The Bachelor’s Clayton Echard and Susie Evans: A Timeline of Their Relationship
Clayton Echard and Susie Evans‘ eventually found their happy ending on The Bachelor — but it didn’t come without a few bumps along the way.
The former football player abruptly sent Susie home on the March 8, 2022, episode of the hit series during their fantasy suite date after the videographer confessed that she was uncomfortable with him sleeping with the other two contestants — Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia — one week before potentially proposing to her.
“In knowing that there’s an engagement literally in a week, and there are things I can’t compromise,” Susie explained, before asking if he also told them that he loved them. “If I’m sharing your love with somebody else, I don’t think I would be comfortable [saying yes].”
After confessing that he had, indeed, told both Gabby and Rachel that he was falling in love (and that he had been intimate with both women), Clayton attempted to defend himself. “I was having feelings of love with [them] and so I slept with this person because I wanted to see how the psychical connection is. If you were in love with somebody, you would just explore that,” he said. Though Susie noted that she “understands” his side of things, she was still struggling to reconcile that fact with her feelings.
When the Virginia native ultimately argued that she couldn’t be with him after his revelation, Clayton accused her of not wanting to “fight” for their relationship and walked her out. At the time, the Bachelor stated that he had given up on finding love on the show but the Missouri native later revealed that he regretted his emotional outburst.
One of the greatest things that I learned was the power of emotion,” Clayton told Ben Higgins and Ashley Iaconetti on their “Almost Famous” podcast in March 2022 after their breakup episode aired. “When you allow that to overcome rationale … I saw that I shut down. And I jumped to a lot of conclusions that aren’t realistic, that weren’t the truth.”
He continued: “And so I’ve known this before, but I know now going forward, if I ever get overwhelmed like that ever again, [I should] take a deep breath and step aside. Say, ‘I need to take five,’ just step away. I in that moment did not do that. And I wish I would have just taken a breather and walked outside and said, ‘Give me 20 minutes,’ but I didn’t. I also learned again that my reality is one thingand someone else’s reality is another, and perception is reality. However people perceive it, that’s the reality of it.”
When she was sent packing, Susie said through tears, “I thought he would have more compassion for me. Regardless of what kind of love [we had for each other] at this point, I just thought we would have been better at getting through that conversation kindly.”
Their journey didn’t end there, however. During the bombshell season finale, Clayton made an effort to reunite with the ousted contestant, which was initially unsuccessful. While she dumped him at the final rose ceremony, the pair later revealed that they gave their romance another shot once filming wrapped.
Keep scrolling to see exactly how Clayton and Susie’s relationship unfolded on The Bachelor:
Credit: ABC/John Fleenor
1st Impression
Clayton and Susie connected from the moment she stepped out of the limo. “Susie was very fun coming out of the limo," he said during an appearance on Us Weekly's "Here For the Right Reasons" podcast in January 2022. "I like somebody that has a sense of humor. ... I like when I see someone that’s able to do that and then be confident about it. ‘Cause you kinda think, like, coming out that limo, cameras are all around you and you can still maintain that poise, that confidence — that says a lot about somebody. I was very impressed by her."
Credit: ABC/Craig Sjodin
One-on-One
Susie became one of the front-runners for the TV personality's heart when she earned the first one-on-one date. The pair enjoyed a helicopter ride in Los Angeles before going swimming in the ocean.
Credit: ABC/John Medland
Falling in Love
Susie surprised Clayton with a late-night rendezvous in Croatia, where she confessed that she was falling in love with him. "On our first date, I felt totally ... swept off my feet and I felt such a connection with you," the former pageant queen said, explaining that she was putting up walls after seeing him connect with the other women. "But before coming here tonight, I promised myself I would be more vulnerable with you. ... Even though I know there's so much more to go and so much more to figure out, I do feel like I'm falling in love with you."
Clayton, for his part, revealed that hearing Susie confess her feelings made him "the happiest I have been" since the show started. "Tonight, she told me everything I needed to hear," he said. "If I ever needed validation that this process works, I'm seeing it unfold before me."
Credit: ABC/John Fleenor
Princess for a Day
One week later, Susie earned her second one-on-one date and was surprised with a fairy tale outing where she got to try on designer gowns. "I saw so many sides of Susie ... I love what I see out of her and she just really enjoys every moment we have together and so do I," Clayton said on the date, while she noted that felt "giddy" around her potential future husband.
