Clayton Echard: There Are Moments After I Remorse Being on ‘The Bachelor’

Not all the time a fairy story. Clayton Echard confessed that he regretted agreeing to grow to be the Bachelor after seeing followers’ preliminary response to his season.

“I feel the primary three weeks of the present airing, I undoubtedly [regretted saying yes],” the previous soccer participant, 28, stated in the course of the Monday, February 14, episode of “The Viall Recordsdata” podcast. “You simply don’t know what to anticipate going into it.”

Clayton had “no body of reference” for what being the lead entailed after his early exit from Michelle Younger‘s Bachelorette season, so he didn’t understand how intense the backlash might grow to be.

“[For] the primary three weeks, I believed, ‘That is going to be nice. Everybody’s gonna come round. Individuals are actually going to start out seeing my character,’ and so they simply weren’t,” Clayton defined. “It appeared like it doesn’t matter what they confirmed … [fans] are nonetheless simply wanting to search out one thing to be mad at me about.”

He continued: “I simply wasn’t prepared, I suppose, for the magnitude of the criticism I used to be going to face.

One of many largest critiques Clayton has acquired from Bachelor Nation viewers since season 26 premiered issues his determination to maintain controversial contestant Shanae Ankney amid her feud with Elizabeth Corrigan. Whereas Shanae, 29, claimed that she was being bullied by the true property agent, 32, many followers felt that the Ohio native crossed a line when she made enjoyable of her fellow contestant’s ADHD.

Clayton saved Shanae and eradicated Elizabeth in the course of the January 31 episode, however he later claimed that he would have acted otherwise in hindsight.

“I might have despatched Shanae house instantly for making enjoyable of [Elizabeth] for being neurodivergent, had I identified,” the College of Missouri alum wrote by way of Twitter on February 1. “General, the expertise for me watching hasn’t been enjoyable, just because I’m seeing all of the injury that I brought on. I actually meant effectively, however my actions weren’t all the time the very best as I now can see the repercussions from my selections.”

Although Elizabeth defended Clayton all through the controversy, castoff Lyndsey Windham alleged that the previous athlete did, in actual fact, learn about what Shanae stated behind closed doorways. “I defined to him, phrase for phrase, that I might by no means need anybody to really feel bullied. Nevertheless, when somebody is mocking and making enjoyable of somebody’s psychological disabilities, that’s crossing the road,” the gross sales government, 28, stated in a TikTok video posted on February 7. “On the finish of the day, all the pieces occurs for a purpose and no exhausting emotions, nevertheless, you knew and also you saved her.”

Clayton refuted Lyndsey’s claims throughout his look on “The Viall Recordsdata,” revealing that he was “pissed off” by the viral video. “To set the report straight: I’m not mendacity,” he stated on Monday. “I do wish to stress that, as I stated in my put up, I didn’t know that Shanae was mocking Elizabeth for having ADHD. I didn’t know that Elizabeth has ADHD till I watched the present.”

Whereas he did acknowledge that it was attainable Lyndsey introduced her issues to him throughout a bunch date, he doesn’t recall having the dialog. “It simply didn’t resonate and I didn’t acknowledge the severity of the scenario on the time,” Clayton admitted. “I needed to go off of what I knew and what was being instructed to me, which honestly, wasn’t as a lot as what persons are seeing now.

Following a dramatic two-on-one date with Genevieve Parisi throughout Monday’s episode of The Bachelor, Shanae was finally despatched house.

The Bachelor airs on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET.

Supply: US Journal