On March 2, ABC revealed that Clare was the new Bachelorette following Hannah Brown. Clare made her lead debut on Good Morning America, admitting that the news was a surprise to her. "I literally just found out," she said to the GMA hosts. "So unexpected, can you believe this? Six years later? What is happening?"
The 39-year-old hairstylist made her first Bachelor appearance in 2014 as the runner-up during Juan Pablo Galavis's season of The Bachelor. She then went on to appear in the first seasons of Bachelor in Paradise and Bachelor Winter Games. She met her former fiancé Benoit Beauséjour-Savard during Winter Games, but the two called it quits in April 2018. Clare is the oldest Bachelorette in the franchise's history, dethroning Rachel Lindsay, who was 32 at the time of her filming.
"I feel like a lot of people put it out there as this negative thing. 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," Clare said about remarks on her age.