After a full Bachelor season of conflicting rumours about who, exactly, would be taking the baton from Hannah Brown as 2020's Bachelorette, Clare Crawley has stepped forward to show us how it's done. The 38-year-old is a Bachelor Nation veteran, appearing on Juan Pablo's season of The Bachelor in 2014 before taking two turns on Bachelor In Paradise and even getting engaged to Benoit Beauséjour-Savard on Bachelor Winter Games. I'd say she's The Bachelorette's answer to Arie Luyendyk Jr., but I'm confident she would never pull a similar post-finale breakup stunt. If there's one thing we learned from Clare's announcement interview on Good Morning America on Monday morning, this girl knows what she wants.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
"I feel like I could be their mom," she said of the current early-20s crop of Bachelor contestants before going on to defend her own age. "A lot of people put it out there as this negative thing, but for me it just more years under my belt, more learning and knowing what I want and what I don't want, and what I won't settle for."
Specifically, she's asking for "a man that will take off his armour."
"I want a man who is strong, that is willing to...open himself up and be vulnerable," she explained.
She was also asked about the demands placed on the Bachelors and Bachelorettes, especially in terms of backlash and feedback while being the centre of the world's attention. However, Clare's not worried.
"This is about me now and I'm ready for it," she said to applause.
Meet Clare Crawley! We talk to #TheBachelorette about her new journey to find love on @bacheloretteabc. https://t.co/dRn1AIbzEW pic.twitter.com/wmgJq1d7uv
— Good Morning America (@GMA) March 2, 2020
She's already gotten the seal of approval from ex Benoit. The two amicably broke off their engagement in 2018, a month after it went down on television.
"Congratulations to this gem!!" he wrote on Instagram. "She will be an amazing Bachelorette. She is smart, fun, strong, knows what she wants and most importantly, she will call out the guys messing around!! Hell yeah!! Good Luck on your journey to find love @clarecrawley !!"
But before we can truly get excited about Clare's journey, Bachelor Peter Weber still needs to finish his. Monday night's Women Tell All brings us one step closer to his final decision, but if the spoilers (or lack thereof) reveal anything, it's that even next week, this journey may be far from over.