Speaker 1: This is that Ben and Nashley I Almost Famous podcast
Speaker 1: Bachelor Countdown.
Speaker 2: Hello, everyone, welcome to the Almost Famous Podcast.
Speaker 3: Today we are continuing our series the Countdown to Grant
Speaker 3: season with a whole bunch of bachelors. Today we have
Speaker 3: Clayton Eckert. Clayton is well known for his season that
Speaker 3: premiered on January third, twenty twenty.
Speaker 2: Two, and for saying I love you to three women.
Speaker 1: Somebody's gotta tap me somebody.
Speaker 2: I was gonna say, somebody's got to make Ben feel better.
Speaker 1: Yeah, welcome, thank you?
Speaker 2: Now for women?
Speaker 1: How about that for a wild for be a wild accomplishment?
Speaker 4: Five? You just just go for a record out a
Speaker 4: lot of can't be beaten?
Speaker 3: Could you imagine that there is possibly like a bachelor
Speaker 3: who had never seen the show and then didn't know
Speaker 3: that that was like a faux pa and he did
Speaker 3: end up saying I love you to like.
Speaker 1: Every drop and love bombs everywhere. Yeah, it seems healthy, right, Hey, Clayton,
Speaker 1: I want to start out with something that's going to
Speaker 1: be boring to every listener, so I'm not gonna spend
Speaker 1: a lot of time on it. I think I saw
Speaker 1: an Instagram video was that your golf swing like last week, I.
Speaker 4: Go, oh, no, no, no, that was my youngest brothers,
Speaker 4: but my swings no better. I couldn't put myself on
Speaker 4: video because I actually twisted my ankle dancing next to
Speaker 4: the golf court or golf cart, so I couldn't. I
Speaker 4: couldn't end up playing golf the rest of the day.
Speaker 4: So that's why that was not me. But it runs
Speaker 4: in the family. We're all bad golfers.
Speaker 1: Goodness, man, that was wild. They like hurt like he took.
Speaker 1: He took about three three feet of dirt behind the
Speaker 1: ball like it. You have to be a strong boy
Speaker 1: to even make contact with the ball at that point.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'll give him credit. I mean he's strong, but
Speaker 4: he also is cutting grass all day on the court.
Speaker 4: Of course you can. I don't play golf, it's a
Speaker 4: golf course.
Speaker 1: Explain.
Speaker 3: That is how Ben warms you up for the questions
Speaker 3: to come, you know, because we have we got juicy
Speaker 3: stuff to ask you about each stuff you're probably maybe
Speaker 3: tired of talking about.
Speaker 2: But man too, were talking to juicy not to ask.
Speaker 3: Okay, so let's start out by talking about your paternity
Speaker 3: test and all of that drama that went down over.
Speaker 2: Was it the course of almost two years?
Speaker 4: Two years? Yeah, the anniversary of it. Yeah, it's been
Speaker 4: a pain in the you know what. But we're on
Speaker 4: the right track now. She's getting looked at by the
Speaker 4: County Attorney for prosecution and so hopefully there's an end
Speaker 4: in sight. But the court is a little slow and
Speaker 4: it's procedures, which is honestly fine. They're doing the research.
Speaker 4: But yeah, that was now what I anticipated coming off
Speaker 4: TV and having to deal with Certainly, I've learned a
Speaker 4: lot about being more protective of my energy and trying
Speaker 4: to be just just stay out of the drama. But
Speaker 4: somehow the drama finds me a lot.
Speaker 3: Well, Clayton, can you give a quick little recap of
Speaker 3: what happened to you with this woman and then what
Speaker 3: the current situation that you're waiting on is.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I had been spent a night with this woman,
Speaker 4: although there was no sexual intercourse. This woman then wanted
Speaker 4: to date me. I said, no, that's not going to happen.
Speaker 4: She then did not take that well, ended up eleven
Speaker 4: days later saying she was pregnant. First it was one child,
Speaker 4: then it became twins. Then she wouldn't do any of
Speaker 4: the tests, so I couldn't prove that she wasn't pregnant
Speaker 4: at all. Finally, she went public to try to defame me.
Speaker 4: Her name then got out there. I then decided to
Speaker 4: push everything online to hold her accountable since she wouldn't
Speaker 4: She wasn't giving me anything behind the scenes, so I
Speaker 4: put it online to hold her accountable. Upon her releasing
Speaker 4: it to the public, that's when her name got out there,
Speaker 4: and then I started getting messages from people saying that
Speaker 4: I wasn't the only man that she had done this too.
Speaker 4: Now we're at four or five other men that she's
Speaker 4: done this in the past, two as far back as
Speaker 4: twenty sixteen. We're finding it might be even earlier than that.
Speaker 4: So she is a professional con woman. Not only that,
Speaker 4: her family's involved in it, so they're all complicit in
Speaker 4: her ways. And so yeah, through all of this we
Speaker 4: went to trial. I had the lawyer from the previous victim,
Speaker 4: who then helped me win the case, prove that she
Speaker 4: was never pregnant with my child, that she had made
Speaker 4: the whole thing up.
Speaker 2: So we ever pregnant in general?
Speaker 4: No, yeah, no, she was One of my cases end
Speaker 4: up being live streamed, which is a blessing in disguise.
