Clayton Echard took the hot seat at The Bachelor: Women Tell All. Image Source: Cheat Sheet 

Clayton Echard had some explaining to do!

During a special two-hour episode of The Bachelor: Women Tell All on ABC, The Bachelor Clayton Echard and one of the most talked-about contestants on the show, Shanae Ankney, took their turns and were pretty much grilled about their journey.

Clayton Echard has received a lot of backlash for keeping Shanae on the show while sending the "deserving ones" away, even after it was brought to his knowledge that she was toxic. Host Jesse Palmer who previously starred in season five of The Bachelor asked some hard-hitting questions to Clayton starting with how does he feel? To which Clayton replied by saying that he had a rush of emotions as he saw all the ladies.

Clayton Echard went on to describe the current feeling as they are here to experience the past season altogether and mentioned that he had found it hard to watch the show, which went on to make him realize a few things, including the fact that he is not perfect and he had made a lot of mistakes and needed to own up to them.

Host Jesse Palmer and Clayton Echard. Image Source: Vanity Fair 

Jesse Palmer went on to ask Clayton what it is that he regrets, and Clayton explains that he wishes he would have done a few things differently, but he genuinely took those decisions as he felt them be right, and maybe it turned out the wrong eventually. But it's not like he regrets anything because every decision was taken with good intention.

The ladies did not wait for anyone as they needed answers! Sierra Jackson went on to ask Clayton why did he keep favoring Shanae Ankney on the show even after he was told by her and a couple of more women that she was toxic and was hurting the people? Sierra added that the women in the house who lived with Shanae were telling him about how she was and he ignored all the red flags and went ahead to save her.

Clayton Echard acknowledged the question and replied that it was a fair question but answered that the warning about Shanae came early on when he was trying to build trust and wanted tangible evidence to make a decision to which Sierra said that what’s more tangible than a house she lives in telling you?

A lot of discussions involved Clayton Echard's decision to keep Shanae Ankney over the other girls. Image Source: Cosmopolitan 

Another contestant, Lindsey Windham asked Clayton Echard to own up to the fact that he had a better connection with Shanae Ankney compared to all of them. She said that it’s frustrating for her to see him as scared or something because he is not able to accept the connection he had. Clayton added that sure there was a connection until Shanae threw a group date trophy into the pond.

Clayton added that the move by Shanae was, according to him, indefensible, but the women in the panel said that he still saved her, and Sierra added that she felt that it was disrespectful because she had his back, was ready to look out for him and wanted to stop him from making a stupid decision.

Sierra Jackson went ahead to explain that she tried to help him but according to her he just got confused with love and lust and needs to figure that out. The Bachelor’s contestant went on to say to Clayton that maybe he was not ready to be married. Clayton admitted that he felt that he had a genuine connection with Shanae but he was just confused and frustrated with her whipping fake tears and trying to manipulate everyone.

Shanae pitched in and said that there were a lot of things that he didn’t see and she was vulnerable, honest, and open to him which was met by the women stating that she is lying. Clayton said to Shanae that he trusted her and that was the worst thing he could have done. The women sitting at the panel were happy with the fact that he owned up to the fact that he fell for the wrong person. 

Clayton Echard had previously mentioned that now watching the show and seeing things unfold makes him question his actions which he did with all the good intentions. He also mentioned in one of the interviews that maybe this season was suppose to be his season. 

It seems like a lot of people was angry with Clayton Echard for saving Shanae.