“At the time, it was sort of controversial,” said ABC executive Robert Mills. “This was the time when we started thinking, ‘Oh my god, like we’ve really got to start thinking about this.'”
An ABC Executive is sharing some much-needed details about Clare Crawley’s tenure as “The Bachelorette.”
On Tuesday’s episode of former Bachelor Nick Viall’s podcast “The Viall Files,” Robert Mills, Senior Vice President of ABC’s Alternative Series, Specials and Late-Night Programming, recalled what went down behind-the-scenes during the wild season and revealed the exact moment they realized Crawley needed to be replaced.
At the end of Tuesday night’s “Bachelorette,” Crawley, who fell in love with contestant Dale Moss within two weeks of filming, chose to give herself the final rose following the group date. And according to Mills, that was the final straw.
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“At the time, it was sort of controversial,” the executive told Viall, 40. “This was the time when we started thinking, ‘Oh my god, like we’ve really got to start thinking about this.’ When she didn’t give out that rose and just gave it to herself.”
“I felt like I saw that coming,” Viall replied to Moss. “It’s like ‘Dale’s not on this date, I’m just not going to give a rose.'”
“Right. That was it,” Mills said. “That was it, that was when we started making the call.”
“When she didn’t give out that rose and she just gave it to herself, that was it,” Mills said. “That was really it, when we started making the call [to replace her].”
Looking back, Mills said producers expected Crawley to be “unpredictable” when she was chosen as the Bachelorette, but “not this” unpredictable.
“I think that Clare was exactly what we thought she’d be, which is Clare — unpredictable,” he said. “She sort of faded, and this is what really appealed to us when we met with her last February. She kind of faded out of the spotlight, she was just back in Sacramento, being a hairdresser and she really came into it like, ‘Look, if you guys want me, that’s totally great, I would be honored. I would love it. If not, [I] get it too.'”
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“Nothing ever comes easy to Clare. The one time she’s the Bachelorette, she would have been better off in that group setting, he added of Crawley, who starred on Juan Pablo Galavis’ season of “The Bachelor” in 2014, Seasons 1 and 2 of “Bachelor in Paradise” as well as “Bachelor Winter Games.”
“She just couldn’t do it anymore,” Mill’s later added of Crawley’s exit. “I think she was sort of going crazy a little bit.”
The final moments of Tuesday’s episode teased the arrival of Tayshia Adams, who starred on Colton Underwood’s season and Season 6 of “BiP.”
While speaking with Viall, Mills addressed a big question on the minds of Bachelor Nation: With Adams joining the show, what’s in store for Crawley’s season going forward?
The ABC executive said Crawley and Moss’ romance will “chronicled,” but the focus will be on Adams as the new Bachelorette.
“The guys are starting to be in revolt,” Mills teased. “Those shots with producers that we don’t really like to show, breaking the fourth wall … we had to show [so] you could see what’s going through Clare’s head. Tayshia will be part of the season starting next week. … This is where, as Chris Harrison says, ‘The Bachelorette’ will blow up.”
We’ll see how the season goes from here when “The Bachelorette” airs next Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
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