The Real Reason The Bachelorette Is Recasting Clare Crawley's Season

Wow, the power of the Internet is real. After releasing the list of men for Clare Crawley's season of The Bachelorette, fans voiced their (very strong) opinions about the ridiculously young average age of the men. The new Bachelorette herself is 38-years-old and some of the male contestants were in their early twenties. Get real! Didn't ABC learn anything from Hannah Ann Sluss' amazing line to Bachelor Peter Weber? "If you want to be with a woman, you need to become a real man." 

Not that a 25-year-old isn't a real man — that's not what we're saying at all. It's just that after the drama of Peter's season, many fans (and apparently producers) thought it might be a refreshing change to opt for a more "mature" crowd. After all, it would definitely be a change of pace to have people who might be a little more serious about settling down. 

Now, in light of recent news that there's a good chance Clare's season is being (at least partially) recast, the Bachelorette might get a chance at love with someone who is on the show for the right reasons and not just to gain a few thousand Instagram followers. 

Just as production was slated to begin on Clare Crawley's season of The Bachelorette, it was announced that the season would be postponed due to growing concerns about the coronavirus. Shortly after the news broke, Clare took to Instagram to update fans, writing, "Everyone's health is the most important priority at this time, and as I'm sure you've heard, we are pressing pause for now on filming The Bachelorette." 

Clare added: "We are taking it day by day and even hour by hour as this is so unpredictable." Being the optimist that she is, Clare concluded her post by writing, "All I know for sure is that my heart is so full from all the love and support this far, and am still so excited for my journey to begin! I've waited 38 years for these moments, what's a little bit longer, right!" 

In the comments section of the post, one fan said what many members of Bachelor Nation were probably thinking, writing, "You're probably glad since 95% of your men are 10+ years younger than you! Maybe it'll give them time to recast a little!" While Clare hasn't publicly commented on her young group of guys, it seems like the subject of recasting has been talked about behind the scenes.

Like Clare Crawley, shortly after it was announced that the upcoming season of The Bachelorette would be postponed, longtime Bachelor host Chris Harrison also updated fans on Instagram. Unsurprisingly, fans jumped into his comments to request different contestants for Clare who are closer to her age range. One person commented, "While you're at it, pick some new men for her!" 

Amazingly, this might actually be happening. According to Cosmopolitan, Harrison and Entertainment Tonight host Lauren Zima spoke with Clare on Instagram Live and he said,"The chances are, for everybody to be able to put their life on hold and come back again is very slim. So yeah, we are still casting, so if you have somebody you think is great for this beautiful woman right here." 

Harrison added (via Just Jared), "The thought that 25, 30, 35 guys, everybody that was able to take time off and come on The Bachelorette, is going to be able to come back again — because we don't have a set time of when we're going to come back... So the idea that everybody is just going to be able to take off work and do this again? Probably very slim."

The host concluded by saying, "There will be some different guys. Maybe it'll be completely different guys, maybe it'll be a mixture. Who knows? We really don't know, with the way the world is right now, with everybody's schedule."

All that to say, with the unexpected halt in production, Clare might just get some more age-appropriate men!