Clare Crawley Says There Were Pros To 'The Bachelorette' Being Shutdown Due The Pandemic

Clare Crawley‘s season of The Bachelorette was famously postponed after the pandemic took over the United States earlier this year.

However, the star is thinking of the delay as kind of a blessing.

Speaking with People, Clare admitted that the shutdown was “stressful. But there were also honestly so many pros to it getting shut down.”

The pros: “Producers were able to recast some of the guys and get some that were more appropriate for what I was looking for. I wanted a guy who was genuinely there for me,” Clare says. “There was a lot of talk about, ‘Oh, I’m the older Bachelorette, are these guys too young?’ But it was also about: am I too old for them? It went both ways. So we were able to hone in on what everybody was looking for.”

Clare also says that since the shutdown and safety precautions due to coronavirus made the moments meeting and spending time with the guys more worthwhile.

“It was definitely a long anticipation for the first night,” she says. “To see the men standing in a room and know that most of them have the same interests and goals as I do, it really was magical. They were all amazing. I could feel it in my bones!”

She went on, “There was no physical touch, no contact and no face to face. So just being able to hug on somebody and love on somebody was so amazing. There was more of an appreciation. And goosebumps!”

The Bachelorette will premiere on Tuesday, October 13 on ABC.

If you missed it, there’s a shocking new report about the shakeup that’s coming on the show…