It's been six months since Clayton Echard's messy "Bachelor" finale, and life was finally slowing down for him and Susie Evans... until ABC announced that eliminated contestants, Gabby and Rachel, would be the joint leads of the newest "Bachelorette" season.
Clayton and Susie made "Bachelor" history when Clayton chose Susie, who had previously been eliminated, over the last two remaining contestants, Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia.
Susie had left when she learned Clayton had stayed in the Fantasy Suite with both women, but Clayton just couldn't let her go. After trying to make it work with Gabby and Rachel, Clayton ultimately decided to pursue Susie in the dramatic season finale.
Still wishing to find their true loves, Gabby and Rachel in-turn made "Bachelorette" history as the first joint leads of a season. The two have been uplifting and supporting each other during their search, but as they struggle, fans can't help but turn the heat back up on Clayton.
In the July 12 episode of Kaitlyn Bristowe's "Off the Vine" podcast, Susie opened up about how this new season has affected her and her partner. She shared,
"It's crazy, I'm just getting so many intense messages as the new season is ramping up. I think people are coming to see what we're up to and it feels like now, even more than when the show first aired, I'm getting a lot of heat."
While Clayton isn't offended, believing the criticism "will pass" as the last round did, Susie continued,
"My fear is, like, ‘Does this open the floodgates back up of all the hate and stuff?' So that's where I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, really?' But Clayton, definitely was, like, going with the flow."
Though he plays it cool, Clayton admitted that he didn't agree with the producer's decision to show "every single jab." He explained,
"I do think it was cyberbullying or an attack or it's going to lead to cyberbullying. So for that, I'm not the biggest fan of how that was shown, but it was and like you said, it's just the nature of the beast. I'm gonna lose sleep over this point anymore."
Clayton did share that he was "grateful" of the way Gabby and Rachel shut down criticism of him on the show.
"They said that on this episode, 'We don't really want to be bringing his name up, this is about our journey.' So yeah, I get it. There's going to be some crossover but it won't last."
