Bachelor’s Clayton Echard Says His ‘Mistakes’ Led Him to Where He ‘Needed to Be’ After Dramatic Season Finale

her "Off the Vine" podcast.  "I saw at the end of the ['Bachelor' Season 26] finale that Jesse was announcing the two 'Bachelorettes,' and he said he was going to be by their side for that. So I guess, spoiler alert: I'm not coming back."Kaitlyn, a former "Bachelorette" lead, co-hosted back-to-back seasons of the reality TV show with fellow former franchise lead Tayshia Adams.

Virginia Is for Lovers! Clayton Echard and Susie Evans jetted off to her hometown for a family-filled trip following the Bachelor finale.

More to the story — and to Susie? As Clayton Echard and Susie Evans show off their post-Bachelor love, they haven’t been afraid to engage with fans.

Clayton Echard is taking response to a risqué choking photo his girlfriend Susie Evans posted in stride.Susie, 28, included a photo of her straddling Clayton in bed with her hand around his neck in a video montage she posted to Instagram on Wednesday.One Bachelor fan account reacted in shock to the photo,but Clayton, 28, rolled off the criticism with a hilarious response. 'Well now you do': Clayton Echard is taking response to a risqué choking photo his girlfriend Susie Evans posted in stride'Ya I'll never be able to unsee this,' @TheBachBabes tweeted on Wednesday along with the photo.'"wE LitErAlLy kNoW nOtHinG AboUt tHiS gUy"…well now you do,' Clayton said as he re-tweeted the photo with an upside down smile emoticon.

Bachelor Nation, it’s safe to say Clayton Echard and Susie Evans aren’t shying away from sharing their private life after The Bachelor finale.

The Bachelorette will be making history this summer when it features not one but two women on rose duty, but executive producer Mike Fleiss seems to be downplaying any possibility of a pending catfight between the single ladies.

It turns out that Clayton Echard allegedly has had a long history of being a f**kboy!

Just a day after the shocking finale of The Bachelor's 26th season, Susie Evans is speaking out and revealing more about her relationship with Clayton Echard.Evans, 28, became the first woman in Bachelor history to turn down The Bachelor the finale, with Echard leaving Iceland a single man, though they ultimately reconciled and have been dating, as it was revealed in the After the Rose special.While she seems happy with Echard now, she revealed on Nick Viall's podcast The Viall Filesthat if Echard would have proposed on the special, she would have said no. Day after:Just a day after the shocking finale of The Bachelor's 26th season, Susie Evans is speaking out and revealing more about her relationship with Clayton Echard Dating:Evans, 28, became the first woman in Bachelor history to turn down The Bachelor the finale, with Echard leaving Iceland a single man, though they ultimately reconciled and have been dating, as it was revealed in the After the Rose special Susie and Nick:Susie and Jesse: While she seems happy with Echard now, she revealed on Nick Viall's podcast The Viall Files that if Echard would have proposed on the special, she would have said noThe Bachelor host Jesse Palmer (who will return to host The Bachelorette), kept hinting that Echard may pop the question on the Tuesday night special.However, that didn't happen, though Echard did give Evans his 'final rose,' with Evans revealing to Viall, who served as The Bachelor in Season 21, she made it clear to Echard she would not have accepted a proposal on the live special.

Susie Evans ended up with Clayton Echard after all during the season finale of The Bachelor, but don’t expect them to get engaged anytime soon.

Susie Evans is not ready to be Mrs. Echard. After Tuesday night's dramatic season finale of , the wedding videographer appeared on podcast to reveal what would make her say no to a proposal from Clayton Echard, whom she reconnected with post-show after initially turning down his ask for a relationship.«We have a lot to learn about each other, and we have a lot to learn about ourselves still. I think we both are still growing and learning from this,» Susie said.

