‘The Bachelor’ Winning Couple Clayton and Susie Address Backlash from Bachelor Nation

variety.com:

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.

All in all, everyone is getting a happy ending. Widney and Recchia are the new stars of “The Bachelorette,” while Echard and Evans are getting ready to move in with each other in Virginia, as they start the next chapter of their life, away from the reality cameras.Speaking to us the day after the finale aired, Echard and Evans talk to Variety about the backlash, what they learned throughout the dramatic season and what’s next.Evans: I reached out pretty immediately after the show, just to check in on Clayton.