Bachelor 26 - Clayton Echard - Media SM - *Sleuthing Spoilers*

Amberly wrote:Just wanted to throw this out there - with the "not over until it is over theme" - at the end of the previews - didn't it appear that Clayton was visiting Rachel's father a second time - after HT's - different clothes, etc.?

Expressing how he made a mistake....

Perhaps I saw it incorrectly as it went by so fast - but wanted to see what everyone else thought!

Your "Bachelor" recap now up at: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] incl my Wordle premonition almost happening, the NBA All-Star game, & what I can report on Clayton's finale. Enjoy...

— RealitySteve (@RealitySteve) [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I think with this season, there’s a lot of stuff that’s been said and been going on post show that say more about the season than what we’re gonna see. Clayton went on a podcast last week and referenced the promo clip that we’ve seen numerous times of him saying “I was intimate with both of you,” which we know now was said to Gabby and Rachel in Iceland at the final three rose ceremony. Well, in that interview last week, Clayton is even saying now just because you saw it that way doesn’t necessarily mean what everyone thinks it means, and that it has more context to it. I’m interested to see now what he’s talking about because I, and everyone else, all took it to mean he told both of those women to their face that he had slept with both of them during overnight dates. Not unheard of. It’s happened numerous times on this show where the male lead sleeps with more than one woman. We’d just never seen the lead tell both of them at the same time. Well, not Clayton is saying basically, hey, don’t rush to judgment. Watch it play out before you actually form your opinion. It’s definitely a curious way to word things to say “I was intimate with both of you” if he wasn’t talking about sex, but after his interview last week, now that’s on the table. Maybe he didn’t and is just horrible with words.

But there’s definitely more to the end and I finally feel comfortable with some things that I’ve heard that I can share now.

As mentioned all season long, I’d been hearing so many different things, but nothing I could ever confirm, or nothing that ever seemed to come from a source that could back it up with anything more than “this is what I’m hearing.” And that’s just never been good enough for me to run with. However this past weekend I had some conversations with sources that provided at least a little more clarity? You’ll still have questions no doubt because what I’m about to say is not a detailed breakdown of what happens from the final 3 on, something I made perfectly clear yesterday. I also never said anything yesterday about having info on whoever Clayton chose. So here’s what I got for you. A few different points:

-When Clayton was doing pre-season interviews, he said he’d “found love” this season. Obviously never said whether he was engaged or not, but once he said that, I assumed that meant he chose someone and, considering we’ve only had Juan Pablo, Colton, and Matt in the last 12 seasons or so not propose, I assumed he was engaged and I just needed to find out to who. That’s now changed. I don’t believe he ever got engaged at the end of this season.

-Which then brings us to, “Well who did he choose?” Tough question. All season I kept saying I didn’t know who Clayton chose, that’s why I never reported anything. Yet I got asked it on a daily basis. When the IG accounts reported Clayton chose Rachel, I didn’t say anything because 1) I don’t base my info on what IG accounts say and 2) I had never been told by a solid source he chose Rachel.

-So over the weekend, there were 3 things I was told that I feel confident in reporting now:

1) Was told that this season does NOT have a traditional ending
2) Was told that he was NOT with Rachel
3) Was told that the there was no finality to the season in Iceland

So what does that mean? Well, it could mean a lot of things, but I want to point out two things that kinda back up what I just posted. First, Mike Fleiss’ tweet from yesterday about something “historic” this season. Now we all now Fleiss is the Hyperbole King when it comes to this show, but he tweeted out yesterday before I said I was gonna share what I’d heard about the finale that he had a historic announcement. Then during the show, he tweeted this:

Major Historic Announcement! This season’s finale of [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] is totally spoiler-proof. No one knows how it will end, cuz it ain’t over til it’s over! And it ain’t over…

— Mike Fleiss (@fleissmeister) [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Kinda lines up with 2 of the things I was told over the weekend in that there’s not a traditional ending and there’s no finality to the season in Iceland. It’s very easy to say “no one knows how it will end” if there’s no finality in Iceland. Fleiss is a lot of things, but if Clayton picked someone in Iceland and he’s been with her ever since, Fleiss wouldn’t tweet that just in HOPES that I didn’t find out. That would make no sense. He wouldn’t put himself in that position for me to prove him wrong. So yes, while he is a pompous azz pretty much all the time, he’s not lying in that tweet. Even though I don’t have specifics of what exactly that means, I think it’s safe to say that it not having a traditional ending means we’re not going to have it down to 2 women on final rose ceremony day, he picks out a ring, one woman arrives and gets dumped and the other woman shows up and they’re engaged. Pretty certain now that’s NOT how this season plays out.

