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Hannah Ann Sluss Finally Addresses ‘Bachelorette’ Season 16 Theory After Katie Thurston, Clare Crawley Suggest She Wasn’t on Set

Case (finally) closed? It’s been two years since Hannah Ann Sluss was spotted on the set of season 16 of The Bachelorette, but her potential role on Clare Crawley / Tayshia Adams’ season of the ABC show made waves again earlier this summer when Katie Thurston suggested that the woman seen at La Quinta wasn’t the Bachelor season 24 winner after all.

Related: Bachelor’s Hannah Ann Sluss and Rams’ Jake Funk’s Relationship Timeline

“That was me. The funny part of it is that, like, I don’t care. No one else cares. I think only a few people actually care. … It’s just not a big deal. … No one has to believe me at all,” Hannah Ann, 26, said on the Thursday, August 25, episode of the “Click Bait” podcast, calling the speculation “strange.”

Hannah Ann Slams 'Bachelorette' Producer Theory After Katie, Clare's Comments
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She continued: “But if that’s how someone wants to use their spare time, then go for it. … But I just thought it was funny because, like, no one actually knows the real reason why I was there. So I that’s, like, the best part is people thinking they know the reason but they actually don’t.”

Back in August 2020, Us Weekly broke the news that Hannah Ann was in Palm Springs, sharing photos of the reality star in a golf cart with a mask on due to coronavirus protocols. Last month, Katie, 31, suggested that it was someone else in the golf cart.

Related: Biggest Bachelor Nation Scandals of All Time

“Ok maybe not the ‘hottest tea’ but I laugh at y’all thinking you know who this is,” the season 17 lead wrote alongside the photo.

Clare, who starred in the first half of season 16, then chimed in, “I was 10 feet away, I know exactly who that is hahah!”

When Katie responded, “Thriving,” Clare added, “Just out here proving the point that not everything you ‘see’ is truth.”

Bachelor Nation fans subsequently speculated that it was a producer on the show who resembles Hannah Ann, with the drama being dubbed “#Slussgate.”

As viewers may recall, there was a lot of chatter surrounding season 16 of The Bachelorette after Clare opted to leave with Dale Moss within the first two weeks of filming. (The twosome later split.) Tayshia was then called to finish the production with Clare’s contestants and five new suitors. (Tayshia and winner Zac Clark called off their engagement in November 2021.)

Hannah Ann, for her part, has since started dating L.A. Rams player Jake Funk.

“We met on TikTok,” she said on Thursday, noting that the post that caught the football player’s eyes was her video when Hannah Brown revealed she slept with Peter Weber shortly after calling off his engagement to Hannah Ann. “I did not care at all. I thought it was, you know, very funny, and I had already known that, so it didn’t matter to me, but I was like, ‘Oh, this is a funny voiceover to do on TikTok.’ … It kind of went many different places and so he was on his TikTok and he saw me, like, ‘Oh, I’m gonna message her. She’s in L.A., I’m in L.A.’ So he messages me and the best part about it is he had no idea [what I was referring to]. Like, never even asked me about it until months later.”

Related: Every Time Hannah Ann Sluss Has Thrown Shade at Ex Peter Weber

The couple went public with their romance in February, three months after the season 15 Bachelorette’s book bombshell.

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