to let that go. Don’t focus on that, because at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter who they showed up for. It matters how they feel in the end. You never know how your feelings are going to be, so I would just tell her not to focus on that and let that go,” she added.
Looking back at her own season, Fedotowsky said she’s actually glad things didn’t work out with Martinez or Neuschaefer, whom she went on a date with years after he dumped her on camera. (“At that point we said, ‘OK, this isn’t going to work,'” she told 360aproko of her meetup with Neuschaefer.)
“I’m so grateful … it all turned out the way it did, because I wouldn’t have my beautiful family. I have two adorable little children and my husband’s amazing, so it all worked out,” she gushed.
Fedotowsky — who shares 4-year-old daughter Molly and 2-year-old son Riley with husband Kevin Manno — recently opened up to fans about suffering a miscarriage. She’s a self-proclaimed “open book” with her fans, and while she struggled with the decision of whether or not to share her experience, she ultimately thought it would be beneficial to “help more women feel comfortable sharing their stories.”
“We’re taking it one day at a time right now,” Fedotowsky said of her family plans. “There’s no big future plans for anything, family-wise. We don’t know what’s going to happen with quarantine, we don’t know if the kids are going back to school, we don’t know any of that, so I think we’re taking it day by day.”
