Clayton Echard has received an apology from the TikToker who accused him of cheating on Susie Evans, with the woman claiming she'd been scammed by a man pretending to be The Bachelor star.
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A woman named Sasha Narang posted a TikTok video on Saturday alleging she had hooked up with Clayton on Friday night in New York City, but Clayton fired back and released proof, publicly, that he spent the weekend with his brother and was actually at Mountainside Fitness in Arizona at the time of the alleged hookup.
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Sasha therefore released a nearly three-minute apology video on Sunday, April 10.
"I want to start by saying I am so sorry to Susie and Clayton. I was genuinely under the impression that I was with him. And after getting camera footage, [Bachelor spoiler blogger] Reality Steve was able to confirm with me that it was not him," Sasha said in the new TikTok video, suggesting she had reviewed her apartment building's camera footage.
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"The footage was from behind, but it doesn't seem to be his build. He would know much better than me. But yeah, between me, him, Susie and Clayton, we're the only people who have access to this photo and it is not him. I privately apologized to both of them. But obviously, I owe them a public apology."
Sasha insisted that she "did not mean to cause any of this" drama and meant no "malicious intent" behind her original cheating allegation that Clayton was unfaithful with a 22-year-old girl whom he had met at a bar.
Sasha said, "I truly thought that I was with him," and explained how she thought Susie deserved to know the truth, mainly because Sasha had heard Clayton and Susie are engaged.
"I was clearly a little impulsive and I shouldn't have been so assertive. I just assumed it was the truth without investigating further, and that's totally on me... But I was so under the impression [that man was Clayton], that I thought I was doing the right thing," Sasha said.
Sasha went on to describe how she got fooled in such "a super messed up situation."
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"This guy truly convinced me that he was Clayton. He, again, introduced me to himself as Clayton. He told me he was on The Bachelor. He knew [Clayton]'s hometown, his birthday -- knew all these super weird facts that it just, obviously, in that moment, me not watching The Bachelor, knowing nothing about it, I believed him," Sasha recalled.
"So yeah, the guy went along with it the entire time until I left. Super weird [that] someone's impersonating him in New York City, so look out for that. I'm doing my best to get more footage so I can... find out who this is... In that moment, I thought I was certain [it was Clayton], and clearly I was not correct."
Sasha also told Us Weekly on Monday, April 11 that she had contacted Susie after meeting the Clayton look-a-like and then Clayton DMed her before speaking out.
"There's someone impersonating Clayton in NYC and it's really freaky that I was put in that situation. He's taking advantage of girls by pretending to be him. Their resemblance is scary and he's memorized his entire life," Sasha told the magazine.
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"I'm hoping to advertise what we now know is the truth as much as possible. I'm hoping people can help track this person's identity, and, most of all, get the word out about this messed up person... I hope this serves as a PSA to be aware of this impersonator and his intentions."
Sasha initially claimed that she had met Clayton at The Penny Farthing in New York.
Sasha told her TikTok followers in her original Saturday video, "Last night, I was in a bar, and it was a very dark room. It's hard to see people, and this guy came up to me. We were, like, kinda standing near each other. He starts talking to me. He's very attractive. So, I'm responding, we're kind of flirting."
She continued, "Then, he proceeds to ask me, 'Do you watch The Bachelor?' And I go, 'No,' because I've never seen it before... So, he tells me he was just on it. I end up going back with him. Didn't think anything was wrong with that... Why would I assume he might be engaged?"
Sasha said the man "made it clear" she couldn't stay over his place, which she thought was fine in the moment.
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"I wasn't intending on it. But he was very like, 'You gotta go,' And I was like, 'Okay, man, I'm outta here,'" Sasha said.
In the comments section of the post, Sasha told one of her followers that the man introduced himself as "Clayton."
Clayton then slammed the "ridiculous" cheating allegation Saturday in his Instagram Stories.
