With all of America the nation anxiously awaiting the results of the Presidential election on Thursday night, Bachelor Nation didn’t need to wait very long to learn of a very different kind of result.
Yes, that really was an engagement ring spotted this week on Clare Crawley’s finger.
Because, yes, she’s engaged to Dale Moss!
Approaching on this special installment by Chris Harrison and series producers over her clear affection for Moss — and no one else — Crawley came as clean as can be on air.
“I am so far in love with Dale,” she said.
“We have this connection where it feels like I’ve known him forever. It’s that intangible chemistry that you just can’t make up and you can’t replace.
“It’s something that is so rare to feel so connected to someone when you’ve only known them for such a short period of time.”
After an emotional chat with Harrrisoon, during which Clare swore on her “dad’s grave” that she and Moss had no contact prior to filming, the host and the star decided that Clare would call off the night’s cocktail party and rose ceremony to focus on Dale.
And Dale only.
Cut to an intimate dinner, and Moss pouring his heart out to The Bachelorette.
And then some.
“When we met I felt love and like that’s what I came here for,” he said.
“I’m falling in love with you through this process.
I’m not afraid to say that at all. My heart is open and I’m not gonna fight that. I’ve been dying to share this with you.
“It’s right here, right in front of our face. It is what it is.”
In a bit of celebratory corporate synergy, The Bachelor Presents: Listen to Your Heart winners Bri Stauss and and Chris Watson then serenaded the happy couple.
And that was that for them?
Not quite.
We then saw Clare and Dale cuddling in bed the following morning, only for Harrison to tell Clare that Dale was set to propose that night (!!!!!), but first she had to tell the other suitors what the eff was going on.
“I just have so much respect for you guys that I would never want to lead any of you on,” she explained to a room full of angry and sad suitors.
Kenny, for example, demanded an apology from Clare for “faking it.”
He didn’t get one and most of the men wished Crawley well on her life with Moss, setting the stage for the earliest proposal in series history.
No The Bachelorette spoilers we read prepared us for it, that’s for sure!
“From the moment I stepped out of the limo, this was special,” Dale told Clare.
“I know without the shadow of a doubt that you would go to the end of the world for me and I’ve never had that. I’m so grateful for that…
‘I’ve thought a lot about my mother and what she would think about you.
“She would absolutely love you. All she’s ever wanted for me is someone who loves me unconditionally and who would be there for me no matter what.
“I know that I have that. And I love you.”
Dale wasn’t done, either.
“I want to make you happy each and every day so with that being said, Clare will you marry me?” he asked, before she responded with a resounding: “Yes!”
“Put that ring on my finger, I’ve waited a lot of years for this,” she added.
And when Moss obliged? Crawley then called herself “Clare Moss.”
In the weeks leading up to her exit, Clare repeatedly shared just how happy she was … without revealing she was engaged.
“I am in love with life right now,” she told Good Morning America in October. “Things are really good. It’s good not being in quarantine. I’ll tell you that.”
She continued:
“Everybody keeps asking me, ‘Are you happy? Are you happy?’ And I keep telling everybody, like, I was happy going into this. So, whatever came about it, I’m happy now.
“Things are well on my end.”
Wow, huh?
So there you have it.
Clare’s journey is over, Dale is outta there, too, of course, and now The Bachelorette belongs to Tayshia Adams, who walked through the door just as this episode faded to black.
Let’s hope adams ends up as happy as Clare when her run is over.