Sound the alarm: Bachelor Clayton Echard has done something interesting. After seeing the Elizabeth Corrigan and Shanae Ankney drama play out on Monday night’s episode, Clayton broke Bachelor tradition by publicly apologizing for his choice to send Elizabeth home over Shanae — something franchise leads typically save for end-of-the-season specials.
“I’m sorry, Elizabeth, for what you’re going through. I wish I could have seen what was happening when I wasn’t there,” he wrote in a Notes-app statement posted to Twitter and his Instagram Stories. “I obviously knew y’all weren’t in a good place with each other, but I thought at the time that it was, solely, petty drama. I would have sent Shanae home immediately for making fun of you for being neurodivergent, had I known,” Clayton wrote after the episode aired.
In case you missed it, Clayton was reacting to Shanae and Elizabeth’s feud, which, on Monday night’s episode, boiled down to a misunderstanding about shrimp and ended with Shanae dismissing Elizabeth’s ADHD. At one point, while walking away from a confrontation, Shanae literally said, “Fake, fake, fake. ADHD my ass, 100 percent.” But Clayton wasn’t there for all of that. Instead, he got to listen to Shanae complain about how Elizabeth didn’t take any of the shrimp she had offered, which somehow meant Elizabeth was two-faced and the red flag in the house, statements he now seems to regret believing.
It reads like a pretty run-of-the-mill statement, but fans know it’s rare for Bachelor leads to weigh in so explicitly while their season is still airing. So the fact that Clayton, a.k.a. the most boring Bachelor there has ever been, decided this was worth breaking his silence for is significant, at least to Bachelor Nation.
Not only did he make it clear that he wished he had sent Shanae home, but he opened up about the experience of watching the show. “Overall, the experience for me watching hasn’t been fun, simply because I’m seeing all the damage that I caused,” he said. “I really meant well, but my actions weren’t always the best as I now can see the repercussions from my decisions.” As a longtime Bach fan, I can’t stress enough how strange it is to watch a Bachelor lead apologize and reflect on his actions in real time. He may be boring, but I think Clayton may also be … good.
Meanwhile, neither Elizabeth nor Shanae has responded to his post. But hey, they have to save something for the Women Tell All.