Speaker 4: I self represented because I just bought a house. I
Speaker 4: didn't lawyers are expensive, and so I was like, oh,
Speaker 4: this will be easy to prove that she's not pregnant.
Speaker 4: She just has to provide evidence. So I went in
Speaker 4: self represented, came out of the case. Didn't realize it
Speaker 4: was live stream. But on that live stream, why I
Speaker 4: wasn't paying attention. She was shifting this fake pregnancy bump around.
Speaker 4: So she bought one of those fake belly bumps, and
Speaker 4: thankfully that was online and people caught it, and that
Speaker 4: was the beginning of the end for her as far
Speaker 4: as people realizing that she was full of you know what,
Speaker 4: and so we from there. Yeah, I mean, just kept
Speaker 4: going back into court and thankfully had a ruling on
Speaker 4: back in June or July, Kimmember, which month. But it's
Speaker 4: essentially given me an order of an opportunity. So now
Speaker 4: she can't claim she's not supposed to be claiming she's
Speaker 4: pregnant with my kids or or ever was, because I
Speaker 4: could sue her still in debating it, I have every
Speaker 4: right to sue her for defamation, but we're just hoping
Speaker 4: that the county attorney prosecutes her. They've been investigating her
Speaker 4: since June, so they're still actively doing so.
Speaker 1: I don't, like, I don't know if this is I
Speaker 1: don't want to laugh because this is just so crazy,
Speaker 1: like that in moments where this like I can't even
Speaker 1: process this story, like I almost want to be like,
Speaker 1: you're kidding, like not this is hilarious, but like it
Speaker 1: doesn't sound real.
Speaker 4: No, no, and no. But that was that was a
Speaker 4: problem so unbelievable that people almost didn't believe me out
Speaker 4: the gate because like, why would this woman make this up?
Speaker 4: This is ridiculous, and she's got to come with receipts,
Speaker 4: like and that's what we all thought. And I mean
Speaker 4: there was a point where, even though I didn't believe her,
Speaker 4: I thought, either I'm dealing with the craziest woman I've
Speaker 4: ever met, or this girl's telling the truth. And it
Speaker 4: was the craziest woman I've ever met. But I like
Speaker 4: tried to give her the benefit of doubt. I was like,
Speaker 4: even like, I don't know, maybe I don't know what's
Speaker 4: going on here, but I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 1: A Christian, I do believe in miraculous conception. However, I
Speaker 1: haven't seen it outside of the biblical stories, So that
Speaker 1: would that would be some a whole new story to
Speaker 1: share if.
Speaker 3: That, and it would be with you know, Joseph in
Speaker 3: the situation would be Clayton.
Speaker 4: Yeah, which you know I would run with. You know,
Speaker 4: maybe I would make are out of that, but not
Speaker 4: a loss. That wasn't the case.
Speaker 3: Okay, need to know what did she seem like the
Speaker 3: night that you met her? Like, did she give off
Speaker 3: these crazy vibes?
Speaker 4: No, she was totally normal. That was That's a sad
Speaker 4: part about it is she could totally have a relationship
Speaker 4: and be happy and start a family and she's not
Speaker 4: you know, I don't see her as attractive now, but
Speaker 4: she's not an ugly woman. And she was totally normal.
Speaker 4: Conversation was normal. It wasn't until I told her the
Speaker 4: next day after she begged for me to date her
Speaker 4: like five times, that I finally said no means no,
Speaker 4: stop asking me. And that's when her face glossed over,
Speaker 4: went completely dark. Her eyes didn't go black, but it
Speaker 4: felt like that. I mean, in that moment, I remember
Speaker 4: her staring at me and be like, I get it.
Speaker 4: Have a good one. Got out of my car and
Speaker 4: I just knew something was off. I just felt really
Speaker 4: really bad energy. So no, she could have just had
Speaker 4: a normal life. Unfortunately, there's some stuff from her past
Speaker 4: obviously that has warped her into who she is and
Speaker 4: doesn't help that. Her mom is her accomplice and helps
Speaker 4: her along with these things. But there's definitely some past
Speaker 4: familial trauma, and unfortunately she's not willing to seek help
Speaker 4: for it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I'm imagining there is a lot of pain,
Speaker 1: Like any anybody that's gonna do this has a lot
Speaker 1: of pain. And so that's the hope on how to
Speaker 1: confront that. First off, Now, I do want to transition
Speaker 1: here because we are not here to do a deep
Speaker 1: dive in actually we are not able to do a
Speaker 1: deep dive into Clayton's court.
Speaker 4: Kits. All I'm saying is.
Speaker 3: Please submit this story to Lifetime and to clarify she
Speaker 3: really did fake four or five pregnancies.
Speaker 4: Yes, yeah, we know of four or five. I don't
Speaker 4: there's but then there's now apparently other men. It's just
Speaker 4: a matter of like, did she go the full pregnancy
Speaker 4: rout of it? Did she just threaten them andferent ways.
Speaker 4: So yeah, it's and there's been discussions about a documentary,
Speaker 4: but I think everyone's waiting to see what happens with
Speaker 4: the County attorney. Of course, like if they decide a
Speaker 4: prosecute or not. There has to be some type of ending,
Speaker 4: But right now it's just all up in the air. Okay.
