Here’s When All of Clayton’s ‘Bachelor’ Contestants Were Eliminated & Who He Picks as His Winner
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If you already have a fan favorite, you may want to know what The Bachelor 2022 elimination order for Clayton’s season is to know whether your frontrunner makes it to the end or is cut before the Final Rose Ceremony.
Clayton Echard, a 28-year-old medical sales rep from Columbia, Missouri, was a contestant on The Bachelorette season 18 with Michelle Young, where he was eliminated in eighth place. Clayton was announced as the season 26 Bachelor in November 2021, however, photos of him filming The Bachelor leaked in September 2021, a month before Michelle’s Bachelorette season even premiered.
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According to Reality Steve, several contestants from The Bachelorette season 17 with Katie Thurston were on the short list to be the next Bachelor, such as Greg Grippo and Andrew Spencer, but ABC chose Clayton for his story. “Clayton stood out right off the bat,” a source told Us Weekly at the time. “Producers ended up going with him because they believed he was the best fit for the role. They wanted to switch things up and go with someone new and someone who hasn’t been in the spotlight yet.”
In an interview with Good Morning America in November 2021, Clayton confirmed that he found love on The Bachelor season 26. “I did find love, and 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,” he said. “I’m just so excited to watch it back and have everyone else watch it as well.” Clayton also told Good Morning America that came into The Bachelor with a “checklist of sorts” but but the women surprised him when “they brought all of that and so much more.”
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So what is The Bachelor 2022 elimination order for Clayton’s season? Ahead are The Bachelor week-by-week eliminations we know so far, including who Clayton’s finalists are and who he cut before the end. (For more Bachelor 2022 spoilers, click here.)
Week 1 Eliminations
Salley Carson (Eliminated Outside of Rose Ceremony)
Hometown: Greenville, SC
Age: 26
Claire Heilig (Eliminated Outside of Rose Ceremony)
Hometown: Virginia Beach, VA
Age: 28
Daria Rose
Hometown: Baldwin, NY
Age: 24
Hailey Malles
Hometown: Orlando, FL
Age: 26
Ivana Noble
Hometown: Snellville, GA & Enterprise, AL
Age: 31
Jane Paik
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Age: 33
Lindsay Rae Dobbs
Hometown: Warner Robins, GA
Age: 27
Samantha Jeffries
Hometown: Dayton, OH
Age: 26
Rianna Hockaday.
Hometown: Mount Pleasant, TX
Age: 26
Week 2 Eliminations
Cassidy Timbrooks (Eliminated Outside of Rose Ceremony)
Hometown: Cave Creek, AZ
Age: 26
Ency Abedin
Hometown: Burbank, CA
Age: 28
Kate Gallivan
Hometown: Clarksville, TN
Age: 32
Tessa Tookes
Hometown: Stamford, CT
Age: 26
Week 3 Eliminations
Elizabeth Corrigan
Hometown: Highlands Ranch, CO
Age: 32
Kira Mengistu
Hometown: Greensboro, NC
Age: 32
Melina Nasab
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Age: 27
Week 4 Eliminations
Jill Chin
Hometown: Scituate, RI
Age: 26
Sierra Jackson
Hometown: Oklahoma City, OK
Age: 26
Lyndsey Windham
Hometown: Orange, TX
Age: 28
Week 5 Eliminations
Shanae Ankney (Eliminated Outside of Rose Ceremony)
Hometown: Sycamore, OH
Age: 29
Hunter Haag
Hometown: Lake Wylie, SC
Age: 28
Marlena Wesh
Hometown: Virginia Beach, VA
Age: 30
Week 6 Eliminations
Eliza Isichei
Hometown: Berlin, Germany
Age: 25
Mara Agreat
Hometown: Cherryhill, NJ
Age: 32
Week 7 Eliminations
Genevieve Parisi (Eliminated Outside of Rose Ceremony)
Hometown: Rehoboth, MA
Age: 26
Sarah Hamrick
Hometown: Spartanburg, SC
Age: 23
Teddi Wright
Hometown: Redlands, CA
Age: 24
Fourth Place
Serene Russell
Hometown: Oklahoma City, OK
Age: 26
Final Two & Three
Gabby Windey
Hometown: O’Fallon, IL
Age: 30
Rachel Recchia
Hometown: Chicago, IL
Age: 25
Winner
Susie Evans
Hometown: Virginia Beach, VA
Age: 28
Who is The Bachelor 2022 winner?
