Bachelor Nation had been wondering if a man from Tayshia's past might show up this season.
After an unexpected start, Tayshia Adams is officially the new Bachelorette, and her journey toward finding love is just beginning. While many fans speculated that a man from her past was going to shake things up even more in season 16, she slammed the reports and set the record straight.
On Friday, Tayshia took to her Instagram Story to tell people to "move on" and stop talking about her ex-husband. The reality star was married to her college boyfriend, Josh Bourelle, for about a year and a half before they split in 2017. She first revealed she was divorced as part of her back story when she was on Colton Underwood's season of The Bachelor in 2019.
"Yes, I have been married, and yes I am divorced, and yes now I am the Bachelorette and I am dating 20 men on ABC every single week," she said. "So the fact that we are continuously talking about my past relationship that was three years ago, I don't understand. I don't get it."
"He’s living his life, I'm living my life, you have plenty of other people that have signed up to be researched and talked about," she continued. "He never signed up for it. So why don't we leave him alone and talk about something that actually matters? Honestly, I am bored with this entire topic. Let's move on and find something more interesting."
Tayshia went on her first one-on-one date on Tuesday's episode of The Bachelorette, where she opened up to suitor Brendan Morais about her romantic past -- specifically, that she has been previously married and divorced. Brendan could empathize, also having been married before, but while he said he and his ex-wife simply fell out of love, Tayshia revealed that in her split, "there was infidelity...not on my part."
However, a new clip circulating on the internet had many speculating that Josh may actually make an appearance on Tayshia's Bachelorette season.
TikTok user @bigmoodbayley shared the theory, noting that she came across the promo for Tayshia's season on The Bachelorette's official Twitter account. When viewing the video with closed captions, she noticed one off-screen voice, which says "It's only a matter of time before she realizes the truth," was denoted as "Josh Bourelle."
@bigmoodbayley here’s the screen recording ##thebachelorette ##fyp ##bachelornationabc ##tayshiaadams ##chrisharrison ##thebachelor
♬ original sound - bayley
The theory quickly spread around Bachelor Nation. Some attempted to debunk the idea by noting that the voice sounds similar to one of Tayshia's other suitors, Bennett Jordan -- and pointing out that Bennett was seen on camera saying a different version of the quote in a promo for Clare Crawley's season. Even the original poster said she hoped it wasn't true that Tayshia's ex would be on the show, saying she thought it would be "messy" after the Bachelorette shared so much about their difficult split. However, Tayshia does follow Josh on Instagram.
"Even if that's true, even if it's Bennett's [voice] in the clip, I think we can all agree that it's still really strange that her ex-husband's first and last name are in the closed captions at all," @bigmoodbayley shared in a follow-up video.
As Tayshia told ET on Monday, she has a long journey ahead of her this season -- filled with multiple love stories. When asked how many guys she ended up falling for, the Bachelorette admitted, "Way more than I thought [I would]."
"I didn't know it was possible to fall in love with multiple people," she added. "But when you just really lean into the journey and really be vulnerable, you never know what can happen. And it happened to me."
Tayshia admitted that she says "I love you" during her season "multiple times" and even dons a wedding dress at one point -- but she played coy when asked if she's currently in love or engaged, saying only, "possibly!"
With as many love stories as Tayshia experiences, it seems there's also heartbreak in store. The trailer shows her father, Desmond, warning her about making a "big mistake" at one point, and at another, Tayshia is seen seemingly breaking down in tears before handing out her final rose.
"The guys are incredible, but they did make me cry," the Bachelorette admitted to ET. "There are some really fun dates, there are a lot of twists and turns... You're starting to really create relationships and really care about these people and breaking up is part of the journey that no one really talks about. But that's the hardest part, once you're starting to establish relationships and connections, and that's kinda why I start crying."
Tayshia said her season is full of "ups and downs" and fans will be able to experience the roller coaster of emotions along with her. "There's lots of happiness, but there's also some sadness in it," she shared.
"The one opportunity I had to think about [going in] was, my heart was ready," she added. "With those intentions, I sort of went with it and it worked."
The Bachelorette airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC. See more from this season in the video below.
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