There was some controversy this week on The Bachelor after a contestant told Clayton Echard that she couldn’t stay on the show if he had slept with the other women in the fantasy suites. There were three women remaining for the fantasy suite episode and Clayton admitted to having sex with the first two – Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia. He also expressed his love to all three women, including Susie Evans. Susie was the third and final date of the week and she caught Clayton off guard when she said she couldn’t stay if he had been intimate with another woman. She ended up going home and Clayton was accused of gaslighting her. Now, the show’s host Jesse Palmer is weighing in on the controversy. For those who don’t know, he was the Bachelor back in 2004. Click inside to read more…
“There have multiple Bachelors and Bachelorettes who have slept with three people on their seasons. It’s part of it,” Jesse said in an interview with Variety.
“In general, sexual compatibility in any relationship is extremely important. And in a situation like this when the stakes are so high and there’s an expectation that someone is going to be getting down on one knee and you’re going to be living with one person the rest of your life, you do have to explore and discover that. Having been on the show and having been in this position, I think it’s important to know if you have sexual compatibility or not. That’s been a big theme on the show since the beginning,” Jesse continued.
He added, “On the other side, if the Bachelor or Bachelorette already knows in their mind who they are going to pick in the end, I do think you have to be careful about sleeping with other people, because it can get you in trouble. So I don’t know where Clayton’s head was at, with respect to that.”
Jesse was asked what he thinks of the backlash that Clayton is facing and he said, “A lot of the backlash I’ve seen online has to do with Clayton being accused of gaslighting Susie and making her feel guilty for him sleeping with two other women. I think people are also upset about the tone of that conversation. I was there, and it was very emotional. Clayton never saw that coming. He was so excited to tell Susie he was in love with her, and I know he had such strong feelings for her. He was really excited for that night to happen, and he had no idea that Susie was struggling so much emotionally with seeing the other women coming home [from their overnight dates] and having that realization of how real that was, and having to balance her own perspective and her own values and morals.”
Does Jesse think the criticism is warranted? He said, “Clayton is getting beaten up on social media right now, but there are also a lot of people supporting him, too. There are also people on social media I’ve seen that think it’s OK for Susie to have had an ultimatum, but they think that she should have told him before the overnight dates, kind of like how Maddie did with Peter [in Season 24]. I think that’s what makes this situation so compelling — there are so many different opinions, and there is no obvious right or wrong answer, in my opinion. I think that’s why social media is blowing up right now.”
For the full interview, visit Variety.com.
Just Jared on Facebook
Older