Clare Crawley Can't Seem To Stay Away From The Bachelorette Set

Just when you think one Bachelorette mystery is solved, another one pops up in its place. Clare Crawley has been spotted back on The Bachelorette set with Chris Harrison, despite the fact that she was reportedly replaced by Tayshia Adams as the show's star several weeks ago. Entertainment Tonight acquired photos of the former Bachelor contestant dressed up in a red cocktail dress while standing next to Harrison, who is wearing a suit and tie. It was reported that Harrison had temporarily left production to drop his son off at college, while JoJo Fletcher filled in for his hosting duties, but it seems he has returned with Clare.

Based on their attire, one could easily suspect that they're in the process of filming some sort of rose ceremony — a process that is usually requires both the lead and host to dress extra fancy. However, Clare's continued presence is confusing. If she really did, in fact, decide to leave the show after falling in love with one of her contestants after two weeks of filming, which is presumably why Tayshia took her spot as lead in the first place, why is she still filming?

When news of Clare's departure was first reported, it was also rumored fthat her journey would still be touched upon throughout the Bachelorette season. (ABC has yet to officially confirm any lead changes.) Naturally, some may have assumed that meant Clare would appear just at the very beginning of the season prior to her exit, but now that she's back on set several weeks later, it's difficult to know for sure what precisely is going on.

Seeing Clare on set is almost enough to make fans question whether she really did leave the show. Former Bachelor in Paradise star Dean Unglert recently shared his skepticism over the reports on Clare's season, admitting to Us Weekly that he thinks there's more to her story than meets the eye. “I don’t understand why Clare could just be like, ‘Yep, this is the person I like. Let’s just cut me off now,’” Dean told the outlet. “There’s gotta be something else and I don’t know what it is." He continued, "It just seems a little fishy. It’s a little too convenient that Clare fell in love and 12 days and left the filming of the show just to pursue the relationship with this guy.”

Dean's suspicions stem from the fact that he's pretty sure both former Bachelors Ben Higgins and Nick Viall were “99.9 percent confident” about who they planned on giving their final rose to “after 10 to 15 days of filming,” yet they were still forced to follow through with their respective seasons regardless.

“I’m sure at some point they leaned over to production and they’re like, ‘Hey, can you just, like, cut this production short? Because I’m going to just pick this person anyways,'" Dean suggested. "And they’re always like, ‘No, you can’t do that. You signed a contract to film for three months or however long you have to finish out the show.’”

So what makes Clare an exception to that rule? Perhaps there is something else going on that fans have yet to be made aware of. It may not be the most dramatic season in Bachelor history, but it most certainly is gearing up to be the most confusing.