On the Valentine’s Day episode of Clayton Echard’s season of The Bachelor, love was definitely in the air. One of the women revealed her feelings to Clayton on the episode, and it was pretty surprising.
Susie hadn’t liked how she left the group date and wasn’t satisfied with the alone time they spent together, so she wanted to talk to Clayton, as to not have any regrets.
What exactly did Susie Evans tell Clayton Echard?
Susie told Clayton, “These last few weeks, seeing you form these connections like I’m happy and I’m happy for you and everybody, but at the same time I think it made me put up walls that I didn’t really know I was putting up.”
She went on to declare, “Because I think for the first time, I feel like it’s really possible that I may get hurt in this. But before coming here tonight I promised myself to like be more vulnerable with you and so – oh my God; I’m so nervous – um, okay, even though I know there’s like so much more to go and there’s so much more to figure out I do feel as though I’m falling in love with you.”
And there it was – the first woman to actually take that step and tell Clayton what he has hoped he would hear the whole time through this process. Susie is falling in love with Clayton.
While shocked and astonished to hear this from Susie, Clayton was also ecstatic, as you could just see the relief and excitement in his face and eyes as they lit up. He told Susie, “I can’t believe you just said that,” as he continued to hug and kiss her.
Afterward, during his off-camera confessional, Clayton revealed to viewers, “This might be the happiest I’ve been since I’ve been on this journey. This is exactly what I’m here for is to find love. I could see myself falling in love with Susie.”
How did Susie and Clayton even get to this point?
After a 2-on-1, a 1-on-1, and the weekly group date, Clayton returned home only to hear a knock on the door. As he walked toward the door to open it, an envelope was slid underneath. Clayton picked up the envelope and opened the door to check the hallway, but no one was there.
Because the note inside the envelope told him to meet at the clock tower, Clayton was intrigued as he walked to the meeting point. He tried to think about who would want to meet him and if it was a negative or positive move.
As he got closer, he saw Susie waiting for him. At first, Clayton was unnerved because he wasn’t sure why Susie would want to talk to him, as he hoped it wasn’t because she was upset or wanted to go home.
After she continued to reassure him that it was a good thing she wanted to meet up with him, viewers could see Clayton visibly relax, as he couldn’t stop smiling.
Recap of the Valentine episode, Episode 6
After Clayton survived the awkward 2-on-1 date between Shanae Ankney and Genevieve Parisi and sent Shanae, this season’s villain, home for good, he then had to go through another rose ceremony.
At this ceremony, the leading man sent home two of the women, Marlena Wesh, the past Olympian, and Hunter Haag, the human resource specialist.
Then he had a 1-on-1 date with Teddi Wright, where Teddi disclosed the fact that she was a virgin, and then had a group date with Croatian knights. On those dates, both Teddi and Rachel received roses. Moreover, after much deliberation, and a lot of tears, Clayton ended up giving Sarah a rose, too, even after the age issue.
One woman in love… How many more to go?
Will Susie be the only woman to express her feelings of falling in love with Clayton? Will more women tell him this in next week’s episode? Or will it take even longer for other women to feel comfortable expressing this to the leading man?
The Bachelor airs Mondays 8/7c on ABC.