ABC Announced A *Major* Change Happening With Clare's 'Bachelorette' Season
As ABC announces new Bachelor Nation leads and sends established franchise stars to go dancing, fans have been anxiously waiting to find out when Clare Crawley's season of The Bachelorette will air. Now, finally, it sounds like Clare's journey will soon begin. The catch, however, is that viewers will have to make a pretty big adjustment to see it, because Clare's Bachelorette season will air on Tuesdays, as opposed to the iconic Monday 8 p.m. ET slot.
On June 15, Chris Harrison asked Bachelor Nation fan-favorite Kaitlyn Bristowe to be on the Dancing with the Stars Season 29 cast. While fans were thrilled over the casting choice, it did lead to questions about the timeline of The Bachelorette, The Bachelor (which Tyler Cameron's BFF, Matt James, was just announced to star on), and DWTS. Specifically, fans worried Clare's season wouldn't air at all.
ABC eased those concerns with the reveal of its fall lineup on June 16. The announcement made it clear all three shows will get their time in the spotlight... with some adjustments. Clare's season, which was originally set to premiere in May, is now expected to air in the fall, alongside DWTS. The ballroom dancing competition will keep its usual Monday 8 p.m. slot, while The Bachelorette will get bumped to Tuesdays at the same time. (Matt's season, for the record, is set to air in the usual Monday night slot starting in January 2021.)
In addition to airing the show on a different day, there will be more changes to the tried-and-true Bachelorette formula in light of the pandemic, ABC exec Rob Mills reveald in a June 17 segment of On Air with Ryan Seacrest. According to Mills, the filming won't take place in at the Bachelor Mansion but instead, at a resort that has yet to be chosen. There won't be any elaborate, international trips, either, though Mills said he hopes to make the experience just as special, with romantic on-site and nearby dates.
“We had incredible travel planned for Clare’s season. We were going to Italy — all these places that were going to be great — but there will be plenty of different date locations that will feel hopefully as close to The Bachelorette as possible," he explained
As another safety measure, the entire cast and crew will be tested for the coronavirus prior to filming, and then isolated from the public throughout the duration of production.
The thing is, these plans are all tentative. Mills said the network aims to begin filming Clare’s season in about a month. However, production could get pushed back again if a second wave of coronavirus causes more delays.
Fans will just have to keep their fingers crossed (and their hands clean) while they wait to see if ABC's plans for Clare, Matt, and DWTS become reality.
