The Bachelor alum Clayton Echard has accused Rachel Recchia of lying while explaining why they recently had a falling out.
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"All of a sudden [after our stint on Perfect Match], it's like I'm the bad guy again and you're the victim, and so I was upset!" Clayton complained of Rachel during a recent appearance on the "She's All Bach" podcast.
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The former The Bachelor star continued, "I can't feel bad for you. You signed up for it! You've heard the stories about what the producers do and how character archs are developed, and you still chose to go on for your own selfish motives."
When Clayton starred on The Bachelor's 26th season in 2022, he had a messy ending because he fell in love with three women -- Rachel, Gabby Windey and Susie Evans -- and had sex with both Rachel and Gabby in the Fantasy Suites.
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After Clayton dumped Rachel on The Bachelor and devastated her, Rachel co-starred on The Bachelorette's 19th season alongside Gabby. (Rachel also failed to find lasting love on Season 9 of Bachelor in Paradise).
And then last summer, Clayton and Rachel reunited on Season 3 of Netflix's Perfect Match. The pair decided to match up, but then Clayton changed his mind 24 hours later and crushed Rachel once again.
In August 2025, Rachel lamented on "The Viall Files" podcast, "I was so upset... It's like, 'You are humiliating me -- you know that you're doing this! You know that I have a willingness to forgive you and you take advantage of it.'"
Rachel also alleged that Clayton didn't even try to get to know her and the woman she had become on Perfect Match.
Around that time, Clayton unfollowed Rachel on social media.
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On the "She's All Bach" podcast, Clayton confirmed that he reconnected -- and ultimately made amends -- with Rachel.
Recalling the former couple's ups and downs, Clayton shared of Rachel, "I was very upset with her."
"My opinion was she did not take accountability to the degree that I thought she should take," Clayton explained.
"I felt like she was going on podcasts and making me look like a villain, when it was, like, 'You made the decision to get back with me [on Perfect Match]. Take accountability for going back into that again, alright?!'"
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Clayton said all he did was "explore a previous connection with an ex," arguing that many people in the world have done the same.
"I was tired of [being painted the villain]. I listened to the podcast and I felt like she was playing the victim," Clayton shared.
Clayton claimed he and Rachel had "talked things out" and "hashed it out" while they were still on the set of Perfect Match.
"We were totally cool with each other and then she just said something on a podcast and I was like, 'Well, that's not what you said to me in private. So the second that it goes public, you shift your narrative all of a sudden,'" Clayton recalled, accusing Rachel of lying to the media.
Clayton expressed how it wasn't fair that Rachel allegedly made him look like the villain when they had already worked through their differences.
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"[I told her], 'So now, you must be bullsh-tt-ng me to my face.' That agitated me, so I unfollowed her," Clayton said.
Clayton claimed that once Rachel noticed the unfollow, she reached out to him and asked to talk.
"So I hopped on a phone call with her and I was like, 'Look, I was not happy with what you said on that podcast. I have a right to be upset by it. I don't feel like you're taking accountability,'" Clayton recalled.
"And she explained her scenario and then I was like, 'Okay, cool. We're good. Alright, I'll follow you back.' She was like, 'You don't have to follow me,' and I was like, 'No, no, I'm not mad at you.' But I was annoyed."
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Clayton said the situation was "not that serious" but he had to tell Rachel how he felt.
"I said, 'Rachel, in my opinion, I feel like you're pushing me back down into that same category you did the first time around on The Bachelor, and I feel like this was a 50/50 thing. I didn't trick ya!'" Clayton recalled.
Clayton pointed out how it was Rachel's choice to give him another chance and pair up on Perfect Match.
"[I told her], 'You decided to put yourself back into another reality TV experience and subject yourself to that environment when you could get hurt again. You could've just said no to me that first night and rejected me -- but you chose not to. So when you get hurt, why am I the one that is 100 percent at fault?'" Clayton claimed.
"She's great. I'm just at a point in my life where I took way too much responsibility. On The Bachelor, it was like, 'Oh, I made her cry and so I'm 100 percent at fault.' And I don't agree with that today... They put themselves in that position the second they signed up [for a reality dating show]."
Clayton said while Rachel may not have known what she signed up for by going on The Bachelor, she certainly knew what she was getting into on Perfect Match.
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When asked why Clayton had matched up with Rachel on Perfect Match and dumped her so quickly afterwards, Clayton refused to get into detail.
"Respectfully, that's between her and I. Conversations were had where I was just like, 'This will not work,'" Clayton said.
"I thought it out, we talked, I made a decision, and I believe I made the right decision," he added.
"We sat and talked in bed and the next morning, and through those conversations, I was like, 'This can't work. We are not the same people we were on The Bachelor.'"
Clayton concluded that he and Rachel had more in common when they were on The Bachelor than they do now.
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