Bachelor 26 - Clayton Echard - Mar 8 - *Sleuthing Spoilers*

I don't think that Susie should have shouldered any blame at all, and I for sure think that Clayton should not have blamed her. He didn't do himself any favors by talking to her the way he did.

Someone had to call him on his "in love with three women" BS, and sadly, it fell to Susie to do that. At one point, Clayton talked about how his intended "would be the right woman for me," but what was notably missing in his thinking is that he would have to be the right man for that woman as well. He thought that he got to do all the picking.

This scenario reminds me of the book, "He's Just Not That Into You" which counsels women to look hard at a guy's actions as opposed to just what he says. He sleeps with two other women, and tells them that he loves them? He's just not that into you. Susie made the right call.

luvstx wrote:I’m with GA and others on this and not Sprite (sorry)….

Susie should have told him in advance that she didn’t want him to sleep with others. She set a hoop for him to jump through without telling him advance how high the hoop was. A trap.

And I really liked Susie but I really don’t think she loved him. Not sure she was vying for ‘ette more than she just wasn’t that into him. No real tears or sobs. Wasn’t willing to work through it. Wasn’t willing to accept that they were on a stupid tv show with manipulative producers.

I was impressed with Clayton (though wish he had toned it down a bit at the end). He was set up by producers and by Susie. He cared about her. I thought when he stormed out he was intimating that TPTB had pushed him to express his feelings to all three.

ITA When he told her he loved her and had been wanting to tell he for awhile she was surprised he said it but didn’t look overjoyed. Then comes the “and oh by the way did I mention to you that sleeping with s/o else means I can’t go on?!?” She was looking for a way out. If she comes back it’s to turn down his proposal and sign her contract for the ‘ette.
Not thrilled with “Clayon’s ” reaction but I can understand his being upset. Probably had some producer involvement.

GuardianAngel wrote:ITA with him. If this was a deal breaker she should have told him. I personally don't agree with sex in the FS with those who you know you're not going to choose, but in this case just about every FS involves sex, and Susie knows that.

She was last for a reason.

i have to disagree ga. the fact that he said if she told him not to he wouldn't have done it shows what an a-hole he is imo. that just confirms he wanted to have his cake and eat it too. it's cruel to gabby and rachel to play them like that and it's cruel to susie to expect her to be okay with it just because other leads have done it before.

i don't think it's any coincidence that most of the relationships that have worked from the show are the ones where the lead DIDN'T sleep with anyone else.

After the way he treated her, how in the he** does she come back and go to the FRC? To get back at him by turning him down? That’s what is so confusing. Even RS doesn’t know how it gets to that point.

I definitely think when Jesse says “everything may change,” or whatever it was - it’s Susie coming back.

southerngirlatheart wrote:

After the way he treated her, how in the he** does she come back and go to the FRC? To get back at him by turning him down? That’s what is so confusing. Even RS doesn’t know how it gets to that point.

I definitely think when Jesse says “everything may change,” or whatever it was - it’s Susie coming back.

rs didn't know that clayton dumped susie. so maybe he's wrong about the frc too.

luvstx wrote:

Sprite wrote:

goodgolly wrote:Anyone else feel like that was a set up? He looks terrible after it- she looks like a bouquet of roses...
His "falling in love with 3 women" is crap. Really? 2 is one thing...3 ..No!

I feel like this whole season was a set up. It started as soon as they met Clayton and realized what a gullible, easily manipulated duffus he was. Perfect patsy.

Just curious…

Do you have any empathy for him?  I realize he doesn’t always handle things well but he got lousy advice before signing on. And he’s human. I’d do no better

Truthfully, no. I don't wish threats on anyone or rant on someone on their SM, but I have said this for years now...this show has been on for over 20 years. There is a sh*tload of info out there on how it works, how it is manipulated, how it is edited. There is no excuse for not knowing how it works. None. If dreams of SM stardom or bonking multiple women that you normally would never have a chance with is your dream, then at least act with some degree of respect towards others when you come on the show.