Speaker 1: As much as I would love to sit here for
Speaker 1: the next forty minutes and talk about Clayton's court case,
Speaker 1: that's not why we're here today. We're here to talk
Speaker 1: about his time as the Bachelor and then life now,
Speaker 1: which obviously the court case is a lot of life now.
Speaker 1: The transitioning question will be a little bit about what
Speaker 1: we were just talking about before, and then I want
Speaker 1: to transition into a few things that happened during your season.
Speaker 1: How much has this season of life the last two years?
Speaker 1: How much has it felt like it's defined you or
Speaker 1: pushed you away from your lead and your time as
Speaker 1: the Bachelor, Because we're looking at two years, that's not
Speaker 1: that long after you're se and stopped airing, had a
Speaker 1: few months buffer there, and then this kind of jumped
Speaker 1: into your life, and so how much has this felt
Speaker 1: like it's been a cloud or been a defining moment
Speaker 1: for you? And you've never really gotten to enjoy the
Speaker 1: fruits of the show.
Speaker 4: You know, I'd say where I'm at currently, I'm in
Speaker 4: a really great spot. The last two years just weren't
Speaker 4: the traditional type of experience for a bachelor. For me,
Speaker 4: it was, you know, a cheating accusation right out the gate,
Speaker 4: which I disproved, and then it became a second accusation.
Speaker 4: So I was, you know, back to back years of
Speaker 4: getting accused. Of course, you know, I had a very
Speaker 4: interesting end to my season. Certainly could have handled things differently.
Speaker 4: I give myself grace now, I mean I really met well,
Speaker 4: but I lacked emotional intelligence, and so you know, I
Speaker 4: chalked it up to being an a household of three
Speaker 4: boys and having no women and not talking about emotions.
Speaker 4: So now, nonetheless, that's that's what I've had to learn,
Speaker 4: is to develop that. And these last two years I've
Speaker 4: grown a lot as a person. Have I been able
Speaker 4: to enjoy being the Bachelor? Like certainly and maybe not,
Speaker 4: you know as much as other people that had really
Speaker 4: great edits and you know, walked out of there and
Speaker 4: we're just loved by everybody. But I also think that
Speaker 4: that wasn't supposed to be my experience. I needed to
Speaker 4: grow up as a human being and there were some
Speaker 4: things that areas of my life that I could improve upon,
Speaker 4: and that's what the last two years afforded me. I've
Speaker 4: done therapy multiple different times. I've gotten into a lot
Speaker 4: of healing modalities. I've done breath work, I've done plant medicines.
Speaker 4: I've really dove into who I am, and I feel
Speaker 4: that I'm finally my most authentic version of myself, which
Speaker 4: is completely different than who I was on the Bachelor.
Speaker 4: There's certainly remnants of who I was then, but I've
Speaker 4: I've changed a lot and so now who I am today,
Speaker 4: I'm forever grateful for being I don't feel like I'm
Speaker 4: living a facade. Actually feel like I'm the real Clayton
Speaker 4: for once. So that's cool. That's a really great feeling.
Speaker 4: You know. Unfortunately I had to go through the adversity
Speaker 4: to get here, but I also I now I see
Speaker 4: it as a blessing. You know. It took me to
Speaker 4: the lowest moments of my life, but that's where the
Speaker 4: most growth occurs. And so I feel good. Yeah, like
Speaker 4: I'm happy, And I will say now that, like I
Speaker 4: guess on the other side of it. Now it's like, hey,
Speaker 4: I'm authentically me. There's not really opportunities anymore, Like I've
Speaker 4: fallen out of the spotlight. But that has been it
Speaker 4: was tough at first to just watch like it all
Speaker 4: fall off and not really like be relevant, but you know,
Speaker 4: because I gotten used to that, always people staying in
Speaker 4: my business. But now in the last six months or so,
Speaker 4: it's kind of become nice, Like it's allowed me to
Speaker 4: acclimate back to normal life, where like people aren't really
Speaker 4: paying attention to what I'm doing, not to the degree
Speaker 4: they were prior, and so I like that, you know,
Speaker 4: I think it's helped me realize that, like all that
Speaker 4: extra noise and stuff doesn't really matter. If I get
Speaker 4: future opportunities, that's awesome, but I'm not going to lose
Speaker 4: myself the same way that I did the first time around.
Speaker 4: So long winded answer, but that's all my answer, and now.
Speaker 1: Long when it's good and I want to. So we're
Speaker 1: a few years removed, and it feels like from talking
Speaker 1: to you, kind of your defense defenses are down, like
Speaker 1: you're you're not as protective of Hey, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: going to blame outside world like many of us do
Speaker 1: when we come off the show, right, But you did
Speaker 1: use the word edit there, and I want to read
Speaker 1: a quote I don't know if you remember this that
Speaker 1: you gave in twenty twenty two. It says, watching it back,
Speaker 1: I was embarrassed and disgusted by my actions and the
Speaker 1: way I was portrayed or seen on TV. Ultimately, I
Speaker 1: had to live with the fact that my narrative is
Speaker 1: what was shown and that was hard because that's not
Speaker 1: really who I am. I don't feel that what I
Speaker 1: was on the show is who I truthfully am. But
Speaker 1: I did those things. I became that person. So after
Speaker 1: what you just said there and reading that quote, what
Speaker 1: I'm reading between the lines is are you saying that
Speaker 1: you're you weren't who you wanted to be on the show,
Speaker 1: or that the edit was it what you wanted to be?
