She’s baaaack!

Clare Crawley– who has bounced from Bachelor spin-off to ‘Bachelor’ spin-off over the last seven years or so—will be the next Bachelorette, ABC announced today via Good Morning America.

Clare stated on ‘GMA’ that she just found out two days ago that she had been chosen to be the season lead.

“I can not believe this! I mean, six years later? What is happening?!” she said during her interview, later adding that she’s looking for a man who “will take off his armor.”

Meet Clare Crawley! We talk to #TheBachelorette about her new journey to find love on @bacheloretteabc. https://t.co/dRn1AIbzEW pic.twitter.com/wmgJq1d7uv

— Good Morning America (@GMA) March 2, 2020

“I want a man who is strong, willing to take off the body armor and open himself up and be vulnerable,” she said. “I think that’s some serious strength right there, so I want a man who can do that.”

At 38, Clare is by far the oldest ‘Bachelorette’ lead to date. Hannah Brown, the most-recent ‘Bachelorette’ who was rumored to have been considered for a re-do season, was just 24 years old during the filming of her season. Rachel Lindsay— who was 34 at the time of the filming of her season— previously held the title of oldest ‘Bachelorette.’

“I feel like a lot of people put it out there as this negative thing,” Clare said on ‘Good Morning America’ on Monday. “For me, it’s just more years under my belt. More years learning and knowing what I want and what I won’t settle for.”

In case you have no idea who the hell Clare is, allow The Ashley to take you back through her long journey on ‘The Bachelor’ Franchise. We first met her during Juan Pablo Galavis‘ season of ‘The Bachelor’ in 2013, where she finished in second place. (In The Ashley’s opinion, though, not ending up engaged to Juan Pablo should really count as a win!)

The most-memorable moments of that appearance were “the helicopter controversy”, her boinking (or not boinking, depending on which story you believe) Juan Pablo in the ocean, and, during the final rose ceremony, when Clare laid into Juanny P, telling him she’d never want a poor excuse of a man like him to be the father of her children! 

Next, Clare made appearances on not one but two seasons of Bachelor in Paradise. She was unlucky in love during both seasons, though, and chose to leave voluntarily each time. (She was edited to look like she got her love advice from random raccoons on the island, though, so there was that…)

After that, Clare traded tropical waters for toboggans, heading to the first (and thankfully only) season of Bachelor Winter Games. There, Clare met Benoit Beauséjour-Savard. During the season’s “Tell-All” episode, which was filmed in February 2018, Benoit proposed to Clare and she accepted. However, their engagement only lasted a few months and by April of that year, the couple had announced their split.

Since then, Clare has managed to keep herself off reality television, so the producers’ selection of her for ‘Bachelorette’ seems out of left field. (Normally, a girl from the current season of ‘The Bachelor would be chosen.) Some fans are angry about the “random” choice (much as they were when producers brought back Arie Luyendyk Jr. to be the Bachelor years after his first appearance). However, plenty of folks from Bachelor Nation expressed their happiness over Clare being selected.

“Picking @Clare_Crawley for the next #bachelorette is an excellent choice!” former Bachelor Nick Viall tweeted on Monday. “1) More believable with the times we are in. People are getting married later in life than ever before. 2) she as deserving as anyone 3) she doesn’t know how to be inauthentic or hold back 4) bold/beauty”

Picking @Clare_Crawley for the next #bachelorette is an excellent choice!
1) More believable with the times we are in. People are getting married later in life than ever before.
2) she as deserving as anyone
3) she doesn’t know how to be inauthentic or hold back
4) bold/beauty

— Nick Viall (@viallnicholas28) March 2, 2020

“I am ALL FOR IT,” former ‘Bachelor’ contestant Sharleen Joynt tweeted. “She deserves it, is 100% sincere & I’ve always felt she’d make a fantastic lead. Bonus: bring on more folks in their 30s, hopefully 40s! IT’S TIME.”

‘Bachelor’ Spoiler Guru Reality Steve also voiced his thoughts on the “random” choice of Clare.

On Saturday (before the decision had been announced), he tweeted, “Here’s my opinion on Clare IF she does end up being the ‘Bachelorette.’ Yes, it’s random. And yes, she’s not on anyone’s radar really. But 1) that gives them major shock value 2) gives them some1 older and 3) it kinda puts her as a combination of being the female Arie & Nick.”

Clare’s season of ‘The Bachelorette’ is set to premiere on May 20 on ABC.

Click here to catch up on Clare’s past ‘Bachelor’ antics by reading Clare-related stories from The Ashley’s archives!

(Photos: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images; ABC; Instagram)