Almost Paradise … but not quite. Ashley Iaconetti clarified speculation surrounding season 16 of The Bachelorette after visiting the set in Palm Springs.
“This is not happening. These are truly just rumors. This is just the Bachelorette filming down there,” the 32-year-old reality TV personality told cohost Ben Higgins on their “Almost Famous” podcast on Tuesday, August 11. “And a lot of people are saying that COVID is happening, why are there so many people down there in Palm Springs? You guys, the Bachelor bubble down there is the safest place you can be right now. There’s so many tests going on down there and so much quarantining going on. Just wanted to put that out there.”
Us Weekly confirmed earlier this month that Clare Crawley opted to stop filming the upcoming season of The Bachelorette after falling for one of her suitors within the first two weeks of production. After news broke that ABC called in Tayshia Adams to take over for the 39-year-old hairdresser, more members of Bachelor Nation, including Wells Adams, Hannah Ann Sluss and Iaconetti, were spotted at La Quinta Resort & Club in California, prompting speculation that Bachelor in Paradise might be filming.
“I also have to say that I don’t think it’s my place to speak on what’s going on down there until the Bachelor, ABC, Warner discusses for themselves. Because there has been no confirmation from the Bachelor camp,” Iaconetti told Higgins. “I don’t want people to think that I’m lying but … I’m not gonna spoil it.”
While some members of Bachelor Nation wonder how Crawley could have found love so quickly into production, Iaconetti pointed out that she fell fast for now-husband Jared Haibon while filming Bachelor in Paradise season 2 in 2015.
“I am miss ‘fall in love hard and fast’ but not very often,” she said. “At the same time I really do feel like Clare was very much there for the right reasons. I just want her to walk away with somebody, with a life long partner.”
According to sources, fans will watch Crawley’s brief journey on season 16 before seeing Adams, 29, take over with her remaining contestants. The phlebotomist, who first competed on Colton Underwood’s season of The Bachelor, previously opened up about what she was looking for in a husband during a 2019 interview with Vulture.
“I require a little bit more life experience, someone who really knows who they are and still aren’t trying to figure themselves out,” Adams said at the time. “Show up, or get out. No bulls—t, let’s go, I’m trying to find a husband!”
The Bachelorette is set to return to ABC Tuesdays this fall.
