Bachelor Nation can finally put the sheer chaos of Peter Weber’s season of The Bachelor behind us now that we know how his love story ended — kinda. With new bachelorette Clare Crawley about to embark on her new journey, we can be sure that this Bachelor alum’s experience as the franchise lead will be nothing like anything we’ve ever seen, for more reasons than one.
The internet has been buzzing with early gossip from Clare’s season, prompted no doubt by the network’s release of the 32 men vying for her heart. Our Bachelorette is a grown woman (38 and proud, baby), but there are shockingly large number of young men in the lineup, including Bachelor fan favorite Tyler Cameron’s equally fine best friend Matt James. Thankfully, Clare will also be courted by several more seasoned suitors, so we can look forward to a mixed bag of romantic interactions.
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Unfortunately, one thing that we can’t look forward to next season is the occurrence of romantic international travel for Clare and her boyfriends. Unlike past Bachelors and Bachelorettes who have taken their love lives abroad, the California hair stylist will have to keep things local because of the global panic over the coronavirus.
Since hitting the radar of the World Health Organization last month, more than 100,000 people have tested positive for COVID-19, and countries are executing emergency measures to contain the pandemic. Companies are advising employees to work from home, and some countries are even closing their borders. Concern over the coronavirus has also led The Bachelorette’s production team to toss out the possibility of international travel for Crawley and her contestants.
“Clare’s season is about to get under production and we’ve already nixed all international travel,” host Chris Harrison told People. “We’re going to keep it domestic. We might even have to keep it in Los Angeles when it’s all said and done.”
The change in the filming schedule marks a major departure for the series; last season, Peter whisked his contestants off to Peru, Costa Rica, and Chile before popping the big question in the Australian outback. It's unfortunate that Clare will not be able to have a similar experience abroad due to the coronavirus, but safety is of the essence.
"Everything is changing by the hour with this, not even by the day,” Harrison continued. “And so we just have to react, keeping everybody safe.”
Luckily, COVID-19 isn't scaring any of Clare's suitors away. For now, it looks like everyone's here for the right reasons, even if that means not getting a few more stamps on their passports.