Telling all! Shawn Booth may not be caught up on Clare Crawley‘s season of The Bachelorette — but he has the inside scoop on front-runner Dale Moss.
“I’ve worked with Dale for a few years,” the personal trainer, 33, told Us Weekly exclusively on Wednesday, October 21, while promoting his work with the Movember organization. “I saw his face pop up in the news, saw and read a couple articles about him.”
Booth, who got engaged to Kaitlyn Bristowe on her season of the ABC reality dating show in 2015, had nothing but kind words to say about his “buddy.” Moss, 32, quickly caught viewers’ eyes during the premiere episode of the current season earlier this month — and is poised to take home the final rose.
“He’s a good guy, [he] seems like a genuine person,” Booth added. “He’s [an] athletic, tall, handsome guy, so what’s not to love there. We’ve done a few events together, he’s always been nice to me.”
In March, Crawley, 39, made history when she was announced as the franchise’s oldest lead. Production for her season was initially put on hold amid the coronavirus pandemic, but the network found a way to keep cast and crew members safe when filming began in Palm Springs, California. A source later told Us that Crawley exited the show after falling for one of her suitors within the first two weeks.
“[Producers] were shocked by her choice,” the insider explained. “They had to find a way to continue the show without just starting from scratch.”
The team began to reach out to “backup” men before Tayshia Adams stepped in as the season’s second Bachelorette. Us reported in August that Crawley “really hit it off” with one of her contestants — but Booth isn’t completely convinced.
“I think there’s love at first sight, but I also think it takes a while to fully fall in love with someone else,” the Connecticut native — who split from Bristowe in November 2018 — said on Wednesday. “You know, 12 days is a very short time. Obviously you can have that instant physical, physical connection and emotional connection, spiritual connection. But I think to be able to produce this long life love, it takes a longer time than that.”
Other members of Bachelor Nation — including Tyler Cameron and Dean Unglert — also expressed their doubts about the potential to find The One in just 12 days. Crawley, however, doesn’t have time for the skeptics.
“My question would be to the people that are saying that — to the people that question it — what exactly is the formula for falling in love? Is there one way to do it? Is there one example of this is how it’s done?” she told Us exclusively earlier this month. “Who are these people to decide how long it takes somebody to fall in love? Is it a week? Is it a month? Is it a year? Is it two years? How people fall in love and the amount of time that it happens or what the process is [changes]. It’s not for anybody to really decide if there is a cookie cutter for that.”
For the month of November, Booth is teaming up with Movember to raise awareness about certain issues impacting mens’ health, a cause that “hit home” for him and his family. To learn more about how to get involved, visit Movember’s website. To follow Booth on his new Booth Camp on demand, visit his website.
