As The Bachelor competition progresses on Clayton Echard's season, the catfighting is already heating up. As usual, there's a lot of infighting between the women. He comes off a tad innocent in his approach to the cast because he sees the best in everyone. While some fans have found him boring, Clayton undeniably has a good heart. Some of the more calculating women have been quick to take advantage of his optimism.
Last week, Cassidy Timbrooks threw a wrench in a group date when she monopolized Clayton and How I Met Your Father star, Hilary Duff. Simultaneously, she didn't pull her weight when planning the kids' birthday party and essentially told them she wasn't their biggest fan. Clayton didn't get a chance to see Cassidy's lack of involvement in the planning as he was blinded by her face glued to his. While Cassidy was kicked to the curb and ousted from the house, her protege pot-stirrer Shanae Ankney weaseled her way onto another episode. Clayton appears to have a hard time figuring out whether the women are genuine or not. Shanae and Cassidy both knew how to twist his arm.
When the tension between the women unfolded onscreen, Clayton was shocked while looking back at the footage. After she survived the rose ceremony in episode 2, Shanae said, "What am I supposed to do, let someone win or have drama?" Shanae didn't leave Ohio to lose. As usual, the drama was getting in the way of love. On a group date without Shanae, all of the women (and Clayton) talked about their insecurities in a roundtable discussion. Clayton hoped the open and honest dynamic would carry on in the evening, but that wasn't the case. After Elizabeth Corrigan sat next to Clayton on a group date, Shanae pegged her as an enemy. From then on, Shanae took every opportunity to unjustifiably throw Elizabeth under the bus. See Clayton's tweet below:
After another round of bashing Elizabeth and blaming her for a culture of bullying, Shanae felt she had Clayton under her spell. She said, "Oh my god, he believed me. I have him. Trust me, I know I have him," and "I was good, I know I was good." Shanae's celebration of her manipulation tactics pulled the rug out from under Clayton. Fans think producers haven't learned from their mistakes on Matt James' season. Clayton tweeted while watching, "oh boy…what I was being told then and what I'm seeing now is like watching two different movies."
Sierra Jackson couldn't help but chime in on Clayton's tweet, saying, "We tried to tell you." Shanae made enemies all on her own, with eating the house's communal garlic butter shrimp as the icing on the cake. Another fan, Vic, commented, "I think perhaps her tongue down your throat affected your vision?" and he hoped that Clayton apologized to Elizabeth. Clayton clearly didn't learn much from Cassidy.
Hopefully, as the season progresses, Clayton will learn to decipher the truth more quickly. However, based on the season promos, it looks like that might be too high of an expectation. The host Jesse Palmer warned it was a stressful journey. With eyes for all the women (and generic responses to all of them), it's hard to tell if Clayton is even entirely in touch with his feelings. Regardless, all of the women will be attempting to fuel some chemistry, and The Bachelor season 26 is definitely starting to heat up.
Sources: Vic/Twitter, Sierra Jackson/Twitter, Clayton Echard/Twitter