The Bachelor star Clayton Echard has opened up about criticism and how it's felt to be the unpopular choice to lead Season 26 star over some of Michelle Young's other The Bachelorette suitors.

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Clayton, a 28-year-old orthopedic sales representative and former college football player, will be starring on The Bachelor despite not even being selected for a hometown date on Michelle's The Bachelorette season.

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Clayton didn't receive a lot of screentime on Season 18 of The Bachelorette, and many viewers fell in love with bachelors such as Rodney Mathews and Brandon Jones.

But ABC had selected Clayton to star on the next The Bachelor season even before Michelle's The Bachelorette edition began airing in October, although Clayton's participation wasn't confirmed until late November.

"Everyone has a lot of questions, right? And rightfully so," Clayton told Us Weekly ahead of The Bachelor's next season premiering Monday, January 3 at 8PM ET/PT on ABC.

"I've read everything online, so I know what's being said. People are saying, you know, 'Oh, we don't know his personality and so why did he get picked?'"

Clayton explained, "I will say this: I will get a little bit more airtime -- I think it's safe to say -- on my side of things here, so my personality will come out. And I think people will see it for what it is and I'm excited."

Clayton just asked The Bachelor fans to "be patient" and give him some grace.

"Give me that shot," Clayton pleaded. "I don't know all the reasons why I was chosen, but I can say that I think the producers saw me as someone who really was wanting to find love."

Producers apparently felt Clayton was in it for "right reasons" and appeared on the franchise with genuine intentions.

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"So they're like, you know, 'This is somebody that we believe in that's here to take this seriously,'" Clayton noted. "And I was, and I did."

"And so I was just so very thankful to be offered the position to be the Bachelor," he added.

The Bachelorette co-host Kaitlyn Bristowe, who got to know Clayton while filming Michelle's season, recently told Us of Clayton's The Bachelor casting, "I kept thinking, like, 'If you're going to make him the Bachelor, you gotta show more of him and why he's going to be our next Bachelor.'"

"Because, I mean, if we're watching Michelle's season, we're rooting for Rodney to be... the Bachelor -- someone that we're like, 'Whoa, we fell in love with that person and we're rooting for them to find love,'" she explained.

With Clayton, Kaitlyn admitted, "We're kind of like, 'What? Oh, okay.' And now we're rooting for him, but we don't know much about him."

Kaitlyn also poked fun at all the backlash directed at Clayton during The Bachelorette: After the Final Rose last week, when Clayton made a brief appearance to create hype for his upcoming season.

"There have been a lot of mixed reactions to you being announced as the Bachelor," Kaitlyn declared. "I thought there's nothing like [facing] your haters face on. That's what I do."

Kaitlyn thought it would be fun to read some of the trolls' online comments aloud, including, "Clayton is the Bachelor and I just puked in my mouth," and "I hope Clayton uses protection in the fantasy suites, otherwise 9 months later there are gonna be a lot of baby Shreks running around."

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The studio audience, however, cheered for Clayton and chanted his name, and Kaitlyn pointed out how Clayton is "self-deprecating" and able to laugh about this.

"I know America is going to fall in love with you once they watch you," Kaitlyn said.

"Yeah, I mean, listen, I read everything and I see [the hate]. [Those tweets] were pretty PG compared to some of the things I read. It's just another day," Clayton acknowledged.

Many fans were shocked and taken aback to learn through The Bachelor trailer that Clayton had fallen in love with three women while filming his season and actually confessed to two of his bachelorettes he had slept with them both.

"But listen, I really hope that people do just give me a shot," Clayton said. "Because my journey is authentic and I really did give my very best. I think people will see that."

Clayton and Michelle formed a connection while filming The Bachelorette and her fifth-grade students had selected him as the best choice among her suitors, but Michelle eliminated the buff former football player when selecting her Final 4 suitors.

Michelle said she felt something missing with Clayton, and following his ouster, he cried about how he wants to have a wife and children "more than anything" and would do whatever it takes to make that dream come true.

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The Bachelorette co-host Tayshia Adams previously told Entertainment Tonight that she thought Clayton would make a "great" Bachelor because he was "personable" and "fun" on Michelle's season.

Kaitlyn also told Us earlier this month how Clayton is "sensitive" and "in tune with his emotions," which are great qualities for any ABC leading man to have.

And Clayton confirmed on Good Morning America in November that he "did find love" on the show with one of his 31 bachelorettes.

"I was a little skeptical going into the whole journey, but I'm so pleasantly surprised that things worked out much different than what I had thought," Clayton shared at the time.

Clayton said he went into The Bachelor with "a checklist of sorts" in that he wanted to find a partner who is "funny, intelligent, driven, [and] put forth effort.

"What I found is very quickly the women blew my expectations out of the water. They brought all of that and so much more," Clayton teased on GMA, adding, "I realized that, ultimately, I was going to find everything that I wanted and so much more."

The Bachelor will be hosted by Jesse Palmer, a former NFL player who starred on The Bachelor back on Season 5 that aired in 2004, following Chris Harrison's permanent departure from the franchise over his early 2021 racism scandal.

RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)

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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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