Clare Crawley’s short time as The Bachelorette has already seen some serious ups and downs. Now, as viewers look forward to this week when Tayshia Adams is set to take over, Clare’s ex-fiance is speaking out, and he says that leaving the show wasn’t Clare’s decision.
After the last episode, viewers are ready for Clare to move on and to take Dale Moss with her. Many are sick of both of them after watching Clare ignore literally all the guys except for Dale, even asking the other guys about him while out on a group date.
But now, there are questions about just how much of this was authentic Clare and how much of the Dale Moss show that we have been watching was due to editing.
Clare Crawley’s ex-fiance is speaking out in her defense.
Benoit says this is not the Clare he knows
Clare Crawley’s ex-fiance Benoît Beauséjour-Savard is one person who knows her really, really well.
While speaking with Ben Higgins and Ashley Iaconetti on their Almost Famous podcast, Benoit made it clear that what we’re watching on The Bachelorette is not the Clare he knows.
He revealed that he filmed a segment that should have aired early in The Bachelorette season but due to timing, it was cut. He also told Ben and Ashley that producers are trying to edit Clare’s time to make her look bad.
“She has some good qualities than right now what we’ve seen it’s only [the] drama part,” Benoit explained. “Clare is a really deep person. She likes to get to know you on a really deeper level, which is not showing at all.”
Benoit also pointed out that part after the roast where Clare called Dale her fiance as proof that some editing tricks have been used to make her look a certain way.
He also thinks some of those jokes may have been aimed at him, not Dale, and that editing made it look different.
“When she called him her fiancé, a lot of people were telling me, ‘Benoit, I feel like they just cut out the ex-fiancé part and maybe they made some jokes about you and that was not fair,’ so there’s no way she would have called him at that moment her fiance,” he said.
“I know Clare and I know how she is. Why would she have called him her fiancé at that moment, especially in that part because she’s, like, walking, you can see the back of her head so you can’t really read her lips, so it’s weird a bit.”
Benoit went on to remind The Bachelorette fans that Clare is also in a highly unusual situation. Being on the show in itself can get in a person’s head but she is doing it during a pandemic quarantine with protocols in place that no one has dealt with during filming before.
Benoit thinks things would have been different if Dale had not been there
Benoit confirmed that Clare “knows what she wants” and that leaving the show was something that production must have convinced her to do.
“So I think, like, ultimately it was production that came at her and said, ‘You know what, Clare, I feel like you’re not giving it a fair chance, you’re really into Dale, so we want you to be happy’ and they had like a common agreement on her maybe leaving the show but I feel like it wasn’t her ultimate decision.”
That would line up with other reports that The Bachelorette production always intended for Tayshia Adams to take over this season. There has been speculation about how quickly Tayshia Adams was spotted quarantining so that she could film after it was learned that Clare “quit” the show so she could pursue Dale.
Now, it’s all playing out for viewers and everyone wants to know how much of this was real and how much is editing. Thankfully, Benoit said that Clare’s story doesn’t end for viewers when Tayshia Adams takes over.
The next episode of The Bachelorette airs on Thursday, November 5 at 8/7c on ABC.