Speaker 1: I don't know, like question the story was. And so
Speaker 1: for everybody listening now we're two years removed, give clarity
Speaker 1: to what exactly went on during your season.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, you want me to walk through as far
Speaker 4: as like how the outcome of it or or just
Speaker 4: basically just explaining that quote that you just mentioned.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the quest I want to I want to know
Speaker 2: what we didn't see from people. I want to know
Speaker 2: what was missing from the.
Speaker 1: Four hours with you guys.
Speaker 4: You guys know I can't talk about.
Speaker 2: Some of the NDAs.
Speaker 3: Come on now.
Speaker 4: Yeah, they're sold and they will come after me. I am.
Speaker 4: That quote that you just mentioned was coming from an
Speaker 4: ego centric place. At that point, I was under a
Speaker 4: lot of dress and so I fell backed into a
Speaker 4: corner and I wasn't willing to accept full accountability for
Speaker 4: what resulted and what was shown. That being said, I
Speaker 4: definitely feel it's a shared sense of accountability what was
Speaker 4: shown on TV. There was no body double. It was me,
Speaker 4: so that that was me and those were my actions.
Speaker 4: But I also there was a lot of things. You know,
Speaker 4: again the show, you guys know this. I mean, it's
Speaker 4: a two hour episode, but you know two hours in
Speaker 4: one episode encapsule, it's four or five days of filming
Speaker 4: at you know, fourteen fifteen hours a day, So there's
Speaker 4: just missing context. I used to think, you know, or
Speaker 4: feel that, you know, they did it out of spite
Speaker 4: and try to destroy my character. I now look at
Speaker 4: it like, I don't think the producers are that vengeful.
Speaker 4: I think they just really tried to create a very
Speaker 4: highly emotional season, and I think they realized that people
Speaker 4: didn't like me out the gate. They weren't happy I
Speaker 4: was chosen as a bachelor, so they were looking for
Speaker 4: reasons to hate me. And I think, you know, after
Speaker 4: my season, the show was like, you gave us too
Speaker 4: much firepower, and if we don't produce it this way,
Speaker 4: I mean, we don't want a lukewarm bachelor. We want
Speaker 4: either a very beloved bachelor or a hated bachelor. And
Speaker 4: in the past, you know, they've they you know, every
Speaker 4: so often they go for a bachelor and they kind
Speaker 4: of take them down the opposite route. I mean, I think,
Speaker 4: you know, I've seen Peter Webber kind of got a similar,
Speaker 4: you know, approach in the way that he was portrayed.
Speaker 4: Now that being said again, I mean, I don't want
Speaker 4: to try to displaced blame here. You know, I took
Speaker 4: those actions on the show, and so you know, people
Speaker 4: were upset by it. I also think too, though, that
Speaker 4: it's not a matter what I will say is like,
Speaker 4: I'm not going to defend what I did on the show.
Speaker 4: In fact, I now accept full responsibility, and I think
Speaker 4: I did what I thought was best at the time.
Speaker 4: So I've forgiven myself and that's all that matters. Could
Speaker 4: I have done things better, Yeah, in hindsight, sure. But
Speaker 4: I also was very emotional to the way that my reaction,
Speaker 4: how people responded to me, And it's not that serious.
Speaker 4: Now I realized that like people were treating it. I
Speaker 4: was getting death threats. People were telling me I was,
Speaker 4: you know, all the worst things in the world, stupid,
Speaker 4: not deserving, blah blah blah blah. I now realize those
Speaker 4: people are extremely overreacting. It's not that serious. Like I
Speaker 4: hurt some people on a TV show and I'm sorry
Speaker 4: for that, but I mean, this life or death treatment
Speaker 4: was ridiculous. So you know, I look at it now
Speaker 4: and I'm just like I was a little bit overly sensitive,
Speaker 4: and so anytime that anything got brought up, I felt
Speaker 4: like the world was coming crashing down on me. And
Speaker 4: so that original quote was me trying to place blame
Speaker 4: on the shoulders of the show and take it off
Speaker 4: me because I'm not a monster. I mean, that's what
Speaker 4: some people viewed me as. I also think that the
Speaker 4: you know, the loudest people online, it's it's still a minority.
Speaker 4: I think there's a majority of people that watched it
Speaker 4: and said, like, yeah, that wasn't probably smart, but I
Speaker 4: don't think he's a you know, bad guy. I was
Speaker 4: really just hyper sensitive to the criticism. So I was
Speaker 4: trying to defend my character. And now I realized I was,
Speaker 4: like these people were overreacting a lot of them, And
Speaker 4: you know, yeah, was I immature in certain senses, yes, absolutely,
Speaker 4: But my gosh, it's a TV show like relax. I
Speaker 4: didn't I didn't, you know, do something that drastic.
Speaker 2: I just you just said, I love you.
Speaker 1: You know, it's.
