Bachelor: Clayton Echard Lists Reasons He Is ‘Happy’ After Season Finale

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Although Clayton Echard's season of The Bachelor was one of the most difficult and controversial in franchise history, in an Instagram post, Clayton listed the reasons that he is now happy. Clayton's journey was marred by criticism from the start as Bachelor Nation had been hoping that someone else from Michelle Young's season of The Bachelorette would be the next Bachelor. When Clayton was announced as the Bachelor, people's emotions ranged from disappointment to outrage. However, Clayton begged viewers to give him a chance, saying that he wanted a wife and children more than anything and that he was ready to find his true love.

Clayton's season ended up spiraling downward as controversy after controversy emerged. Fans of the show slammed Clayton for keeping villain Shanae Ankney week after week, despite the warnings from the other women about her outrageous antics. Clayton was accused of caring more about developing physical connections with the women than having conversations and really getting to know him. He spoke out about how the constant attacks on social media were affecting his mental health in a negative way. However, things only got worse when he angrily sent Susie Evans home after she expressed that she could not accept that he had told her, Rachel Recchia, and Gabby Windey that he loved them, and that he had slept with Rachel and Gabby before her fantasy suite. After he broke up with Rachel and Gabby to try to win Susie back, fans again saw him as a villain who had only used the other women as placeholders for Susie, especially since he had repeatedly said that he loved Susie «the most.» After Susie rejected him, people were convinced that Clayton was the worst Bachelor of all time, and would end up alone.