"I can't even believe I'm addressing this, this is ridiculous, but let's just make this as easy as possible," Clayton, 28, said in the video, according to Us.
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Clayton also revealed his iPhone settings, which led fans to believe he was at the Arizona gym and not in New York City.
"People that make these false accusations should be held accountable," the Missouri native and former college player wrote in his caption. "Trying to gain clout by ruining a relationship is embarrassing and extremely immature."
Sasha originally doubled down on her claim, saying that she had "evidence" of her rendezvous with Clayton and his "proof isn't proof."
But Clayton also shared a screenshot of his DMs with Sasha from over the weekend.
"My video shows I was in an AZ gym at 8pm MST, which is 11pm EST (your time). So even if I hopped right on a private jet, I wouldn't make it to NY until 3:30am EST (flight from AZ to NY is 4 1/2 hours). So that disproves you saw me at 2am EST," Clayton wrote to her. "Like I said, good luck."
Clayton also reportedly snapped at Sasha, "Hope you learn a valuable lesson through this. Not all publicity is good publicity."
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Susie also defended Clayton by commenting on a Bachelor Nation fan account, which had reported the story.
"Lmao I know that man loves the sh-t out of me. He would never," Susie wrote on Instagram.
Susie also went on to share her own "good old-fashioned screenshots" via TikTok on Sunday.
"I FaceTimed Clayton [on Friday] from California -- he's in Arizona -- my call ended at 10 p.m. PST, that would be, like, 1 a.m. EST and unless he has a spaceship, I don't think he could get there by 2," Susie explained.
"I FaceTimed [Saturday morning] at 9:15 a.m., he was in the car with his brother on the way to play basketball. I was heckling them, they were in Arizona, and they played basketball."
Susie also posted a photo of Clayton's phone case in attempt to prove the man Sasha was with had a totally different case.
"Also that just looks like a dusty, crusty thumb, like, and Clayton has nice hands," Susie concluded.
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Many members of Bachelor Nation had Clayton's back once the scandal made headlines, including Michael Allio and Noah Erb.
Clayton told Us in March that his romance with Susie, a wedding videographer from Virginia whom Clayton said he was "the most" in love with at the end of his The Bachelor season, was thriving.
"We've talked about it and we know from here on out, like, this is a relationship in the real world where you never know -- anything can happen and we're aware of that," Clayton explained.
"We're gonna give this every chance that we can. We love each other. And as of right now, we're both very, very happy. But relationships take effort. They are hard at times. And so we know that there's gonna be those moments that lie ahead."
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He continued at the time, "There's never any guarantee in life, but with all that being said, I am incredibly happy to be with her. I'm so excited to be able to just go get dinner, to go hiking, do all these things with her, travel."
On The Bachelor's 26th season, Susie happened to be Clayton's third Fantasy Suite date of the week, and the pair mutually agreed she should leave the show in a tense and heated breakup discussion after she learned he had slept with both Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia.
Susie was upset about not being Clayton's one and only considering he had also professed his love to the two other women, and Clayton was angry Susie didn't seem willing to fight for and save their relationship.
Clayton therefore introduced both Gabby and Rachel to his family, which helped him determine that he only wanted to be with Susie, a "once-in-a-lifetime woman."
Susie ultimately returned to the show and made an appearance at the Final Rose Ceremony, but she dumped the Bachelor instead of accepting his final rose. Susie said at the time that Clayton wasn't her person and they didn't seem meant to be.
However, Susie reached out to Clayton post-filming seeking some answers, and the pair reconciled and are now dating and in love.
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The pair ultimately determined that Susie had real-world boyfriend expectations while dating Clayton on the show and Clayton had fully adapted to the unique, unconventional and fast-paced environment of progressing multiple relationships at once on The Bachelor.
After The Bachelor finale aired, Clayton moved to Virginia to be with Susie and give their romance a real shot. He had quit his job in medical sales and even sold his condo.
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