Clayton Echard, the current star of The Bachelor, has defended himself from criticism after viewers claimed that he repeated the same loving sentiments to all of his final three contestants.
After a season spent narrowing down a long list of suitors to find his perfect match, contestants Susie Evans, Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia officially made it to the top three.
However, after a series of romantic dates in the reality dating show’s infamous fantasy suites, during which Echard told both Windey and Recchia that he was “falling in love” with them, Echard then proceeded to tell Evans that he was “in love” with her.
Unfortunately for the Bachelor, Evans was unable to get past his intimate nights and strong feelings for the other two contestants, and, as a result, was sent home during Tuesday’s episode. The choice also left the reality star upset, with Echard declaring: “My heart’s not in it. It’s over.”
On social media, however, viewers felt the conclusion was justified considering Echard said very similar variations of the same thing to each woman.
“I can’t believe Clayton said the same thing to each of the three women. He knows this is being filmed, right? I hope the surprise ending is that he ends up alone. Proud of Susie for standing by her values. Clayton is the worst Bachelor ever,” one person tweeted, while another viewer said: “Not Clayton saying the exact same thing to Gabby that he said to Rachel. Verbatim.”
Someone else added: “Is Clayton a broken record? I haven’t been super paying attention…but I’m pretty sure that he said the same thing to all three of them.”
In a preview clip of former Bachelorette Kaitlyn Bristowe’s podcast Off the Vine, obtained by US Weekly, The Bachelor star defended himself from the criticism on the basis that he doesn’t have a “different vocabulary depending on who I’m talking to”.
Echard began by explaining that he feels he owes it to each contestant to think only about them during their time together, and that that means not allowing “thoughts of another woman to creep in your head when you’re with that person”.
But, according to The Bachelor, he may have “compartmentalised too well”.
“I compartmentalised, I guess, too well to the point where I was just all in with these women,” he said, adding: “And that was the thing people said … ‘He’s saying the same thing to multiple women.’”
The 28 year old then went on to acknowledge that he is “only one person” and that he doesn’t have a “different vocabulary” for each woman.
“I’m only one person. I mean, I don’t have a different vocabulary depending on who I’m talking to,” he continued. “So I felt these feelings of love, and they were genuine. If anything, I felt so similar with every one of the connections that that’s why the same things were being said, because I felt that way genuinely.”
This is not the first time that Echard has defended his actions on the show, as the star of the 26th Bachelor season previously claimed that viewers like to jump to conclusions before they know the entire story.
“Today’s day and age, everybody likes to jump and push their opinion out as quick as they can,” he told previous Bachelor stars during an appearance on Clickbait with Bachelor Nation, according to E! News. “With technology and Twitter and all these different avenues, we’re able to get out our opinions as quick as possible.”
The finale of the 26th season of The Bachelor will air over two nights on 14 and 15 March on ABC.
