Clayton Echard: I'm 'Disgusted' by How I Was 'Portrayed' on 'The Bachelor'

Clayton Echard. Sara Jaye Weiss/Shutterstock

Are you blaming the wrong people? Clayton EchardHe opened up about his time in the Bachelor on season 26 of the ABC series — and he had some thoughts about how he was received by fans, seemingly blaming production for his edit.

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“Watching it back, I was embarrassed and disgusted by my actions and the way I was portrayed or seen on TV,” Clayton, 29, said during an interview with The Virginian-PilotPublished on Sunday, July 10th. “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 ex-NFL player who referred back to his time on The Bachelor as a train wreck,” sparked controversy when he revealed to contestant (and now-girlfriend) Susie EvansHe had slept with the other finalists, leading to her premature exit from the show.

Clayton told the remaining women at the final rose ceremony. Rachel Recchia Gabby WindeyThey told him that he was in love. The revelation prompted an onslaught of fan hate via social media — something the Missouri native had trouble dealing with.

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“The hatred by way of numbers was really hard for me to overcome,” he explained on Sunday. “Had it just been a few messages I would’ve passed it off. If it had been hundreds of messages, I might have asked it. … But for me, it was thousands of messages, and in a very short period of time, so it became very overwhelming.”

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Clayton, who has spoken out about his mental health issues in the past, accepted the criticism and decided to use it for inspiration. He is now working on a book about dealing with body issues, explaining that “going on the show was a catalyst for me feeling as though I can do this.”

“It’s something that I’m passionate about, and I want to be able to impact others,” he said.

Despite her early exit, the ex-player for the Seattle Seahawks was revealed later during the After the Final RoseReunion in March. Evans, 28, and he were currently dating and living with each other.

“I spent the last four months with her,” he told host Jesse PalmerAt the time. “She just impresses me more and more every day. And she continues to give me reason after reason why following my heart was the best decision I could have ever made, and I could not be more in love with this woman.”

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Later that month the pro athlete spoke out exclusively. Us WeeklySince his return to Virginia with the native, his belief in the possibility of loving more than one person has changed.

“[Now]I believe that you can only fall in love with one person. You can fall for many, but you can only be in love with one,” he said. “And that’s where I made a mistake. I was confused on the show, and I believed that I was in love with multiple women, but I’ve since realized that I don’t think I was.”

Clayton narrates The Virginian-Pilot on Sunday that he doesn’t regret the experience, he noted that he would “never, ever do it again.”