Who is The Bachelor 2022 winner? Reality Steve confirmed that the winner of The Bachelor season 26 with Clayton Echard is Susie Evans, a 28-year-old wedding videographer from Virginia Beach, Virginia, however, she rejects Clayton in the end. According to Reality Steve, Susie was eliminated in third place during Fantasy Suites after Clayton told her that he was in love and had sex with his other two finalists—Rachel Recchia, a 25-year-old flight instructor from Clermont, Florida, had the first, and Gabby Windey, a 30-year-old ICU nurse from Denver, Colorado—and Susie questioned how he could be serious about their relationship when he was intimate with someone else. The fight escalates, and Clayton decides to eliminate Susie after she tells him how she doesn’t know if she can stay on the show if he’s in love with other women.
At the final three Rose Ceremony with Rachel and Gabby, Clayton tells both Rachel and Gabby that he’s in love and had sex with both of them. Both Rachel and Gabby walk away and try to leave the show, which leads Clayton to beg them to stay. Both Rachel and Gabby agree to stay and Clayton gives them both roses. The finale continues with Gabby and Rachel meeting Clayton’s parents. After Gabby and Rachel’s meeting with Clayton’s parents, Clayton realizes that he still has feelings for Susie and decides to talk to her. Host Jesse Palmer knocks on Susie’s door and tells her that Clayton wants to talk to her. Susie agrees and she and Clayton reunite. Susie then also meets Clayton’s parents, after which he decides he wants to choose her at the Final Rose Ceremony and eliminate Rachel and Gabby. Clayton tells Rachel and Gabby about his decision separately in their hotel rooms. Rachel was more sad, while Gabby was more angry at Clayton. At the Final Rose Ceremony, Clayton arrives with an engagement ring and a plan to propose to Susie, but before he can do so, Susie tells Clayton that she’s not in love with him and walks away, which forces Clayton to leave The Bachelor single.
Reality Steve also reported that Clayton’s relationships with Rachel and Gabby ended once he eliminated with them, and there’s no hope for them to get back together after he was rejected by Susie. “There is zero chance he is rekindling anything with Gabby or Rachel. They have nothing to do with anything since they left Iceland,” Reality Steve wrote. “I don’t think anyone expected it to end the way that it did, including myself, nor did I want it to be that way. There was a lot of things that I just never would’ve thought would’ve happened the way they did. So everyone will be kind of surprised. I wish it could have went any other direction, but it went the direction that it did. Ultimately, I had to react accordingly,” Clayton said of how his Bachelor season ended on the Women Tell All.
Though Reality Steve couldn’t confirm Clayton and Susie’s relationship, he reported that it’s unlikely they’re back together. Reality Steve also reported that both Susie and Gabby are frontrunner to be the season 19 Bachelorette, which starts filming in late-March. Of the two, Reality Steve believes that Gabby is the more likely choice.
Reality Steve’s spoilers come after a Reddit post by @workingbach13 in December 2021 theorized that the final two were Susie or Rachel. The post suspected this because Susie and Rachel both followed Cary Fetman on Instagram. Cary is the Bachelor franchise’s stylist and costume designer who often styles the lead and the last two contestants for the Final Rose Ceremony.
The post speculated that Susie could’ve won Clayton’s Bachelor season because she was the first of the final three Bachelor contestants to return to social media, which has been consistent with past Bachelor and Bachelorette winners. Susie’s family and friends also follow Clayton on Instagram. A fan account has also posted an alleged screenshot of Susie commenting heart eye emojis on one of Clayton’s recent Instagram photos, which he liked. Susie also received the Pretty Woman date—a.k.a. a date where the lead and the contestant go on a shopping spree—in Vienna, Austria, in week seven, which has been indicative of other Bachelor and Bachelorette winners who have had similar dates, such as Rachel Kirkconnell from The Bachelor season 25 with Matt James; Hannah Ann Sluss from The Bachelor season 24 with Peter Weber; Becca Kufrin from The Bachelor season 22 with Arie Luyendyk Jr.; and Bryan Abasolo from The Bachelorette season 13 with Rachel Lindsay. Reality Steve also hinted in a tweet in November 2021 that there’s evidence that Susie won Clayton’s Bachelor season. “Do I post pics of Susie from Clayton’s season out last night so the subsequent dissection of the pics, freak out, and speculation from the fans can commence?” he tweeted.
The post, however, also speculated that Rachel could’ve won Clayton’s Bachelor season because she returned to social media at the exact time Clayton did. Rachel’s mom also followed Clayton on Instagram but unfollowed him when filming ended. Rachel Clayton also both liked the same Instagram photo of The Bachelor host Jesse Palmer 20 minutes after it was posted, even though Rachel doesn’t follow Jesse on Instagram. Rachel was also the only contestant from Clayton’s final three that liked season 18 Bachelorette Michelle Young’s first photo with her winner, Nayte Olukoya, which Clayton also liked.
