UPDATE #2: It’s been a month since we checked in with Dale and Clare, and unsurprisingly, this fairytale nightmare couple can’t stay away from each other. The two seemed to be on pretty bad terms when they announced their split last month, with Clare claiming to be blindsided by Dale’s breakup post on Instagram. But a little public betrayal is no match for true love and thirst, and the Bachelorette alums have been spotted together in Florida several times in the last week.
Last week, Clare and Dale were seen hanging out at numerous restaurants in the Sarasota area, and were holding hands in the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton. While Sarasota isn’t exactly the paparazzi capital of the world, holding hands in the lobby of the Ritz doesn’t make it seem like they were trying to keep anything a secret. Later in the week, two sources spoke to Us Weekly, confirming that the relationship is back on. One source said that “they’re just figuring things out,” but “it’s obvious to everyone that they’re back together.” The second source echoed this sentiment, adding that Clare “still has strong feelings for” Dale.
Though their reconciliation already seemed clear, this was further confirmed on Sunday, when Dale and Clare were photographed frolicking on the beach, and sealing things with a kiss. Well folks, maybe we’re getting our happy ending after all. For all the emotional turmoil they’ve put us through in the last six months, I can’t deny that they look great together. I’ll probably regret saying this in 72 hours, but I actually think Clare and Dale might have a chance? Some relationships thrive on chaos, and I just want Clare to have happiness.
UPDATE: Did you really think we were making it out of this week without some more Clare and Dale messiness? Of course not. When we last checked in on Wednesday, we were working with Dale’s Instagram post (that was shadily deleted, and then later reposted) and a bunch of tabloids with info from anonymous sources. Despite Dale confirming the breakup, at that time we still hadn’t heard from the Bachelorette herself, Clare Crawley.
Well, buckle up, because she finally made her statement, and it’s a f*cking doozy. Clare begins by clarifying that she “was made aware of a ‘mutual’ statement at the same time you all were, so I’ve needed some time to really digest this.” Whoa. Immediately, my brain is spiraling. There are two ways to read this: either Clare and Dale broke up and weren’t clear on the timing of going public with that information, or… Dale informed her that their relationship was over VIA INSTAGRAM. While neither of these situations would be ideal for Clare, I’m sincerely hoping it’s the first option, because a social media breakup would be downright cruel.
Clare goes on to say that she is “crushed” by the breakup, and that it’s not what she “expected or hoped for.” She outlines many of the reasons why 2020 was such a challenging year for her (COVID, post-Bachelorette anxiety, dealing with her mothers’ dementia), and reiterates that she was “genuinely invested with all of [her] heart” in the relationship with Dale. Based on the whole tone of this statement, it seems safe to say that Clare wasn’t the one who wanted out of the relationship, and based on some new reports, we may have a better idea of what happened.
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Just after Clare’s statement was posted, E! News reported that Dale had been engaged in a months-long affair with Eleonora Srugo, a New York-based real estate agent. Their source claimed to have witnessed the two having a “candlelit dinner” back in November. According to their reporting, Dale has known Srugo since 2019, and maintained a relationship the entire time he was with Clare. But a different source told Us Weekly that this rumor is untrue, and Srugo herself denied that her relationship with Dale is anything but “platonic”. Messy, messy, messy. Whether the cheating part of this whole situation is true or not, you can’t help but feel bad for Clare that this supposed-to-be fairytale has come to such a swift end. Personally, I’m secretly hoping they both end up on Paradise, because could you imagine?
Now that we’re a few weeks into Matt James’ season of The Bachelor, Clare and Tayshia’s season of The Bachelorette feels like a distant memory. But as we’ve all come to understand, time isn’t real anymore, and it was just over two months ago that Clare and her beloved Dale sat down with Chris Harrison for a little chitchat after they ran off together in the middle of the season. As I said, time is not real.
From the moment we heard the first spoilers that Clare jumped the gun on her Bachelorette engagement, I would imagine most of us were skeptical that this would end well. It’s not like couples from this franchise have a great track record of staying together to begin with, and watching it unfold, we could see these two barely got to know each other before they were calling up Neil Lane on Zoom. Turns out the skepticism was warranted, because just weeks after meeting each other, falling in love, and getting engaged, Clare and Dale have called it quits.
On Tuesday afternoon, numerous tabloids reported that the couple was spending time apart, and later in the day, Dale confirmed the breakup with a text post on Instagram. For reasons unknown, that post has since been deleted, but thanks to the high-powered technology of screenshooting, it didn’t actually go anywhere. Silly Dale, the internet is forever!
Despite earlier reports that he and Clare were “on a break,” Dale’s statement made things sound a lot more final. And because these people work harder than the devil, Dale also spoke about the breakup to a paparazzo in New York City on Tuesday night. He said that his relationship with Clare is “not the greatest situation,” and that they will “be cool” despite deciding that being together isn’t the “healthiest thing for us right now.”
Dale isn’t sharing a lot of details about their split, and Clare still hasn’t said anything publicly, but people are already coming out of the woodwork to explain where things went wrong. One source told Page Six that they had disagreements about where they would live and how quickly they would try to have children together. If you’ve paid any attention to this couple, neither of these issues are surprising. In their interview with Chris Harrison, Dale looked horrified when Clare told Chris Harrison that “BABIES!” were the next thing on the horizon for them as a couple. And just after their time on the show came to a close, there were conflicting reports about where they wanted to live. Clare told PEOPLE that they were “house-hunting in Sacramento”, but Dale was seen touring apartments in NYC the same week. Not to be too cynical here, but were these two ever really in it for the long haul? An E! News source basically cited the same relationship issues, suggesting that Dale was worried he was rushing into something too serious. Perhaps he should have considered that before proposing in front of TV cameras, but hey, we all get swept up in the hype from time to time.
So for now, we’re awaiting an official response from Clare, but if she’s looking to move on to someone new, she already has her first candidate lined up. Spencer Robertson, who competed for Tayshia’s heart on The Bachelorette, asked Clare to get coffee with him in an Instagram story on Tuesday after the breakup news surfaced. It’s important to note that Spencer was one of the new contestants who showed up after Clare had already left, so this isn’t a Pilot Pete/Kelley situation. Clare and Spencer have probably never met each other, so there’s a solid chance Spencer was just feeling a little thirsty and knew people like me would end up writing about this. Or who knows, maybe he and Clare will be engaged two weeks from now—anything could happen.
And along with Clare and Dale’s breakup, we have another split to process: On Wednesday morning, Listen To Your Heart winners Bri and Chris also announced that they’ve decided to part ways. Even if you didn’t watch LTYH (congratulations, you have standards), you’ll appreciate this: Chris and Bri were the couple who performed during Dale and Clare’s weird date before they peaced the f*ck out, and were also supposedly supposed to perform at their wedding. So I guess that whole situation really was cursed, huh? A sad day for Bachelor Nation, but there’s something really poetic about the simultaneous demise of these two relationships.
In the end, I’m kind of sad for Clare that her latest Bachelor journey ended in yet another round of heartbreak, but maybe Spencer will come along to save the day. In the meantime, I’m fully expecting to see Dale on Bachelor in Paradise this year, and he’ll probably have marriage plans with three different women by the second week. And as for Bri and Chris, I probably won’t ever think about them again, but I wish them all the best with their music careers. After all of this grim relationship news, maybe wasting years of my life on dating apps doesn’t seem so bad after all.
Iamges: ABC/Craig Sjodin
