At this point, it seems safe to say that Clare Crawley’s season of The Bachelorette is kind of f*cked. Last month, when production was canceled the day it was scheduled to start, it was a shock. Little did we know, it wasn’t just going to a be a week or two of delays. It’s now been six weeks since the initial postponement, and with stay-at-home orders still in place in California and like, everywhere else except Georgia, there’s no end in sight yet. Clare Crawley’s season was initially scheduled to premiere on May 18th, but that’s obviously not going to happen. So, like the rest of us, she has lots of time to kill on social media, and over the weekend, she took shots at some of her contestants.
Clare Crawley is no stranger to calling people out on Twitter, whether they’re random trolls or her ex-troll Juan Pablo, and it’s something I love about her. ABC makes these people follow a ton of rules, but I’m glad that Clare, a grown-ass woman, still feels like she can speak her mind. Which is exactly what she did on Saturday, when she tweeted that “If you are doing interviews and creating Cameo accounts before you are even on my season… you are in it for the wrong reasons.” She also hashtagged “dontwasteyourtime”, which I love.
If you are doing interviews and creating Cameo accounts before you are even on my season… you are in it for the wrong reasons… #dontwasteyourtime
— Clare Crawley (@Clare_Crawley) April 25, 2020
In a second tweet, she asked her contestants to respect this opportunity, the rules, and her.
Respect the opportunity you’ve been given. Respect the rules. Respect me. @BacheloretteABC ❤️
— Clare Crawley (@Clare_Crawley) April 25, 2020
While Clare kept her tweets vague, it took approximately two seconds for people to guess who she might be talking about. If you’re shouting “MATT JAMES” at your screen right now, congrats, you solved the puzzle! When Matt was announced as one of Clare’s contestants last month, he was already well-known among Bachelor fans as Tyler Cameron’s best friend and roommate. I wasn’t mad about his casting, but it was definitely an odd move for a show that’s obsessed with telling people that they should be there for the right reasons and not Instagram fame.
Since filming got postponed, Matt James has only gotten more attention, as he’s a main member of the Quarantine Crew, with Tyler and formerly Hannah Brown. The group is all over social media, and Matt now has almost 200,000 Instagram followers—all before he’s even set foot in the Bachelor Mansion. As mentioned in Clare’s tweet, Matt has given interviews and is on Cameo… but it’s all for charity. In an Instagram video which is pretty obviously directed at Clare, he clarified where the proceeds from his Cameo bookings are going:
View this post on Instagram
So there you go. Matt James is doing press and making Cameos, but it’s all to support a good cause. I don’t think anyone can really argue that he shouldn’t be doing that, but still, maybe he shouldn’t be going on The Bachelorette? The whole “right reasons” discussion aside, the fact that he and Clare are already basically subtweeting each other doesn’t seem like a promising start to a relationship. I usually wait until after I meet a guy to start tweeting vague rude things about him! Matt James already has his platform, so maybe he should just bow out of Clare’s season. He doesn’t really need it.
But the plot got thicker from there, when Clare Crawley followed up on Twitter, claiming that her original tweet wasn’t just about Matt James. She tells one of her followers “You weren’t supposed to deduce babe,” which is so condescending that I have to laugh. Clare says that the tweet “was about MULTIPLE men and a general thought”, which like, sure Jan. Maybe the tweet was about multiple men, but for her to act like we weren’t supposed to make guesses is just laughable.
You weren’t supposed to deduce babe, it was about MULTIPLE men and a general thought I was having while we sit here in a real life crisis where someone’s (everyone’s) time + sincerity hold so much weight and value. 🤷🏼♀️🥰
— Clare Crawley (@Clare_Crawley) April 26, 2020
She added that right now, we’re in a “real life crisis where someone’s (everyone’s) time + sincerity hold so much weight and value.” Eh, idk about this. If you’re like, a doctor or a nurse, your time is pretty precious right now, but I feel like most of us are pretty desperate for sh*t to do. I just spent a full weekend on the couch, so I don’t feel like my time holds that much value at this point.
We still have no idea when Clare Crawley’s season will actually start, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the list of contestants looks different from what ABC released initially. Chris Harrison has already acknowledged that there will probably be casting changes for logistical reasons, but I have a feeling Matt James might not make the final cut, either. As cynical as I am about all this stuff, there are still a lot of people who actually want to watch a love story on TV, and it won’t be a great look if the lead has already taken shots at one of her contestants on Twitter. Matt James’ Bachelor career might just be another casualty of the pandemic. Sad!
Images: ABC/John Fleenor; clare_crawley / Twitter (3); bachelornation.scoop / Instagram
This seems impossible, but somehow, it was only a week ago that the contestants for the upcoming season of The Bachelorette were revealed. That’s right—eight days ago, the most important thing in my life was roasting DMV photos of a bunch of dudes. Of course, the new season will star Clare Crawley, who just happens to be the oldest Bachelorette ever, at 38. That’s why, when we saw the contestants, the first thing that jumped out was the age disparity. The majority of Clare’s guys were in their 20s, with many more than a full decade younger than her. To each their own when it comes to age difference, but this seemed like an odd casting strategy.
Well, a whole f*cking lot has changed in the past week, and Clare’s season is really just along for the ride (as we all are). As you all know, the entire world is basically on pause right now due to the coronavirus pandemic, and unfortunately, The Bachelorette is not immune to a global health crisis. Turns out Mike Fleiss’ deal with the devil doesn’t cover that—sad!