Reality Steve confirmed in February 2022 that Clayton does not have a traditional ending, there was no finality to his Bachelor season. Reality Steve also reported that Clayton didn’t have a traditional “Final Rose Ceremony” with two women, where he picks out a ring, one woman arrives and is eliminated and the other woman arrives and he proposes to them. Reality Steve also reported that he didn’t have any “Happy Couple” visits (a.k.a. when the Bachelor and their winner have a secret weekend together) the whole season.
For Clayton’s proposal to Susie, it’s almost certain that the ring was designed by Neil Lane, a celebrity jeweler, who has created engagement rings for The Bachelor, The Bachelorette and Bachelor in Paradise since 2008. In a 2016 interview with Entertainment Weekly, former host Chris Harrison revealed that Bachelor Nation couples have to stay together for a certain amount of time, otherwise they have to return the free engagement ring to Neil Lane. “There’s some rule, after a certain number of years, you get to keep it anyway,” he said. “But after months… it goes back.”
Lane told StyleCaster in 2016 that he doesn’t know where the rings go, but that he designs them with the hope that the couple to stays together. “I make rings hoping that people stay together forever, but after they get the ring, I don’t have a say in it, and what happens after that, I don’t know,” he said. “Where the ring goes, I have to say, I don’t really know. I just say it goes to ring heaven.”
Who is The Bachelorette 2022?
Who is the next Bachelorette in 2022? Reality Steve confirmed in March 2022 that both Susie Evans and Gabby Windey, two contestants from The Bachelor season 26 with Clayton Echard, are frontrunners to be the next Bachelorette in 2022. A source also told E! News that Susie, a 28-year-old wedding videographer from Virginia Beach, Virginia, is a contender to be the next Bachelorette but producers are also “being very careful and want to see how the audience reacts to certain contestants in the final weeks of Clayton’s season.” WARNING: SPOILERS. Susie was the winner of Clayton’s Bachelor season after Clayton chose her at the Final Rose Ceremony and sent home his runner-ups: Rachel Recchia, a 25-year-old flight instructor from Clermont, Florida, and Gabby Windey, a 30-year-old ICU nurse from Denver, Colorado. Before the Final Rose Ceremony, however, Clayton and Susie have a fight during their Fantasy Suite Date after he tells her that he had sex and is in love with both Rachel and Gabby, and she questions how he could be serious about their relationship when he was intimate with someone else. The argument escalates, and Clayton decides to eliminate Susie after she expresses how she doesn’t know if she can stay on the show if he’s in love with other women. According to Reality Steve, Clayton and the producers convince Susie to return to Clayton’s Bachelor season. At the Final Rose Ceremony, Clayton—who eliminated Rachel and Gabby before the finale—told Susie he loved her, but she told him that she didn’t love him back and left. “I don’t think anyone expected it to end the way that it did, including myself, nor did I want it to be that way. There was a lot of things that I just never would’ve thought would’ve happened the way they did. So everyone will be kind of surprised. I wish it could have went any other direction, but it went the direction that it did. Ultimately, I had to react accordingly,” Clayton said of how his Bachelor season ended on the Women Tell All.
According to Reality Steve, Clayton’s relationships with Rachel and Gabby ended once he eliminated them. Reality Steve also reported that Clayton and Susie are not back together and it’s unlikely they’ll reunite as Susie is the frontrunner to be the lead of The Bachelorette season 19, which starts filming in late March 2022. In an interview on “The Almost Famous” podcast in March 2022, Clayton revealed that he suspected Susie was trying to become the next Bachelorette after their fight during their Fantasy Suite Date. “I thought, ‘Why does it seem like she’s not fighting for this? Why does she seem like she can’t even give me a chance?’” he said. “I started having these really dangerous thoughts of being like, ‘What if Susie right now is just trying to get out of this? What if she’s just saying whatever she needs to say to leave me so that she can be the next Bachelorette?’” He continued, “I don’t believe that now. I didn’t believe it the next day, but I believed it in that moment and because of that I allowed my emotions to take over.”
In an interview with Us Weekly, Sarah Hamrick, a 23-year-old wealth management advisor from New York City, New York, and another contestant from Clayton’s Bachelor season, revealed that Susie was her favorite to be the next Bachelorette. “I could see Susie doing it,” she said. “I think that she’s deserving of it. I think she would handle it very well. She’s always been very genuine to me and has good intentions, so yeah, I wouldn’t hate to see Susie.” Serene Russell, a 26-year-old elementary school teacher from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and another contestant from Clayton’s season, also campaigned for Susie to be the next Bachelorette. “Susie is really funny too,” she said. Susie was my roommate, like, the entire time. And we would just stay up all night giggling, cracking up laughing, getting delirious.”
