Wait, wait: Who is Dale Moss and why should we care?
Well, if you have to ask that question, we’re not 100 percent sure why you’re here–but for those of you who enjoy BIP and skip The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, here’s the gist of it: Moss was a contestant on Crawley’s season of The Bachelorette that premiered in October. Crawley famously “blew up The Bachelorette” and placed all her bets on Moss, leading the two of them to leave the series early and engaged, with Tayshia Adamstaking over in Crawley’s place. Things seemed to be jolly and merry between the two on social media, with Moss introducing Crawley to his family in South Dakota and plenty of shots between the two of them hanging out and spending time together. But then, in early January, the entire world (and Crawley) were shocked that Moss posted an announcement of their split on Instagram—signature and all. (The post has since been removed, likely because it claimed to be a joint effort but then Crawley revealed…it most definitely wasn’t.) “Clare and Dale were taking time apart and were working it out, but it led to a definite split,” a source told E! News. “Dale felt that he is not ready for marriage and was not ready to move to Sacramento for Clare. They were making a lot of plans that Dale could not commit to.” Crawley was seemingly blindsided and claimed she learned her relationship ended when the entire world did, and Moss’ post-breakup behavior has been under intense scrutiny since. Questionable behaviors include intense paparazzi walks, liking and unliking Crawley’s response post and, well, posting and smiling on social media like he hadn’t just publicly broken his fiancé’s heart. For some, Moss is No. 1 on their shit list; for others, he’s No. 1 on their wish list for Bachelor in Paradise 2021 contestants.
Why Dale Moss could be on Bachelor in Paradise 2021
The main reason why Moss will appear on Paradise? The producers of The Bachelor, to quote Marie Kondo, “love mess.” Paradise is the redheaded stepchild of the Bachelor franchise, the excuse for production to push aside the love stories and the saccharine sappiness in favor of openly mocking contestants, drunken shenanigans and sacrificing reputations. Since Bachelor in Paradise’s inception, it’s become clear that if you get a positive edit on your Bachelor/Bachelorette season, Paradise will show all your best and worst sides. If you enter Paradise in the hopes of changing the public’s opinion of you because you got a negative edit originally, producers most certainly will go out of their way to make you look worse (or show who you actually are, a la Josh Murray). The rare time they try to redeem someone’s image in the hopes of it working out…well, we end up with someone like Colton Underwood as The Bachelor, and we all know how that ended up. (Ugh.) It would make sense if the production team wanted to cast someone as polarizing as Moss—he’s hot, he’s got influencer aspirations like everyone else there, but also, people question if he entered Crawley’s season for The Right Reasons, and that could be addressed/drawn out on Paradise. His casting alone would get the people going. He’s also the most followed from his season of The Bachelorette, with nearly 100,000 more followers than fellow winner Zac Clark. Not to mention, Bachelor alumni believe he’ll be there, including someone well-connected to Bachelor in Paradise. Bachelor in Paradise bartender Wells Adams and former Bachelorette and newly-minted Dancing with the Stars winner Kaitlyn Bristowe also think Moss will pop up at the resort. “I think that the person that (sic) would be the most effective in terms of ratings…would be Tyler Cameron,” Adams told Bristowe in a recent episode ofher podcast, Off the Vine. “I mean, Dale’s going to be there, let’s be real,” Adams added, with Bristowe giving an enthusiastic endorsement. “One thousand percent, Dale’s going to be there,” she added. Adams added that he believes that Moss was “built for Paradise,” and he wouldn’t be shocked if they threw Crawley in there as a twist, too. “You know what? I would not be surprised at that either. Because, I mean, she’s done Paradise before. I feel like she would not be against it. She’s always open to an opportunity to find love…I feel like she’d go for it. And I feel like Dale would be there in a heartbeat,” Bristowe said.
Why Dale Moss might not join Bachelor in Paradise just yet
Apparently, he has no interest! Who knew! The man who’s been up and down New York City milking every opportunity to be seen was caught by a paparazzo who took the chance to ask him about Paradise, or if he’ll take the chance to be The Bachelor. Page Six reports that when asked if any of those were in the cards, Moss shared that he wasn’t ready, telling the paparazzi, “Not there yet, man.” And if you’re thinking of sliding in his DMs for a chance at being his next girl, he emphasized that he’s “not even looking” at his DMs. So, tough luck. He also might not even be on production’s radar: ABC executive Robert Mills shared on The Bachelor Recap podcast on SiriusXM that he’s shooting for the stars and loves the idea of getting someone even more polarizing than Moss in Paradise: Season 24 Bachelor Peter Weber. “Wow, I love that idea! Absolutely, yeah. I wanna say—and I could be wrong here—but I’m almost positive I remember this: there were discussions about [former Bachelor] Chris Soules and some stuff happened. But I like the idea of Peter in Paradise.” So maybe no Moss in 2021…but we’ll keep looking for 2022. Next, meet Bachelor 2021 frontrunner Rachael Kirkconnell