Elizabeth Wagmeister Senior CorrespondentBachelor Nation got whiplash this week from the season finale of “The Bachelor” Season 26 — which went from breakup to makeup to another breakup and another makeup to a dual breakup, all ultimately for leading man Clayton Echard to end up with contestant Susie Evans, who had actually left the show the week before the finale.If that sounds confusing, it’s because it is.Never, since the two decades its been on-air, has the dating show seen such a change-of-heart from its lead than it did this season: Echard told three women (Evans, Gabby Widney and Rachel Recchia) that he was in love with them, also admitting to sleeping with two of them.After being left alone and single in the final episode, which filmed roughly four months ago, Echard ended up walking away with Evans, despite her turning him down in the shocking finale. And in last night’s “After the Final Rose” episode, instead of a proposal, Evans confirmed she was his girlfriend, accepting Echard’s final rose — but not before he was reamed out by Widney and Recchia on live television with both women calling him selfish, manipulative and thoughtless.

Holding out hope? Clayton Echard did not propose to Susie Evans during the Bachelor season 26 finale, but he had a ring in his pocket just in case.

Clayton Echard is delighted by the announcement that both Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia will be the next Bachelorette. The co-Bachelorettes were revealed on Tuesday's season finale of , which saw Clayton have uncomfortable post-split conversations with each of the soon-to-be leading ladies.«I wish the best for them. I was extremely happy when they announced they were dual Bachelorettes,» Clayton told ET's Denny Directo.

The Bachelor finale hasn't been this riveting in years. While it was heartbreaking to watch Clayton crush the hearts of and , the women's response was empowering and, in the end, everyone got their own happy ending—and beginning.

Susie Evans had a hard time watching her beau reunite with his exes. The morning after the season finale of , Clayton Echard's final pick told ET's Denny Directo that watching the medical sales rep's conversations with Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia was «heartbreaking.»During the two-part season finale, Clayton reeled from Susie's decision to leave the show, after learning that he'd been intimate with and was in love with multiple women.Clayton came clean to Gabby and Rachel about the same thing, and convinced them to stay and meet his parents, but ended up breaking up with them when he couldn't get Susie off of his mind.Those splits led Clayton to have awkward live conversations with Gabby and Rachel on Tuesday's episode, both of which Susie watched from the wings as she waited to make her couple debut with the Bachelor himself.«It was really tough,» Susie told ET. «We obviously knew those conversations were coming.

Clayton Echard wasn’t expecting the warmest welcome from exes Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia at The Bachelor: After the Final Rose, but the latter threw a curveball when she suggested he told her he loved her sole to have sex in the fantasy suites.

For Clayton Echard, hindsight is 20/20 is an understatement. The season 26 Bachelor and Susie Evans got real about watching the finale episodes of the ABC show together, including his messy splits from Rachel Recchia and Gabby Windey.

He reunited with Susie Evans, the finalist who dumped him in the finale, after his season of The Bachelor had wrapped.Now Clayton Echard has revealed how they reconnected.In an interview with Good Morning America, Clayton, 28, revealed Susie, 28, sent him a direct message on Instagram. Slid into his DMs! The Bachelor Clayton Echard reconnected with Susie Evans after she sent him a message on Instagram'I wasn't just flipping through my DMs, I already come to terms with what happened, and I saw her name and picture, and I thought, "No, there's no way,"' Clayton explained.'Yes, slid in his DMs! I reached out on Instagram,' Susie, who joined him for the interview, said.Clayton ended The Bachelor single after he was rejected by Susie in Iceland.

Susie Evans didn't wait long to get back in touch with Clayton Echard. On Tuesday's finale of , Susie rejected Clayton's offer to leave Iceland together, but the pair patched things up post-show, and appeared happy and in love during a live, in-studio appearance.The morning after their public debut, Susie told ET's Denny Directo that she «pretty much reached out to Clayton immediately» after her initial rejection.«I got my phone back, called my parents, and then I slid into Clayton's DMs,» she recalled.

Sucks to suck, Clayton Echard! But you were so s**tty in your run on the reality TV juggernaut this season, we actually appreciate you for breathing new life into The Bachelorette now!

All’s well that ends well? Clayton Echard and Susie Evans’ Bachelor love story was anything but conventional, but the season 26 couple are now confident in their relationship.