The season premieres Tuesday, Oct. 13 on ABC.
Rumors are flying, and perhaps just one thing is crystal Clare about Clare Crawley's upcoming season of The Bachelorette: we've never seen anything like it. A much-talked about recent promo showed host Chris Harrison telling the hairstylist that she had "blown up" the show.
The longtime host is now speaking out on the upcoming season, and told ET's Lauren Zima on Tuesday, that description of the situation couldn't have been more valid. "Clare took us on a journey the likes of which we have never seen," he teased. "This will be a roller-coaster ride unlike any other."
Fans have their own guesses about what caused that moment, which Harrison described as "very emotional."
"Clare is always one ... that wears her heart on her sleeve. She is always emotional. She's not a Bachelorette where I had to think, 'Where is she right now emotionally? Where does she stand right now?'" he explained. "Clare is ready to express herself."
Bachelor Nation first met Crawley in 2014 as a finalist on Juan Pablo Galavis’ season of The Bachelor. Since then she’s looked for love on Bachelor in Paradise and Bachelor Winter Games. This time, Harrison says, the 39-year-old was not “wasting time.”
"She came into this unbelievably sincere and serious about finding love, finding a man, and it really wasn't about the pomp and circumstance for her. It wasn't about all the pageantry. It was about coming in and finding somebody, and I really respect the fact that this woman knows exactly what she wants and she is not afraid to go get it," Harrison said.
Crawley and production had to put filming her season on pause for months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and once things finally began, the show was filmed entirely in a quarantine bubble of sorts in Palm Springs. Harrison says that created a “pressure cooker” of intensity.
ET learned in August that Crawley's time as the Bachelorette had come to an end after she fell for a contestant just weeks into filming, and that Tayshia Adams was brought in as a new lead, and both women's journeys will be featured on the upcoming season. But Harrison wouldn't confirm Adams' role on the show, teasing, "She's not not the Bachelorette.”
Crawley returned to social media on Aug. 31, sharing on her Instagram Story that she was "grateful" and "thankful." So, what does that mean for her ending? Good or bad, it was definitely "dramatic."
"Turbulent. Tumultuous. Dramatic. Wild," he promised.
"Bachelor Nation and the world are not ready for what happened inside the [bubble]," he added, referring to the show's quarantined set in Palm Springs. "It is unlike anything we have ever seen on this show before. I know I say that sometimes, but I truly think we have outdone ourselves this time."
"I think it definitely goes up on the Mount Rushmore of wild seasons of Bachelor and Bachelorette," Harrison declared.
The Bachelorette premieres Tuesday, Oct. 13 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.
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