The long-awaited moment is finally here!
Tayshia Adams is officially our new Bachelorette! The 30-year-old finally stepped out of the limo and prepared to meet the men on Thursday's episode of the ABC dating show.
ET learned in August that Clare Crawley exited her role as Bachelorette after falling for one of her men roughly two weeks into filming. That played out this week on the show -- with Crawley getting engaged to Dale Moss. The remaining men were left shocked and confused as to what would happen next, until host Chris Harrison informed them a new Bachelorette was on her way.
And that Bachelorette was Tayshia! And she looked stunning!
"It hasn't hit me yet," she told Chris as she exited the limo at La Quinta Resort & Club, just one day after Clare and Dale got engaged. "Seeing you I think makes it more real... It actually puts me at ease, but it makes it feel like -- I'm not being punk'd or anything."
"It is a great group of guys. A solid group," Chris assured her. "Do you have that fear that these guys are not going to accept you because of what happened with Clare?"
As a Bachelor and Bachelor in Paradise alum, Tayshia said she knows "this process moves very quickly. "And you start to invest feelings very early on, and I don't know if that's the case for some of them. If so, I'm more than happy to have that conversation with them, if they don't know if this is the right time for them, or I'm not right for them," she said.
"I feel like this is the right moment in time. I wouldn't be standing here, I don't think, if it wasn't meant to be," she added. "That's what I prayed for. And here I am!"
With that, Chris sent Tayshia off to meet the men -- and her possible future husband.
Tayshia, who was initially in the running to be the Bachelorette this cycle alongside Clare and Tia Booth, told ET just days before Clare announcement that she'd love to get the gig. She's the franchise's second Black Bachelorette, following Rachel Lindsay.
"I don't know if I can say yes or no!" Tayshia said when asked if she'd had official conversations about being the Bachelorette. "I plead the fifth!"
"I have to say, anything that comes my way, I am ready for," she shared. "I am ready for love!"
Warner Bros. and ABC played coy about Tayshia's casting, and didn't confirm Clare was replaced as Bachelorette until a promo released on Halloween. See more on Tayshia in the video below.
This week's episode of The Bachelorette airs Thursday. The show returns to its usual airtime on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT next week.
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