Credit: ABC/John Medland
Establishing Boundaries
During the evening portion of their fantasy suite date, Clayton told Susie that he was in love with her — but things didn't exactly go as smoothly as he hoped as he was blindsided by the declaration that him sleeping with other women was a deal-breaker. "If you felt this strong about this, why wouldn't you tell me about this early on?" Clayton asked, before she stepped outside for a breather. "How can you do that? After all the experiences that we had, how can you just say you can't move forward?"
Credit: ABC/Pamela Littky
An Emotional Exit
The pair's argument escalated to the point that Clayton decided to send Susie home before the rose ceremony. "I don’t even know who I’m looking at anymore,” the sales rep said. “You just dropped a bombshell on me, and I don’t agree with it at all how you went about it. I think it’s BS.” We're done. I'm done. ... Anything you say to me doesn't matter anymore." The fitness instructor tried to apologize and let Clayton know that her feelings for him were "real," but he fired back that she didn't "fight" for the relationship before walking away from the car.
Credit: ABC/Pamela Littky
She Said, He Said?
During an appearance on the "Off The Vine" podcast in March 2022, Clayton told host and former Bachelorette Kaitlyn Bristowe that he was encouraged to explore other relationships by all three finalists. “All three of the women said, ‘I want you to explore the other relationships fully,’ almost verbatim," he recalled. “I looked at it like if these women stick around and watch me kiss other women in front of them — which would never be acceptable in the real world — then these real-world boundaries are kind of set aside and there’s a new playing field in this environment."
Clayton continued: "When I was [later] sitting alone in my room, that’s when it hit me. I was like, ‘You’re in a deep spot, you’re in a really bad spot. You have told three women now that you’re in love and how do you think this is going to end?’”
Credit: ABC/John Fleenor
On Gaslighting
Though he admitted that he could have handled his conversation with Susie a bit better, Clayton denied gaslighting her during their argument. "I don't agree that I was gaslighting because I looked that up, and it said gaslighting, the definition is to try and convince someone of a different reality than what is actually the true reality of the situation," he told the host, later adding, "I did not manipulate her."
“I allowed my emotions to attack her and I wish I wouldn’t have done that," the Bachelorette season 18 alum continued. "I was very upset. And I let my emotions get the best of me. I’m 1,000 percent in wrong for that. And I really wish I would never have acted that way toward her. But I did not gaslight or manipulate her and that is 1,000 percent a fact.”
Credit: ABC/Craig Sjodin
Best For Last
Though Clayton wasn't allowed to choose the order of his [fantasy suite dates, he did reveal that producers pressured him to have Susie go last because they knew how strong his feelings were toward her. “They came in and they said, ‘We think you should do this way,’ and they convinced me," he told Bristowe. "They're like, ‘You need to keep your other options open, you need to keep everything open, so don't close off. Because if Susie goes first, we're afraid you're gonna close off.’ So I said, ‘OK.’ … I did have a say in it at the end of it all."
Credit: ABC/Ricky Middlesworth
A 'Bachelorette' Audition?
As they were arguing, Clayton thought that Susie might have been trying to position herself as the next Bachelorette, rather than focusing on her relationship with him. "I thought, 'Why does it seem like she's not fighting for this? Why does she seem like she can't even give me a chance?'" he recalled on "Almost Famous," though he added that he feels differently now. "I started having these really dangerous thoughts of being like, 'What if Susie right now is just trying to get out of this? What if she's just saying whatever she needs to say to leave me so that she can be the next Bachelorette?'"
Credit: ABC/Craig Sjodin
The Ending
While there will be a "definite ending" to Clayton's season, he did reveal that fans might be upset by the way he handled his other relationships, post-breakup. "I would just tell people to reserve judgment until they see the full story and then I think people will understand why I've done everything that I've done," he said.
Credit: ABC/Craig Sjodin
The Final Rose Ceremony
After breaking up with both Gabby and Rachel in Iceland, Clayton wrote a letter to Susie attempting to convince her he was still all in on their relationship. She met him at the final rose ceremony, but they didn't walk away together. "I have made the decision to leave Iceland alone. It doesn't make it, like, an easy decision," she told him. "It's devastating. ... I feel like it's over."
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