Clayton Echard has been under fire for a while now after letting villain Shanae Ankney stay on the show.
While Clayton has aimed to clear his name by claiming he wasn’t aware of the extent of Shanae’s offensive actions, he recently owned up to feeling like a clown.
Clayton Echard suggests he’s been a clown for three weeks now
The latest episode of The Bachelor saw Shanae Ankney putting on what she believed to be a Meryl Streep-worthy performance. While Shanae pretended to be remorseful and a team player in front of Clayton and the women, she was much more braggadocios and unapologetic in her confessionals.
Despite Shanae’s clear manipulation, Clayton has continued to believe Shanae’s “sincerity” and trust her narrative even more than the other women who have tried to get Clayton to see just how problematic Shanae really is.
Now that Clayton can watch the show back and clearly see Shanae’s insincerity and mean girl behavior, he’s realized that he was being played.
One viewer suggested that Clayton must feel like a clown for keeping Shanae around after seeing her true colors. The viewer tweeted, “Clayton watching tonight’s episode,” and included the popular image of the Joker in a Nike jacket and clown makeup.
Clayton caught wind of the tweet and responded in agreement, writing, “Haven’t taken off the paint for 3 weeks now!!”
Clayton’s tweet certainly seems to suggest that he feels he’s been a clown not just during the last episode but during the last three episodes as he continually falls for Shanae’s deceptive antics.
Clayton Echard acknowledges he’s being lied to in The Bachelor preview
A recent preview for the upcoming episode of The Bachelor showed Clayton addressing Genevieve and Shanae on their 2-on-1 date, where only one woman will remain at the end.
In the clip, Clayton can be heard finally acknowledging that he’s being lied to and that one of the women is playing him.
While The Bachelor viewers are fully aware that it’s Shanae who is playing Clayton and are eager for Clayton to finally give Shanae the boot, the trailer suggests that Clayton questions Genevieve’s intentions instead of Shanae.
While it could be an editing trick, The Bachelor lead’s track record of questionable decisions could mean Clayton believes Shanae more than the other women yet again.
Tune in next week to see if Clayton finally takes the clown makeup off and sends Shanae home.
The Bachelor airs Mondays at 8/7c on ABC.