Tonight, IMO Clayton showed his true colours. Not the big grinning simpleton looking for love that we have seem up until now, but a big bully who blames others when things don't work out the way he wants...even though it was his own actions that brought about the consequences. We got a glimpse of this when he kept saying he didn't know about Shanae, even though multiple people had told him. He did know, but he chose to ignore it because she was hotter than those telling him and more willing to get sexual.

I'm not saying Susie is blameless in all this, but IMO that is still not an excuse for his actions. Actions have consequences. Something Clayton apparently needed to learn. Hopefully he will.

It finally may be the most dramatic finale ever!

I don't think Clayton handled this at all well but also feel that Susie may have almost set him up to fail. I just am not seeing that she was really "in love" with Clayton so possibly she knew that it would give her the best chance of being able to walk away. She can take the high road now but not if she returns only to turn him down.

Clayton seems angry at the producers/show as much as Susie. I'm not a fan of them sleeping with everyone but have no problem if you know there's one for you and want to be with them. Clearly he had levels of feelings (or love as he'd say) for the three and should have been able to figure out that it's not a smart idea to be intimate with two or three of them.

If this is going to be as much of a train wreck as it looks, why do we have to have two nights of it?

I put them both at blame for how that all went down and how they both handled it.

Rachel and Gabby are the true stars IMO.

ariwolf wrote:

southerngirlatheart wrote:

After the way he treated her, how in the he** does she come back and go to the FRC? To get back at him by turning him down? That’s what is so confusing. Even RS doesn’t know how it gets to that point.

I definitely think when Jesse says “everything may change,” or whatever it was - it’s Susie coming back.

rs didn't know that clayton dumped susie. so maybe he's wrong about the frc too.

Gawd I hope she does not come back! she needs to runnnnnn away from him fast and so do the other girls! He scared me and gave me my ex boyfriend vibes.

If we went after madi, I think Susie should get the same heat tbh… like not saying to go dm her hate or anything but why is Susie held to a different standard? She knew what this show was.

Clayton totally overreacted but that doesn’t mean Susie was correct. She was spiraling over something she could have prevented or at least told Clayton her expectations. In real life, susies expectations would have been totally okay, but in the premise of the show I don’t get how she’s any different that madi or Luke p other than being more careful with her words.

Most of my sympathy goes to gabby and Rachel, I can’t imagine how they are feeling hearing Clayton basically feed them both the same lines, I hope they ream him out at ATFR

First of all, leave it to Fleiss and company to have this episode on the International Day of the Woman.
I gave Clayton a big benefit of the doubt which I think I'll resind now. He was way too naive to be the Bachelor. He did not do enough pre-show checking with other leads to get a sense of what to expect. I don't think he's had a lot of experience with women. He was like a kid in a candy store and started to believe his own hype that he was actually "all that". In reality he was way out of his league, especially with the three finalists.
I understand the push back on Susie for not letting him know her deal breaker, but I honestly also see her side in this. I think Clayton believes he needs to be "in love" to have sex with a woman and that's how he justified to himself both having sex and saying he was in love. Other much more sophisticated leads have just slept with one person. I'm more fed up with the ILUs than having multiple sex partners.
He behaved badly towards Susie in their argument which is enough of a red flag to me to say good riddance.
I hope all three tell him no thanks. IMHO, he needs time to get himself together and then outside of this franchise pursue a relationship with one woman at a time. I do wish him well though. I think at heart he's a decent guy but I don't need/want to see him on my screen again.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Totally agree. Even his own father called him out in the preview  for blaming others for something he screwed up himself.

I truly hope he ens up alone. Any other ending for me would be contrived and unbelievable.  After watching what we all just did, if anyone went back with him, that woman would have no self respect and it wouldn't be a satisfying ending. The only satisfying finish would be his a** being dumped by everyone and getting majorly called out by all of them on the AFTR.