Clare’s season was scheduled to kick off filming last Friday with the limo introductions, but it was called off and postponed until further notice. I’m assuming Clare’s contestants all got plane tickets back to wherever they’re from, and now things are just in a holding pattern. But while Matt James is chilling in Florida with Hannah Brown and Tyler Cameron, it sounds like we might never see some of these guys again.
This week, in an Instagram Live with his girlfriend Lauren Zima, Chris Harrison spoke candidly about the reality of what’s going on with Clare’s season, and the fact that the cast might be changing: “The chances are, for everybody to be able to put their life on hold and come back again is very slim. So yeah, we are still casting, so if you have somebody you think is great for this beautiful woman right here.” Yeah, I guess getting a month of vacation last week was one thing, but once this is all over, you might kind of have to go back to work. Chris continued, saying, “There will be some different guys. Maybe it’ll be completely different guys, maybe it’ll be a mixture. Who knows? We really don’t know, with the way the world is right now, with everybody’s schedule.”
Okay, so obviously Chris isn’t getting into details, and he probably doesn’t even know the details at this point, but let’s be real: ABC better use this opportunity to cast some guys that are actually logical for Clare to date and hopefully marry. Like, sorry Mr. 23-year-old frat star, but there is no way Clare Crawley wants to MARRY YOU. (Clare, sorry if that’s your type, but trust me, you don’t want to spend your forever with this man.) I sincerely hope that, whenever Clare’s season does happen, we see a group of contestants that are older and hotter, because she deserves it. Give us silver foxes, ABC!
Right now, we still have no idea when filming will begin for Clare’s season, but it’s starting to look like the premiere date, set for May 18th, might have to be pushed back too. As much as I hate to admit it, it’s a good thing that Listen To Your Heart was already done filming before this whole nightmare began, because we’re going to need SOMETHING to watch. I said I wouldn’t watch it, but these are desperate times. Damn it ABC, you’ve sucked us in again.
Until then Chris Harrison and Lauren Zima will be doing “Fireside Chats” on IG Live every evening, so you can watch those if you’re realllllly desperate for a Bachelor fix. (Or you could just watch the seasons of The Bachelor that they put on Netflix.) Who knows, Chris might spill some more tea, but honestly, we’ll probably let you know if anything actually important happens.
Images: ABC
Welcome back to another entry in the All Men Are Trash Encyclopedia. Who’s our featured piece of trash today? I’m sad to report that we’ve gotten some unfortunate information about Pilot Peter from this season of The Bachelorette. We all love him, but according to his ex-girlfriend, he’s a lying sack of sh*t just like literally every other man in the world. Andddd another one bites the dust. Let’s go through the accusations, and talk about how literally half of Hannah’s remaining men (not even counting Luke P) are total garbage.
Peter’s ex is a woman named Calee Lutes, who lives in Atlanta. In an exclusive interview with Entertainment Tonight, she said that she and Peter met in June 2018, when he was in Atlanta for a month of training after getting hired with Delta. (I have a friend who is a flight attendant at Delta and can confirm, this checks out.) They met on a dating app, and decided to continue their relationship long distance after his time in Atlanta was finished. Despite the distance, Calee told ET that she and Peter were “crazy about each other,” and that they saw each other every few weeks. They even went to Switzerland together in November.
ET also has photos of them together, in addition to screenshots of texts and DMs, so you should definitely look at those. According to Calee, their relationship progressed quickly, and they frequently talked about her potentially moving to LA to be with him. Then, two days before Christmas, Peter broke up with Calee over FaceTime, even though she had just bought a ticket to LA for New Years. Ugh, hopefully she flew Southwest so she could get that sweet sweet credit. She says he didn’t give any reason for the breakup other than that they shouldn’t let their relationship get any more serious.
Right after breaking up with her, Calee says that Peter deleted every trace of her from his Instagram, even erasing his comments and likes on her photos. At the time, Calee noticed that a Bachelorette producer had recently followed him, but she had no idea he was actually going on the show until the cast was announced in March.
Obviously, Calee was surprised and upset to find out that her boyfriend had applied and interviewed to be on a dating show while still in a serious relationship with her, but the initial shock just got worse after the show started airing. As you’ll probably recall, Peter opened up to Hannah in Latvia about how difficult his recent breakup was for him. To hear Peter tell it, he had his heart completely broken, and is still struggling to pick up the pieces.
Calee says she’s sure she is the ex he’s talking about, and that she feels betrayed about the way he’s portrayed their breakup on the show. If all of this is true, then Peter obviously sounds like a nightmare. It’s bad enough that he chose the show over his relationship, but the fact that he basically ghosted his girlfriend and is now making her sound like the bad guy on national television is completely f*cked up.
Overall, Jed’s deception of both Hannah AND his girlfriend before going on the show is probably worse, but Peter’s situation ain’t good either. I won’t spoil the ending of the show here (click here if you want to know who wins), but at this point, none of Hannah’s choices are looking promising. I mean… at least Luke P is upfront about how terrible he is? No, you’re right, that’s crazy talk.
Hannah, get out while you still can. I want the best for you, and I don’t think any of these lying clowns can provide that for you. Tyler C, you better not f*cking let us down.
Images: ABC; caleelutes / Instagram; Giphy
