Clare Crawley Reportedly Was Not Given a Heads Up on Matt James' Casting as the Bachelor

As the world woke up to the news that Matt James will be the next Bachelor, apparently, Clare Crawley did too. That's right—reportedly, the Bachelorette had no idea her contestant had been cast for the new installment of the show!

Initially, Matt was set to compete as one of the contestant's on Clare's upcoming season of The Bachelorette, but now he'll lead his own show. And according to Us Weekly, the 39-year-old California native had zero "heads up" on the matter. An insider for the publication spilled the tea, explaining, “Clare didn’t know about Matt becoming the Bachelor until GMA announcement." They also noted that, “decisions are still being made when it comes to her cast.”

That being said, Clare probably isn't losing sleep over the decision to remove Matt from her season. As fans may remember, she appeared to shade him back in April when she posted a message saying, "If you are doing interviews and creating Cameo accounts before you are even on my season... you are in it for the wrong reasons... #dontwasteyourtime." This tweet was shared after Matt was using the website Cameo to make money off of virtual shout-outs for fans. Some speculate, however, that Clare might be salty over Matt's good news.

Matt's casting marks the first-ever black Bachelor, and the decision is apparently one the franchise admits was a long time coming. They shared the following statement:

"We know we have a responsibility to make sure the love stories we’re seeing onscreen are representative of the world we live in, and we are proudly in service to our audience. This is just the beginning, and we will continue to take action with regard to diversity issues on this franchise. We feel so privileged to have Matt as our first Black Bachelor and we cannot wait to embark on this journey with him."

Congrats to Matt as he prepares for the journey of a lifetime! Hopefully Clare is cool with it.