Speaker 2: That tell somebody.
Speaker 4: I mean, I I failed at you know, polyamory or
Speaker 4: whatever you want to call it. Like that's why the
Speaker 4: show is, you know, like it's date multiple people and
Speaker 4: then you try to get back to monogamy and I
Speaker 4: I just failed at that. You know, it is what
Speaker 4: it is. So I mean I'm like, yeah, would you say, hey,
Speaker 4: were you what? Was I a successful bachelor? Not really
Speaker 4: by the respect of like I mean, I ended up
Speaker 4: alone on the at the end of it, I guess
Speaker 4: Susan and I dated for a year, But it is again,
Speaker 4: I've just given myself grace it like it is what
Speaker 4: it is. It's at the end of the day. It
Speaker 4: doesn't define me.
Speaker 1: I sure hope it doesn't. I mean, if you're stone
Speaker 1: one day said uh clean Eckerd the Bachelor, Uh big
Speaker 1: problems in life, buddy.
Speaker 4: To move on, you know, like it's you know, it's
Speaker 4: a special experience, and I I mean, I'm forever grateful.
Speaker 4: I'm grateful for the show. I don't hold in the
Speaker 4: ill will towards them. Did I hold ill? Well, yes,
Speaker 4: I did it certain points, and I wanted to like
Speaker 4: come out and say, here's all the behind the scenes
Speaker 4: stuff that like you guys didn't see on TV because
Speaker 4: there was some of that stuff. But it's like the
Speaker 4: show has to put in as much as they can
Speaker 4: to our windows. So I don't it wasn't malicious why
Speaker 4: they left out stuff. I don't think so. And if
Speaker 4: somebody dislikes me at ABC whatever, then I guess they do.
Speaker 4: But I, you know, I just don't appear I don't
Speaker 4: want to hold that at this point. I'm like, forget it.
Speaker 4: It is what it is.
Speaker 3: Well, you and Grant are actually in similar situations because
Speaker 3: you're both chosen to be the Bachelor from not the
Speaker 3: top four. You guys were honestly quite random choices from
Speaker 3: the top ten. Yeah, why do you think you were chosen?
Speaker 2: Why do you think Grant was chosen? Why? What advice?
Speaker 3: I that's a lame question in my point of view.
Speaker 3: What advice do you have for Grant? But because you
Speaker 3: guys are in situations, how do you handle it not
Speaker 3: being a main character and becoming the main character?
Speaker 4: Yeah? I mean my advice to Grant's just be authentical yourself.
Speaker 4: I mean, you can't control people's opinions, and you'll spin
Speaker 4: your wheels until you burn off all the tread trying
Speaker 4: to do so. I mean that's what I did. I
Speaker 4: was trying to convince everybody that, like, wait, this is
Speaker 4: why they chose me. You know, I'm just as great
Speaker 4: as all the other previous bachelors. I'm not like the reject.
Speaker 4: It's like this was still a coveted position, Like I'm
Speaker 4: just as good as anybody else. But that was you know,
Speaker 4: that was a loss. I mean, that was wasted my
Speaker 4: time trying to prove it, and there's no point. So
Speaker 4: I would just say, you know, focus on what you
Speaker 4: can control and what's outside of your control. Let it
Speaker 4: go and just let it play out. I do think ultimately,
Speaker 4: karma comes back, and the people that get put up
Speaker 4: on pedestals fall off them, and the ones that you
Speaker 4: know gets banished to the corner end of climbing back
Speaker 4: out and we all settle somewhere in the middle. No
Speaker 4: one's as good or as bad as they're perceived on television.
Speaker 4: A lot of times there's some middle ground somewhere. So
Speaker 4: I would just say, if he focuses on himself and
Speaker 4: just you know, whatever you want to do with this experience.
Speaker 4: If he wants to leverage it business wise, go for it.
Speaker 4: You know. If he finds love awesome, like whatever it is,
Speaker 4: don't listen to the noise. You know, a lot of
Speaker 4: people are jealous, and they say, all these people come
Speaker 4: on for this reason, that reason, whatever, Like we come
Speaker 4: on for our reasons that we come on, and we
Speaker 4: do what we do with it, And so for forgive
Speaker 4: us for taking the opportunity. As far as why I
Speaker 4: was chosen, I mean, truthfully, I'm just gonna be honest.
Speaker 4: I think I was chosen because I fit what the
Speaker 4: demographic really wanted, not you know, the minority online people
Speaker 4: blew up and were upset that I was chosen over
Speaker 4: men of color. I totally understand that. Why I was
Speaker 4: chosen as the eighth guy when there was six men
Speaker 4: of color before me, I don't know. It's not my
Speaker 4: question answer, but I will say I think that I
Speaker 4: fit this mold. They were looking for a six foot
Speaker 4: five white dude. I mean, the show Primariage cast white leads,
Speaker 4: and I fit that mold. I was, you know, the
Speaker 4: guy from the Midwest that on paper checked a lot
Speaker 4: of the boxes. And so I think that's why they
Speaker 4: made me that. But there was pushback because people were
Speaker 4: frustrated that it didn't come from a top four pick.