Reality Steve also confirmed that Gabbey Windey, a 30-year-old ICU nurse from Denver, Colorado, and a contestant from The Bachelor season 26 with Clayton Echard, is another fan favorite to be the next Bachelorette in 2022 and is more likely than Susie. A source also confirmed to E! News in March 2022 that producers are considering Gabby to the next Bachelorette due to the positive fan response to her on social media. According to Reality Steve, Gabby was eliminated in the final three on Clayton’s Bachelor season after he chose Susie Evans, a 28-year-old wedding videographer from Virginia Beach, Virginia, over Gabby and his other runner-up, Rachel Recchia, a 25-year-old flight instructor from Clermont, Florida. In an interview with Us Weekly, Genevieve Parisi, a 26-year-old bartender from Los Angeles, California, revealed that Gabby was her choice for the next Bachelorette because of her sense of humor. “I would say Susie or Gabby,” she said. “Rachel is amazing too, but honestly, I think Gabby would just bring such a different element to it. She’s so funny. And as you see, as this season goes on, she really has a great heart and she’s an emotional person. And it’s hard to see that because she just jokes all the time. She’s always laughing and just joking with people, but she has a very big heart and I think she deserves love so much and she just would be so entertaining to watch.” Serene Russell, a 26-year-old elementary school teacher from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and another contestant from Clayton’s season, also noted Gabby as strong choice for the next Bachelorette.
Who is The Bachelor 2022, Clayton Echard?
In case you didn’t know: Clayton Echard is The Bachelor 2022. Clayton, a 28-year-old medical sales rep from Columbia, Missouri, was a contestant on The Bachelorette season 18 with Michelle Young. He was eliminated in week six in eighth place. He was sent home after a One-on-One date with Michelle, who told him that there’s “something missing” between them. “I just want to find love so badly,” he said in a confessional interview after his elimination. “And have a family. And start that chapter of my life. I want it more than anything else. I’ll do whatever it takes to get there. Whatever it takes.” After his elimination, Clayton received a letter from Michelle’s student, who cheers him on. “This just shows me I want kids one day,” Clayton said as he read the letter. The episode also shows a producer asking the student what should be next for Clayton, to which the student says, “He’ll be the next Bachelor.”
So who is The Bachelor 2022, Clayton Echard? According to his Linkedin, Clayton graduated from the University of Missouri, Columbia, in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in health professions and related clinical sciences. He’s also set to earn a Master of Business Administration in health and healthcare from Southeast Missouri State University in 2023. Clayton has worked a sales representative at Stryker, a medical devices company, since January 2018. He was hired in 2016 as a sales associate.
While at the University of Missouri, Clayton was a division 1 collegiate athlete for the university’s football team, the Missouri Tigers. After graduation, he was a professional NFL player for the Seattle Seahawks from August to September 2016. “After outperforming 4 other tight ends on a tryout basis with the Seattle Seahawks, I signed on as a free agent. While there, I practiced daily with the team and played in 4 preseason games. I made it past the first round of cuts, however, I was not able to make the final roster. Nonetheless, it was a unique experience that I was blessed to be a part of,” Clayton’s Linkedin reads. According to his Instagram, @claytonechard, Clayton is also a former freestyle rapper and refers to himself as a “washed-up athlete.” He confirmed that his current industry is still orthopaedic sales.
In his bio for Michelle’s Bachelorette season, Clayton described his “perfect woman” as someone who is “funny, independent, intelligent and athletic enough to join him at the gym for a workout.” “Clayton is a Missouri thoroughbred who has it all – good looks, a great job and a wonderful family,” his bio read. “The only thing missing is the perfect woman with whom to share his life. His dream woman is funny, independent, intelligent and athletic enough to join him at the gym for a workout. He wants to find something truly special and is willing to put in the hard work to find love that will last forever. Clayton is so excited to meet Michelle and loves that she has a passion for her career. His mom is a teacher just like Michelle, and he finds it impressive that she’s made this journey work without having to take time away from her students. Clayton truly believes that Michelle could be the perfect match for him. Will they hit it off?”
For his fun facts, Clayton listed the following:
– Clayton had a mohawk in college.
– Clayton’s rapping alter ego is named Clay-Doh.
– Clayton would love to own multiple gyms
The Bachelor airs on Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC and is available to stream on Hulu. Here’s how to watch it for free.
Bachelor Nation by Amy Kaufman
Buy: ‘Bachelor Nation’ by Amy Kaufman $13.89
To get more of an inside scoop, check out Los Angeles Times writer Amy Kaufman’s book, Bachelor Nation: Inside the World of America’s Favorite Guilty Pleasure, for a deep dive into the Bachelor franchise. The book uncovers the secrets of Bachelor Nation, from how much the Bachelor and the Bachelorette are paid to the rules contestants have to follow, that producers don’t want fans to know. It’s a must-read for any Bachelor Nation member.
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