The Bachelor alum Clayton Echard has revealed that he almost quit Michelle Young's The Bachelorette season in 2021.
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"I was too fearful of saying something dumb. I didn't want to bring negativity my way. And so I literally just sat back and I was like, 'I am going to be as cautious as possible because I don't want to shoot my mouth off and all of a sudden be the center focus of some drama Night one."
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
The former football player and medical sales representative disclosed, "I almost left six times more so because I felt out of place."
Clayton apparently struggled with confidence and presenting his true, authentic self to Michelle.
"Guys [were] coming down the steps for their intros and what they were wearing and they seemed so comfortable acting ridiculous... I thought, 'These guys are so comfortable in their own skin and I'm not, so how can I be here amongst these men?'" Clayton admitted.
Clayton said he can recall "six moments where I almost went up to the producer and was like, 'Can I go home?'"
But Clayton ended up forming a connection with Michelle that he dubbed "magical" at the time of their only one-on-one date of the season.
"This could be something that I could get used to for the rest of my life. She could be The One... I think everything I've been chasing after is right in front of me, and I'm really excited," Clayton said in a confessional.
While Michelle acknowledged that she and Clayton had amazing, romantic moments together and she enjoyed getting to know him better, she admitted "something was missing" between them -- and so she ultimately determined he's not her perfect match.
"You have checked every single box of all the qualities I'm looking for in somebody," Michelle told Clayton. "But I know that giving out this rose means I'm ready to meet your family, and I don't feel that I'm able to get there with you in time."
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RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOWMichelle therefore eliminated Clayton before hometown dates, and she said the decision was "incredibly difficult" but she needed to follow her heart.
Michelle also assured Clayton that just because their romance didn't work out, it didn't mean he was "not enough."
Clayton cried in his final words, "I just want to find love so badly and have a family and start that chapter of my life. I want it more than anything else, and I'll do whatever it takes to get that -- whatever it takes."
Michelle, however, recently admitted on "The Ben and Ashley I: Almost Famous Podcast" that she was over Clayton well before she actually broke up with him.
"I'm not even going to lie -- and Clayton and I joke about this... but, like, when you go through the show, some people fall behind. And Clayton and I really didn't know too much about [each other]," Michelle shared.
"And I was not very chipper at that point in Minnesota about going on a date with him. I was really, really tired."
Michelle then dropped the following bombshell: "I was tired and I wanted to send him home earlier through the date than when I was allowed. And he knows this now."
Michelle presumably wasn't "allowed" to send Clayton packing sooner because ABC had already been eyeing him as the potential star of The Bachelor's 26th season.
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Clayton clearly had a tough time on The Bachelorette, but that was nothing compared to what he experienced on The Bachelor, which premiered in early 2022.
Clayton had slept with and professed his love to both Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia during the Fantasy Suites, before determining that he actually loved Susie Evans "the most."
When Clayton came clean to Susie about his behavior in the Fantasy Suites, she was extremely upset and dumped him. Susie later returned for the Final Rose Ceremony -- but only to break up with Clayton again and deny his final rose.
Susie and Clayton, however, reunited in the real world and were officially dating by the time his After the Final Rose special aired in March 2022. Clayton even moved to Virginia Beach to live with Susie and make things work.
But in the face of backlash, death threats, and their own mental health issues, Susie and Clayton announced their split in September of last year.
Clayton has since moved to Scottsdale, AZ, and Susie is currently living in Los Angeles, CA.
Clayton told the magazine of his dating life right now, "I'm just super open, having conversations with everybody because you never know when that one person... might end up being The One for you."
"My dating life is complicated," he confessed. "I am doing all these other things. I probably am not giving it enough effort and I've met some incredible women, but I'm so focused on myself right now and building something that I'm not giving as much time and energy to somebody."
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
