Months after Clayton Echard's season of The Bachelor finished filming, controversial contestant Sarah Hamrick still feels betrayed by Teddi Wright and Rachel Recchia's conversations with Clayton. When Clayton's season began, Sarah went by pretty unnoticed. She had a good connection with Clayton, some seemingly close friendships with the women and tried her best to stay out of the drama--something that wasn't easy to do given the mean girls this season. However, everything changed in Vienna. While there was some previous drama in which one contestant, Mara Agrait, didn't believe Sarah was ready for a serious relationship, the real drama came just an episode later.
After getting a rose and essentially sending Mara home, Sarah came back a little too cocky for the other women. Seemingly out of nowhere, all of the women, including Bachelor Nation fan-favorites Teddi and Rachel, came up to Clayton explaining they felt inferior to Sarah's connection with him. According to the women, since Sarah's first one-on-one, she had been telling the girls how in love Clayton was with her, even going into intimate details about their conversations. It made the women insecure and some of his frontrunners even consider sending themselves home, something that terrified Clayton. After an awkward confrontation and a plea on Sarah's part, Clayton sent her home. But now Sarah's sharing her side of the story.
In a lengthy interview with Us Weekly, Sarah vented about the entire situation, notably how close the three women were, saying, "I was able to hold them when they were crying and talk them off a ledge when they wanted to leave. I was able to celebrate with them when they were happy about their dates." Teddi and Rachel claimed that after her dates, Sarah would come back and go in detail over every little thing Clayton said, making their connections feel insignificant. According to Sarah, Teddi and Rachel had even come up to her to explain this, accepted her apology and agreed to put the situation to rest, adding, "And for them to then again bring it up—but also only bring it up to Clayton and not me—was the ultimate betrayal."
The women all brought this up during the day portion of the infamous therapy group date. That night, Sarah was "blindsided" by Clayton's confrontation. As she explained, "It made it feel like he was just doing it kind of for the show. It made it feel like he didn’t really care whether or not there was any validity behind that accusation." Sarah noted that if he truly had cared, he would have told her immediately instead of waiting. Sarah attempted to apologize and even cried, though Clayton was quick to say her tears didn't feel genuine. Sarah "felt like he was playing a game" the entire night when to her, "we had been through so much that felt genuine. And what I still would like to believe is genuine."
If the reactions during the "Women Tell All" are any indication, despite Sarah's words, Bachelor Nation as well as Teddi and Rachel are still not convinced. It's no surprise a situation like this would unfold in such a drama-filled season. However, this seems to be one of the first times where The Bachelor is finding himself in the hot seat more than once, with Sarah being one of many women who've taken issue with the way Clayton's gone about things. If Sarah's words are anything to go by, this is probably not the last Bachelor Nation will hear of this situation.
The Bachelor season 26 finale airs Monday, March 14 and Tuesday, March 15 at 8 p.m. EST on ABC.
Source: Us Weekly