Haddonfield's Zac Clark Wins Bachelorette, Gets Engaged

HADDONFIELD, NJ — A Haddonfield man made a love connection on national television Tuesday night.

Zac Clark won the Season 16 finale of “The Bachelorette” Tuesday night, and is now engaged to Tayshia Adams. Clark, of Haddonfield, ended up on the show after his sister sent in the application in March.

“Better be funny,” Clark said when his sister sent him a text message telling him about the application. “Have fun.”

Following Tuesday night’s season finale, a viewer told him on Instagram, “Thanks to your sister, Bachelorette has a great love story and Tayshia has her happily ever after.”

Clark joined the show in the beginning of the season, which featured a twist when Clare Crawley selected a winner just a few episodes into the season. Adams came on board shortly after.

He won Adams over in the finale, even after an Army veteran who Adams previously dismissed returned and professed his love for her. But Clark came away the winner.

Clark and Justin Gurland are the founders of Release Recovery Services, a New York-based addiction recovery program that helps people adjust to life after rehab.

Clark is a former college athlete who intended to pursue a career in sports. He even ran in the New York Marathon. But when he met Gurland, they discovered a shared passion to help people battling addiction reclaim their lives, according to the organization’s website. They opened Release Recovery in 2017.

In the season finale, Clark revealed that he has been sober for nine years. His life was changed by a bank teller when he attempted to cash a forged check in Camden in 2011, according to nj.com.

The couple now plans to move to New York, according to People.

"She has a one-way ticket to New York," Clark told the magazine. "We're going to get comfortable. And I'm going to date the heck out of her!"