Andy DehnartNearly all Bachelor and Bachelorette relationships end. Of course they do: The show is, at best, a ridiculous fantasy produced in bubble in which the cast members are so manipulated that I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the only way they can go to the bathroom is if a producer squeezes their intestines.
Clare Crawley, the oldest cast member in the history of The Bachelorette at age 39, dumped more than half her cast after just 12 days to get engaged to Dale Moss, who she fell before ever arriving, because she browsed his social media accounts while waiting for their delayed season to begin.
Since many Bachelor and Bachelorette leads have reported knowing early in the season who they were going to choose, what Clare basically did was end the charade early. Instead of leading the guys on or sticking around to make dramatic! family-friendly! television!, she decided to leave.
And for that, she was castigated, of course, because some fans and even the men who’d gathered to woo Clare thought they were owed something.
The franchise’s host, Chris Harrison, even used violent language to describe what Clare did: “You’ve just blown up The Bachelorette!” Of course, The Bachelorette was just fine and kept filming with Tayshia Adams as its next star.
Say what you will about Clare and Dale, but it’s been two months since that mid-season finale—and almost six months since it was filmed—which means Clare and Dale easily outlasted many of the franchise’s other couples, who broke up within days or weeks of a finale airing.
What happened to them during filming may have been atypical, but this conclusion is typical and predictable, so they didn’t set any records with their break-up.
Dale asks for ‘privacy’ ?
How could anyone have seen this coming? One Twitter user shared a video to illustrate “the exact moment [Bachelor Nation] knew [Clare] and [Dale] would not last long” was when Chris Harrison asked them what was next and Dale’s answer was interrupted by Clare screaming, “Babies!”
In other words, it seems they may have had different expectations for their next steps.
News of their relationship’s end came less than a week after Dale revealed he said yes to doing the show only after learning Clare was its star, and just hours after some ominous headlines began emerging in the celebrity tabloid space (“Bachelorette’s Clare Crawley and Dale Moss Are ‘Working Through’ Some ‘Serious Issues’”).
Dale created real news by announcing the break-up in an Instagram message.
That led to the best headline of the year, which is from Vulture: The Bachelorette’s Clare Crawley Splits From Her Halloween-Costume-Model Fiancé.
That’s a reference to the fact that Dale was once a Party City model, wearing costumes that included a Roman warrior and a taco.
Anyway, Dale wrote:
I wanted to share with you all that Clare and I have decided to go our separate ways. We appreciate the love and support we’ve received from so many people, but this is the healthiest decision for both of us at this time.
We strongly believe in leading with love and always remaining true to oneself – something our families have taught and instilled in us throughout our lives. We only hope the best things for one another.
Please respect our privacy as we work through this together.
That last line is almost as precious as getting engaged to someone you’ve known for 12 days at a Palm Springs resort and imagining that relationship has any chance of success.