Clayton Echard ‘Embarrassed and Disgusted’ by His ‘Bachelor’ Portrayal: ‘It’s Not Who I Am’
Former The Bachelor lead Clayton Echard continues to be “embarrassed” by his turn as the star of season 26 of the ABC series. In a new interview, the former reality personality explained he was not only embarrassed” but” disgusted” by the way he was depicted. In a recent interview, Echard claims he became someone he didn’t recognize as the star of the reality series.
The first episode of the new season of ‘The Bachelorette’ referenced Echard a lot
In the first episode of the 19th season of The Bachelorette, Echard’s name was brought up time and again as the 32 new contestants met the series’ leads, Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia.
During his season of The Bachelor, which unfolded from January to March 2022, Echard faced Windey and Recchia along with Susie Evans during the series’ final episodes.
Echard invited both Windey and Recchia to the fantasy suite. Third up was Evans, who dropped a bombshell. She shared that she could not accept an invitation to the fantasy suite if Echard had been intimate with the other women.
But, when Echard revealed he had been intimate with Recchia and Windey, Evans was visibly upset. Evans and Echard argued, and she left the show.
Echard consequently explained Evans’ absence to Windey and Recchia.
But, after hearing the news, Windey told Echard she wanted to leave. Echard convinced her to stay. However, Echard could not stop thinking about Evans. He then broke up with Windey and Recchia at the same time.
However, Evans and Echard later reunited and their relationship is reportedly still going strong.
Clayton Echard’s ’embarrassed’ by the way he was portrayed during season 26 of ‘The Bachelor’
Speaking to The Virginian Pilot, Clayton Echard claimed he was “embarrassed and disgusted” by his actions.
“I was unhappy with the way I was portrayed or seen on TV,” Echard said. “It’s not who I am.”
“Ultimately, I had to live with the fact that my narrative is what was shown. And that was hard because that’s not really who I am. I don’t feel that what I was on the show is who I truthfully am but I did those things, I became that person,” the former reality star concluded.
Addotionally, Echard was reportedly harassed online. The bullying became worse after the reunion episode aired.
“The hatred by way of numbers was really hard for me to overcome,” Echard explained.
Comparatively, “Had it just been a few messages I would’ve passed it off. Had it been hundreds of messages, I might have questioned it. But for me, it was thousands of messages in a short time, so it became very overwhelming.”
There was one silver lining to Clayton Echard’s being ’embarrassed’ on ‘The Bachelor’
However, there was one caveat to being the star of The Bachelor.
Echard met Evans, the woman he hoped for as a partner upon beginning his journey.
“At the same time, I would never, ever do it again,” he admitted of his foray into reality television.
The Bachelorette airs Mondays at 8 p.m. EST on ABC.