Speaker 4: And I get that. So again I just look at
Speaker 4: it like, hey, I accepted the role. I mean, that
Speaker 4: was my job. You want to know why I was chosen,
Speaker 4: you ask them. But I can tell you that I
Speaker 4: see why people were upset, and I don't blame them.
Speaker 4: But again, it wasn't my decision to and I didn't
Speaker 4: take it away from people. People said, oh, he took
Speaker 4: it away from these other people, Like no, they could away.
Speaker 4: Yeah no, I was like, I didn't take it away
Speaker 4: from people. Those producers could have went to those guys,
Speaker 4: you know. So again just my opinion, I think that's unfortunate,
Speaker 4: but the show does have to. Like they are trying
Speaker 4: to make it work and trying to have diversity and
Speaker 4: trying to keep their audience happy. I mean, I know
Speaker 4: they're paying attention to it. You know, I've had those
Speaker 4: conversations with them. They so they're very, very aware of
Speaker 4: what's being said by the public with you know, race
Speaker 4: being you know, a topic that's brought up a lot.
Speaker 4: I think they just tried to satisfy their the silent
Speaker 4: majority of people, and they picked me, and it backfired
Speaker 4: because no one knew who I was.
Speaker 1: To transition here a little bit. In the last few
Speaker 1: minutes that we have with you, I want to get
Speaker 1: into life now, and I want to get into a
Speaker 1: few of the more prevalent relationships that came from your
Speaker 1: time during this franchise. Gabby, Rachel, and Susie obviously are
Speaker 1: the three that we think of when it comes to
Speaker 1: your experience. Gabby's in a relationship, Rachel and Susie are
Speaker 1: both single. To go back because it feels like my
Speaker 1: role today, I'm going to read a quote that Susie
Speaker 1: said about you during your trial, and it's interesting. I
Speaker 1: want to hear what you think of it. I want
Speaker 1: you to break it down for us. She said this.
Speaker 1: She said, listen, Clayton might be a lot of things,
Speaker 1: but he's not a liar. And that meant a lot
Speaker 1: to me. What do you think she meant by Clayton
Speaker 1: might be a lot of things.
Speaker 4: Oh, Susie, you know, I'm going to hold off on that.
Speaker 4: I think that there was there was reasons why her
Speaker 4: and I broke up, and there was equal you know,
Speaker 4: there's no blame to be dispersed out, but there's reasons
Speaker 4: why it didn't work. From my point of view, with
Speaker 4: the way that she acted and vice versa, I haven't
Speaker 4: really been in agreeance with a few of the times
Speaker 4: that she's made small comments that carry a lot more weight.
Speaker 4: I think that that direct quote was one of them.
Speaker 4: So I wish Susie the best. I don't think that
Speaker 4: comment was necessary in the way it was framed. I
Speaker 4: also don't think a few other things she said At
Speaker 4: some points it felt like she was trying to make it,
Speaker 4: you know, seem like I was the whole reason that
Speaker 4: the really ship didn't work. That's the way I perceived it.
Speaker 4: I don't know if she meant that or not, but
Speaker 4: of course, if you're bringing this up, you know as
Speaker 4: a quote, it's you got to wonder, you know, why
Speaker 4: was it said that way? It certainly perked people up
Speaker 4: into being like, huh, you could have just said Clayton's
Speaker 4: not a liar? Why did you say he might be?
Speaker 4: Many things? So, you know, I I haven't been in favor,
Speaker 4: and I've told her that she's aware at some of
Speaker 4: the ways that she's you know, said things, but it
Speaker 4: is what it is. You know, she can she can
Speaker 4: respond to that accordingly what she meant. I never got,
Speaker 4: you know, an answer as far as like what that
Speaker 4: meant myself, but I just moved on from it, let
Speaker 4: it go. You know, we're not perfect, and at some
Speaker 4: points we all say things that in hindsight, we probably
Speaker 4: shouldn't have said. So I can forgive her for that
Speaker 4: there was. I do it every week.
Speaker 1: I do it every week. And I guess Susie is
Speaker 1: I'm a little bit behind the times. I think her
Speaker 1: and Justin are trying to rekindle something. So maybe when
Speaker 1: I said they're both single, they might not be.
Speaker 4: Aren't. But I don't know what's going on.
Speaker 3: But speaking of that, she and Justin had a very
Speaker 3: public flirty friendship before coming out as a public couple.
Speaker 3: Do you, guys, how did you feel about watching her
Speaker 3: with like another bachelor guy, another person in the spotlight.
Speaker 3: Was that hard to just see her move on to
Speaker 3: somebody that was going to make headlines with her?
Speaker 4: No, not at all. I didn't really feel any type
Speaker 4: of way about it. I mean, when Susie and I
Speaker 4: broke up, we knew it was never going to ever
Speaker 4: be a thing again. So it was just like once
Speaker 4: that was severed, you know, we were important in each
Speaker 4: other's life to help each other get through, you know,
Speaker 4: a traumatic time, and she helped me grow as a person.
Speaker 4: But ultimately, like after we had those breakup conversations, I mean,
Speaker 4: and after the feeling subsided, it became very much just like, hey,
Speaker 4: you know what, we weren't meant to be each other
Speaker 4: forever person, So I knew that that day would come
Speaker 4: whenever she would date somebody new, and so when I
Speaker 4: saw it, it was like, yeah, I mean this this
Speaker 4: day was coming. It was inevitable, and I didn't really
Speaker 4: feel any type of way about it. I was like, Okay,
Speaker 4: good for her.