Also, a couple weeks into the season, Jesse Palmer did this interview where he specified that something (or things) happen this season, shocking thing/s, that weren’t even shown in the promo. Of course everyone’s been dissecting that promo since it came out, but this show isn’t dumb. While it did give some stuff away about WHO was in it and the location/timing, there is zero context, along with other things that happened that we clearly don’t know about. So I think that also feeds into what I heard over the weekend. The host of the show is not going to flat out lie. They may embellish, they may skirt around certain topics, they may even evade in their answers, but if the host says that shocking things happened this season that weren’t in the promo, he’s not lying either.

So what does it all mean? I don’t know. I don’t have all your answers like I told you. But I really do believe the 3 things that were told to me I just mentioned are legit. However, by saying I was told he was not with Rachel, I’m not saying that means he’s either with Susie or Gabby. I wasn’t told anything on either of them. I’m just reporting what I was told about Rachel and that’s that he’s not with her. You might ask, “Does that mean he’s not with her now, or wasn’t with her at the end?” Again, I don’t have an answer to what that means. Was just told he’s not with Rachel.

I’ve also been led to believe that Clayton has absolutely NOT had any Happy Couple visits all season which, again, falls in line with the 3 things I reported today. Outside of her trip to LA a few weeks ago where she was seen in pictures with some of the women from this season, Rachel has not been in LA once since November. And on that trip, she was back home on Monday after being in pictures and hanging with the women on Saturday. I don’t know where people get these reports about her having Happy Couples with Clayton. I have yet to see zero proof of anything. They just assume, which then turns into fact. I’m here to tell you everything I was told led me to believe he’s seen NO ONE on Happy Couple visits since filming ended.

With no finality in Iceland, and with a non-traditional ending, that doesn’t mean that Rachel might not be in the picture come ATFR. Or Susie. Or Gabby. All I was told was alluding to that he didn’t pick Rachel in Iceland. Or leave with her in Iceland. Or anything like that. I don’t know about whether or not a final rose ceremony even happened, who the final 2 were, did Susie leave at final 3 – not told anything about those things. I know, it’s a little confusing, which I knew it would be because that leaves quite a few options open. He’s single, he’s in love but has to convince someone he’s not in love with the other two, etc.

So much speculation and guessing and, I just wanna stick with what I know and feel solid reporting, and that was those 3 things told to me over the weekend. You can all take that how you will and form your own theories. I’m not throwing any out because I know I’ll be held to a completely different standard than anyone else who reported they know he’s with Rachel, it’s SOOOOOO obvious, and they’ve been seeing each other since filming ended. Not what I’ve been told. So I guess it’s my sources up against theirs which, c’mon, we know they don’t have any. Anyone reporting Clayton chose Rachel in the end is doing that strictly based off the edit and nothing else. If they had sources, why haven’t their sources told them anything all season? Yawn.

We do know he told 3 women he was in love/loved them, we do know that Gabby and Rachel are at that rose ceremony after the “intimate” comment walking away crying, we do know we have yet to see any footage of a final rose ceremony day in Iceland and we’ve basically seen nothing past that final 3 rose ceremony except for last night they added the talk with his parents. Even if we do see a shot of a final rose ceremony day in Iceland in future promos, doesn’t necessarily mean anyone actually shows up for it. Definitely a few scenarios still possible here and now the narrative will change from all the people who told me it’s Rachel, it was obvious, and I don’t know anything. Ok. Whatever you say.

Anything I hear going forward from a reliable source, I’ll let you in on. Speculate away!

Jeepers wrote:There may be a setting for a FRC but that doesn’t mean that there was actually was one. We don’t any indication of one actually occuring

smg2587 wrote:Eliza posted on Instagram she was going to be in LA in about two weeks. Anyone think that is a possible time frame for WTA filming?

bluwavz wrote:

Keep in mind tonight that anything you tweet about the women (minus the final 3 of Gabby, Susie, & Rachel) will not be seen by them until after the WTA taping on Wednesday. Every woman at the WTA is quarantining right now. Been told they don’t have their phones.

— RealitySteve (@RealitySteve) [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

southerngirlatheart wrote:Is this not footage from a FRC? The background has been found to be a place in Iceland and there is one rose on the table. Even if it is staged to look like one, it’s still in there and has been since the first long promo so idk why he said there was never any footage of a FRC…

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]