Dale Moss insists he truly did appear on The Bachelorette for Clare Crawley because he had turned down the opportunity to compete on the show multiple times before Season 16!

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During the Wednesday episode of the Raising the Bar with Alli and Adrian podcast, Dale revealed that, after being nominated to be a suitor on The Bachelorette, he wasn't interested in appearing on the show until he learned Clare would be its leading lady.

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"Now, I could have never planned what happened because I was nominated," the 32-year-old model and former football player from South Dakota said on the podcast, according to People.

"I never actually signed up. And I turned it down over, and over, and over again."

Dale claimed he had changed his mind about becoming a bachelor on The Bachelorette once Clare, 39, was announced as the show's sixteenth-season star in March 2020.

"I actually finally committed to it four days before everyone was supposed to leave for the show," Dale revealed.

"And the only reason I committed to it was because Clare was announced as Bachelorette at that time."

Dale apparently felt drawn to Clare when he watched her The Bachelorette announcement on Good Morning America, resulting in a desire to meet the hairstylist.

"She was so confident and passionate about it," Dale said of Clare's bubbly morning-show appearance.

"And I know that she had been through this before, but I felt by watching her that she knew this was her time and she was exactly where she was meant to be."

And it turned out Clare and Dale believed they were meant to be.

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Clare was convinced she had met her future husband when Dale stepped out of a limo on Night 1 of The Bachelorette's sixteenth season and took her breath away, and Dale apparently experienced similar feelings after introducing himself to the blonde beauty.

"I thought, 'You know what? I trust really opening it up and I trust that you'll give me your true self, and whatever I have to give or whatever I lay down, it'll be received,'" Dale recalled on the podcast, according to People.

"And I think just even with that, from that little interaction, I just believe that we already had something at that moment. And that's really what compelled me to kind of go on the show in the first place."

It took less than two weeks for Clare to determine Dale was the guy she wanted to be with forever, and so she dumped all of her other The Bachelorette bachelors to pursue one serious relationship with the supposed guy of her dreams.

Clare's journey on the show therefore ended prematurely with a steamy overnight date with Dale that led to Dale getting down on one knee and proposing marriage seemingly the next day.

While many The Bachelor fans have been critical of Clare and Dale's quick-moving romance and whether it will last, the lovebirds feel no shame or embarrassment about getting engaged in less than a month of knowing each other.

RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' COUPLES NOW: WHO DID 'THE BACHELOR' STARS AND THEIR BACHELORETTE PICKS ACTUALLY END UP MARRYING? (PHOTOS)

"For me personally, there is no explanation needed. I've never been afraid of commitment. And when I met Clare, I knew I was all in. She lights a fire in me that I was missing for so long," Dale recently told People.

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Clare added, "It may be fast for some people, and that's okay. But for us, it's working."

Those skeptical of love at first sight believe Clare and Dale must have touched base and gotten to know one another during the time filming was delayed for The Bachelorette from March to July 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Clare did in fact confess to googling some of her Night 1 bachelors in that period of time, but she has sworn up and down that her first conversation with Dale took place while cameras were rolling at The Bachelorette resort in Palm Springs, CA.

"I can wholeheartedly attest to this on my dad's grave. There was never, ever a single ounce of contact or communication or friends through outlets, through phone numbers or through any source," Clare previously insisted to The Bachelorette host Chris Harrison.

"And I think that to me is honestly one of the most beautiful things."

After Clare and Dale left the show together, Tayshia Adams stepped in and took over as the new Bachelorette.

Tayshia's time on the show ended last year with her getting engaged to Zac Clark.

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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.