Speaker 1: The you did this to yourself, you set this up,
Speaker 1: and so I don't feel bad about asking this question.
Speaker 1: We had an iHeart event and I believe it was.
Speaker 2: Moning it two years ago.
Speaker 1: Two years ago, Rachel was there. You guys did a
Speaker 1: video to get the world talking, and they talked. It
Speaker 1: was kind of a flirty video.
Speaker 2: And we saw them kind of flurried place.
Speaker 1: You guys have deep mystery going on. So we just
Speaker 1: talked about Susie, talked a little bit about Gabby Rachel.
Speaker 1: You and Rachel stay in contact. Is there any uh,
Speaker 1: you know, fuel still to the potential flame that could
Speaker 1: be the two of you.
Speaker 4: I don't really keep in contact with her. I'm not
Speaker 4: sure what she's doing these days, but I will say that, Yeah,
Speaker 4: I hear people talk like they always wonder if if
Speaker 4: the two of us would have would have made sense together.
Speaker 4: And I don't think people will be asking that question
Speaker 4: much much longer. I think.
Speaker 2: Not just a lot of that Oh oh, because somebody
Speaker 2: is in a relationship here. I think it's Clayton. I
Speaker 2: think it's Clayton.
Speaker 4: I mean, why would he?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's Clayton. Clayton's going to come out
Speaker 1: with a relationship announcement. Do you just want to do it?
Speaker 4: On the show?
Speaker 1: A lot of listeners, a lot of people could get
Speaker 1: some real excitement if you just tell us who I'm not.
Speaker 4: I'm not just I'm not going to drop any bombshells today. No,
Speaker 4: there's could be a talking to somebody in relationship, could
Speaker 4: not be I could have you know, whatever, things will
Speaker 4: make sense. I'll put it this way. People will get
Speaker 4: an answer at some point here, So in as far
Speaker 4: as you like engaged what I'm alluding to. No, No,
Speaker 4: I'll just I'll just answers will be clear at some point.
Speaker 4: I just that's all I'll say.
Speaker 1: Gracious, such a cliffhanger for us, but I'm glad that
Speaker 1: we at least got that tease. I mean, there's something
Speaker 1: happening in your life that no longer allows you to
Speaker 1: be in relationship with Rachel. So yeah, that's exciting. Congratulations Cleaton.
Speaker 4: Life is exciting. I never up my sleeves, so yeah,
Speaker 4: there's something's coming all right.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 3: In the teasers for The Traders, in which Gabby is in,
Speaker 3: she calls herself a lesbian, but in twenty twenty three
Speaker 3: she said, I guess I'm bisexual would be the most
Speaker 3: honest label for me. I don't know, but after dating
Speaker 3: a woman. I feel so connected to my girlfriend. That's
Speaker 3: what's most important to me. I don't believe in labels,
Speaker 3: but I don't know if I could ever date a
Speaker 3: man again. Would you ever thought that this would be
Speaker 3: after being with Gabby? Fantasy suites and such?
Speaker 4: I wow? I mean I know that, like Gabby, she
Speaker 4: shared a lot of things with me about her life,
Speaker 4: and of course, you know the things that are off camera,
Speaker 4: you know, stay off camera. You know, she confided in
Speaker 4: me with different things. I won't say that she convided
Speaker 4: me with about sexuality. That was not I'm not alluding
Speaker 4: to that, but I you know, I know that she
Speaker 4: had you know, there was parts of her life growing
Speaker 4: up that were tough and challenging for her, and you
Speaker 4: know that she was coping with and so I was
Speaker 4: surprised to like have her come out. But I again,
Speaker 4: I mean, how do you It's like, I think people
Speaker 4: wrestle with that a lot of times. You know, I
Speaker 4: think there's not the stigma's not there like it used
Speaker 4: to be used to. You know, people would be embarrassed
Speaker 4: to come out and say that, you know, they they
Speaker 4: are gay or bisexual, whatever it may be. And I
Speaker 4: think it's just more accepted now, So I'm sure she
Speaker 4: was wrestling with it for some time and then but
Speaker 4: when she came out, I was like, Okay, I mean,
Speaker 4: I guess we're getting all used to people like coming
Speaker 4: out and making statements like this, and so it's just
Speaker 4: not as surprising as maybe if she came out twenty
Speaker 4: years ago or whatever. So yeah, I mean, at the
Speaker 4: time I spent with her, I felt like we had
Speaker 4: a strong connection and I really did, you know, have
Speaker 4: strong feelings for her. I think she's just trying to
Speaker 4: figure out what's best for her, you know. So this
Speaker 4: is a part of our journey.
Speaker 1: In the final question that we have for you today,
Speaker 1: We've covered a lot of topics here, Clayton. Obviously, we've
Speaker 1: covered a court case. We've covered your time as the Bachelor.
Speaker 1: We've covered the past relationships that are always so fun
Speaker 1: to talk about. We've covered your personal growth, and now
Speaker 1: I want to cover where you're at today. And so
Speaker 1: my question for you is two. Part one is how
Speaker 1: are you personally?
