The 28-year-old Clayton had been a controversial Bachelor pick from the very beginning, with many Bachelor Nation fans claiming he wasn’t all that interesting or noteworthy during his tenure as a contestant on Michelle Young’s season of The Bachelorette in the fall of 2021. But the sales executive and former NFL player from Eureka, Missouri, truly delivered on a dramatic season, as the early trailers for his season suggested. “I can’t wait to get married and have kids,” Clayton declared in the preview above, later admitting that he was in love with three of the women competing for his affections on the show. And then he said during a rose ceremony that he was “intimate” with two of them—to their faces, as they’re standing next to one another. Cue shots of several women sobbing as one asks, “He’s in love with all three of us?!” and Clayton tearfully admits in an interview, “I’m so broken.” So, again: Serious drama! And that drama went sky-high all over again on the March 8 “Fantasy Suites” episode, in which Clayton did do what the previews promised he would—that is, sleep with two of the remaining contestants, Rachel Recchia and Gabby Windey—then erupted at his third and final Fantasy Suite date, Susie Evans, for telling him that his actions with Rachel and Gabby constituted a dealbreaker for her. In response, he sent Susie home in a huff. Where did things go from there? Again, believe it or not, there was still tons of drama left to witness, including everything that happened on Season 26’s two-part finale. Here’s everything you need to know about what went down and who Clayton picked on the Season 26 finale of The Bachelor. (If you haven’t seen both parts of the finale, then obviously, SPOILERSAHEAD!!!)
Who did Clayton Echard pick on The Bachelor Season 26 2022?
Back at the very start of the season, TV guru Reality Steve had said that one female contestant in particular was the actual winner of Season 26—he just wanted confirmation first. In a March 8 blog post, Reality Steve predicted with a significant degree of certainty what would happen in the Season 26 finale: Clayton would propose to Susie, but Susie—for the first time in franchise history!—would reject the Bachelor’s proposal. Reality Steve’s claim that Clayton got rejected and wound up single in the end was looking more and more likely as we reached the end of Season 26. As Reality Steve previously pointed out,Bachelor host Jesse Palmer said more than once during the taping of the “Women Tell All” special a few weeks beforehand, “I don’t know how the journey ends.” As Steve put it, “He was there [at the taping of the Season 26 finale] in Iceland, and would seemingly be there the day of a final rose ceremony and he’s saying even he doesn’t know how the journey ends…? [It’s possible] there was no finality in Iceland.” Plus, a lot of hints surfaced in the “Women Tell All” episode on March 7 that suggested Clayton was still a bachelor. You might have noticed that former contestant Teddi Wright told Clayton on that special that she knew a great deal about what happened between him and the remaining women after she finished fifth, and she basically told him, “I hope you’re OK”—a statement Clayton responded to with a somber nod, which is not the reaction you’d expect if the guy was happily engaged at that point. Kira, a contestant who got the boot pretty early on, even told Clayton on “Women Tell All” that she’d still be willing to date him if he wanted—again, which seems like another not-so-subtle hint that his dating status is currently set at single and available. So it seemed heading into the finale that Clayton would get rejected by Susie and that would be the end of it… except only the first part of that turned out to be true. On part 2 of the finale, viewers learned that after everyone came home from Iceland and Season 26 filming was done, Susie and Clayton somehow connected again and rekindled their romance. They’re now dating (as Susie chirped during the finale, “He’s my boyfriend!”) and Clayton has apparently sold his condo in Missouri and is planning to move to Virginia to be with (and live with) Susie.
Who was in Clayton’s top 3 on The Bachelor Season 26?
Once Clayton was down to his final three of Susie, Rachel and Gabby, he gave Susie the boot in the middle of their “Fantasy Suites” date for daring to tell him that she’s not cool with him being intimate with and proclaiming his love for Gabby and Rachel. So what was supposed to be the “final 3” rose ceremony, which aired Monday, March 14, only had two women in attendance: Rachel and Gabby. In a blog post shared just hours before the March 14 episode (i.e. Part 1 of the finale), Reality Steve claimed that Clayton would tell both Rachel and Gabby “that he’s in love with them and that he was intimate with both, as we’ve seen numerous times… Both of them walk away crying to make you think they’re leaving. They don’t. Clayton practically begs each woman to stay and they do. He ends up giving a rose to both of them.” Gabby and Rachel both then met Clayton’s parents, only for Clayton to immediately decide after those get-togethers that he loved and wanted Susie the most. On part 2 of the finale, Clayton informed Rachel and Gabby that his heart wasn’t with them anymore and that he was sending them both home.
Who got Clayton’s first impression rose of TheBachelor Season 26?
Before the season began, Reality Steve correctly reported that the lucky winner of Clayton’s first impression rose would be Teddi Wright, a surgical unit nurse and “hopeless romantic” from Highland, California, according to her Bachelor bio. But, as Reality Steve pointed out on Oct. 22, Teddi then went on a drought, going several weeks without getting a 1-on-1 date. However, once Clayton and the remaining women traveled to Europe on week 6, he finally did select Teddi for a 1-on-1 date. In the end, Teddi finished fifth.
So, is Clayton from TheBachelor Season 26 engaged?
As discussed above, it was looking more and more like Clayton would end up without a fiancée by the end of all this. Here’s how Reality Steve broke it down before the finale: “After Gabby and Rachel meet his parents, Clayton makes the decision that he wants to talk to Susie still… They meet up, Clayton apologizes for how everything went down when they last saw each other, and he asks her to stay. She agrees. Susie then ALSO meets Clayton’s parents. After all three women have met Clayton’s parents, Clayton decides that he’s in love with Susie and makes the decision to send the other two home… There is a final rose ceremony day. Clayton has a ring, and Susie arrives in a final rose ceremony dress like a regular final rose ceremony we’ve seen in the past.” Reality Steve continued, “Clayton did tell Susie he was in love with her. Susie tells Clayton in return that she is NOT in love with him, and she walks away. Clayton leaves Iceland single.” Now that we’ve seen all that air out on TV, we know that the only thing Reality Steve missed was the coda: Clayton and Susie got back together after the finale was filmed, and now they’re happily dating and planning on moving in together. On Good MorningAmerica in early December, Clayton teased his season by saying “I did find love”—but looking back, that had seemed like a clever way of saying that while he did fall in love (with too many women!) over the course of his season, what he did not find was a fiancée. He also said during that appearance, “I was a little skeptical going into the whole journey, but I’m so pleasantly surprised that things worked out much different than I thought. Again, I’m just so excited to watch it back and have everyone else watch it as well.” He added that he “learned a lot about myself” and that the whole experience “has been quite the journey.” Next, Who Won Bachelor in Paradise Season 7—And What Happened to Everyone Else? Catch Up on All the Drama Here!
