The Bachelor star Clayton Echard has explained why he held his feelings close to his chest when speaking from the heart to his Final 4 bachelorettes' families during hometown dates.
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Every woman in Clayton's Final 4 bachelorettes had told Clayton she was either "falling" in love or in love with him, but Clayton hasn't been shown telling a single woman that same thing in return.
During a Thursday appearance on the "Click Bait with Bachelor Nation" podcast, Clayton opened up about why he opted out of sharing the L-word with any of the ladies during hometowns.
"I thought overall I did fairly well... There were a few questions that certainly caught me off-guard, but I was able to answer them all truthfully," Clayton explained.
"I know every family member wants to know the big thing, 'Have you fallen or are you falling in love with my daughter?' -- or whoever it might be? And at the time, I kind of held off because in a way, going into hometowns, I knew that question was going to be asked."
While speaking to the women's families, Clayton was admittedly guarded with his walls up.
"I knew if I answered [the love question] to one of the women, then I was going to end up having [to tell the truth]," Clayton reasoned.
"I knew I wasn't going to be able to lie about it, and I didn't want to [lie] and end up having to tell the other families, 'I'm not falling in love with your daughter but I have said it to somebody else.' I just knew that was going to be a massive issue."
Clayton therefore said he intentionally "held off" going into those dates, even though he had already "started to feel those feelings."
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"I just figured, 'Hey, get past hometowns and then you can open up,'" Clayton said.
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"And at that point, I realized that, yeah, I had fallen for all of them in a different capacity. I didn't want to walk into hometowns saying, 'Well I fell in love with this one over here but not with your daughter,' because that's just going to be a nasty conversation."
Clayton also explained how he didn't want to over-sell his feelings for a woman and then send her home because then it would seem as if he had been untruthful with her loved ones.
"I was afraid to really let out all of the emotions and say, 'Here is exactly where I stand.' I was a little reserved with the family members because, again, they're going to see me for what I am in that moment and then they're going to want to go and protect their significant other," Clayton said on "Click Bait."
"So if I were to say, 'Yeah, I'm falling in love -- not with your daughter but with somebody else,' to me, I knew that [information] would go back to [the woman] and then all of a sudden that mother or friend or whatever would tell their daughter or whoever it might be."
Clayton feared such information would result in one or more of his bachelorettes shutting down emotionally and maybe even quitting the show.
As viewers had seen in a previous episode, Gabby and Rachel considering leaving the show after hearing Sarah Hamrick brag -- and allegedly lie -- about her supposed superior connection with Clayton.
Clayton therefore said he didn't want his finalists "closing those walls" and thinking, "If he's not in love with me, he may be in love with somebody else."
Clayton noted how it was simply "hard" being The Bachelor lead.
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"You fight with, 'Okay, I am starting to fall in multiple areas but then when do I really come to terms with it? When do I tell the women?' Because you know they all talk and if you tell one first, that might end up causing someone else to shut off," Clayton elaborated.
"And the thing is, that person that might shut off might end up being your person. So it's a really hard situation to navigate because you almost want to come out with it all at the same time so that it doesn't close somebody else off when they realize they hadn't had it said to them."
After eliminating Serene, Clayton determined that he wanted to be completely open and vulnerable with his bachelorettes going forward so no one would question their connection.
And once the Bachelor fully let himself go in the process, he apparently fell in love with three women. Previews have also shown Clayton telling two ladies, Rachel and Gabby apparently, that he had been "intimate" with them both.
"I did!" Clayton said with a big smile. "And I wonder if I should even waste my breath trying to explain it to people, because unless you go through it, you won't believe it. I didn't believe it, from an outside perspective."
"I said, 'There's no way you can fall in love with multiple people,'" Clayton said. "[I thought], 'It's not possible. You can be infatuated with someone, but you're only going to have one true connection.' And that's just not the case."
The Bachelor is about to air a two-night event on Monday, March 7 and Tuesday, March 8, with both broadcasts airing at 8PM ET/PT on ABC.
Following The Bachelor: The Women Tell All on Monday night, Clayton will be shown enjoying his overnight Fantasy Suite dates with Gabby, Rachel and Susie on Tuesday night.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