Speaker 4: I'm great, I honestly, I mean am happy. I got
Speaker 4: a lot of things cooking. Uh, and there's just baby cooking.
Speaker 1: You might as well just tell us or create all
Speaker 1: these ideas in everybody's heads, and it's just like.
Speaker 4: I like, that's fine, she can't. I like playing games.
Speaker 4: I mean I was doing this when I was on
Speaker 4: the batch, and I was dropping hints on my Instagram
Speaker 4: to certain that I was with Susie and people. I
Speaker 4: was trying to you know, I was posting photos of
Speaker 4: like me standing by the bedside and like you could
Speaker 4: see her leg in the like her a leg outline.
Speaker 4: I was playing. I love playing these little psychological games.
Speaker 4: So this is just fun I'm doing. I'm just I'm
Speaker 4: just doing right now. So she wants to if she
Speaker 4: wants to spark up, it doesn't. I'll just say that,
Speaker 4: you know, there's people. Yeah, there's gonna be some fun
Speaker 4: things that are that that will come out and do time.
Speaker 1: Well, it's it's cool to see you be excited about something.
Speaker 1: My final question for you is, uh, what are you
Speaker 1: looking forward to in the next few years. You've had
Speaker 1: I mean, no matter what, this has been a I
Speaker 1: know you've had personal growth. I know there's been good
Speaker 1: things to this. If you lay out the timeline of
Speaker 1: the last three years of your life, it's it's had
Speaker 1: some rocky moments and a lot that you couldn't control.
Speaker 1: So as we look forward now to three years, four years,
Speaker 1: five years, what are you looking forward to?
Speaker 4: The most? I would say what came top of mind
Speaker 4: is like every year, I choose a word that I
Speaker 4: focus on for myself. Last year it was, you know, rebirth.
Speaker 4: I chose that word. I wanted to become my most
Speaker 4: authentic self. I feel like I've acquired you know, acquired
Speaker 4: that now and this year it's redemption. So that was
Speaker 4: the word I chose, and I'm looking forward to what
Speaker 4: all that means in my life, which again it's it's
Speaker 4: it's I'm excited because I feel like life is still
Speaker 4: challenging as it always is, but you know, this new
Speaker 4: me is is bringing a lot of opportunity and energy
Speaker 4: my way that I've always you know, wished that I
Speaker 4: had come this my direction that now is So it's
Speaker 4: kind of like, you know, what you push out is
Speaker 4: what you attract, and that's what I'm finding. So I'm
Speaker 4: really excited to continue watching more things that are meant
Speaker 4: for me arrive at my doorsteps. So that's that's going
Speaker 4: to keep dancing I out of it. Yeah, I told
Speaker 4: my I've stepped it up to four times a week
Speaker 4: now from two. So I told my dance instructor, I
Speaker 4: actually want to learn to dance, not like do TikTok dances,
Speaker 4: because at first I was posting some stuff and it was,
Speaker 4: you know, more to build confidence. Now I'm actually trying
Speaker 4: to become decent at dancing and like learn to actually
Speaker 4: move and so I don't. Yeah, I set like a
Speaker 4: six to seven month timeline on it. I told my instructor.
Speaker 4: At you know, at the end of these seven months
Speaker 4: four days a week, I'll reassess as far as like
Speaker 4: if I want to continue, I'm really going all that.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's fun, it's a hobby. So it's you know,
Speaker 4: it's just like for me, it's become like what my
Speaker 4: what lifting weights is. I'm like, it's just a hobby
Speaker 4: that I'm pouring into and you know, not posting as
Speaker 4: much online about it because I'm actually just learning to
Speaker 4: do like grooves and all that. So I think it's.
Speaker 2: Training for Dancing with the Stars.
Speaker 3: Fifth Star that you're like the only bachelor that hasn't
Speaker 3: been chosen for Dancing with the Stars and it's your hobby.
Speaker 4: Is that what it is? And I know you're.
Speaker 2: Not I'm thinking about others. It's like Zach wasn't it?
Speaker 4: Yeah? Was Peter Webber? I don't think he was either,
Speaker 4: was he?
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh? How did Peter not do that out covid?
Speaker 4: I think I saw Peter was doing some dance videos
Speaker 4: on on Instagram or TikTok at one point, so I'm
Speaker 4: sure he's I'm sure he him and I are just
Speaker 4: by sitting here fuming every day, being like, just give
Speaker 4: us a chance, ye, bring it soon for a guest
Speaker 4: appearance if nothing else, just let let us tap on
Speaker 4: the floor for like five minutes and I'll be good.
Speaker 1: Hey, Clayton, thanks for joining us today. We wish you
Speaker 1: the best as this you know, year of what was
Speaker 1: your word this year? Redemption? No redemption, redemption, redemption. Year
Speaker 1: of Redemption continues, Thanks for joining us, and the countdown
Speaker 1: to the Bachelor continues with more special guests and more
Speaker 1: leads that we're catching up with as we go. But
Speaker 1: until next time, I've been Ben, I've been Ashley.
Speaker 3: See follow the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcasts
Speaker 3: on iHeartRadio or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.