Clayton Echard’s fantasy suites week on The Bachelor was not the whirlwind of romance and clarity that he’d hoped for, and his frontrunner Susie Evans blindsided him with unfair expectations. Susie had conditions for continuing her relationship with Clayton that she never communicated to him, and it’s unreasonable for her to expect Clayton to read her mind. The dramatic ending to Clayton and Susie’s fantasy suite date rubbed many fans the wrong way, mostly because Susie wasn’t upfront this season.
Though Clayton’s fantasy suite dates with Rachel Recchia and Gabby Windey went well, he was especially excited for his night with Susie. “This is the biggest night of this entire journey,” Clayton commented, and he planned to tell Susie he was in love with her. However, the evening took a turn when Susie informed Clayton it would be “impossible to move forward towards an engagement” if he slept with any of the other women. Clayton was shocked and upset with Susie and wondered why she hadn’t shared her deal-breakers with him sooner. The episode ended with Clayton coldly sending Susie home, and it was clear he was hurting.
It's possible that The Bachelor's Clayton felt especially blindsided because Susie had told him to continue growing his relationships with the other women earlier in the season. She wanted Clayton to explore his options so he'd be certain of his decision if he chose her at the end of the season. However, after he did exactly that, Susie felt betrayed, because she had just assumed that Clayton would “protect” her from the scenario she was now in. Susie claimed she didn’t want to cut the process short for Clayton, but at the same time, her desire to continue their relationship had conditions that she never told him about. It’s no surprise that Clayton was upset, and he told Susie that if he had known about her deal-breakers, he would have changed his approach while exploring other relationships.
What The Bachelor's Susie did is known as a covert contract, which exists in romantic relationships when one partner believes there is an agreement about something but hasn’t communicated it to the other partner. Covert contracts are unfair because they are one-sided and made without the consent of the other partner. Susie held Clayton to a set of expectations, told him to do the exact opposite, and then acted shocked that Clayton didn’t stick to her unspoken rules. Although he tried to persuade her to stay and work through this issue together, Susie said, “I don’t think there’s a single scenario in which…I can move forward.”
While her expectations were unreasonable, that doesn’t mean that Bachelor Clayton was right in terms of how he handled things. At first, he mostly kept a cool head and tried to reason with Susie, telling her that they could overcome their problems together. However, he didn’t show much respect for her feelings, as sleeping with multiple women and telling them you love them one week before your engagement is pretty weird. Clayton also got unnecessarily loud and mean at times, calling the situation “BS” and claiming Susie “dropped a bombshell” on him.
Susie’s expectations for Clayton’s fantasy suite decisions were definitely unfair because she wasn’t upfront with them, but Clayton could have responded more effectively. This episode of The Bachelor was full of bad decisions, and neither one of them should be proud of how they conducted themselves. However, Susie from The Bachelor knew what show she was on and still hid her true feelings from Clayton. Bachelor Nation may not be the right place for Susie.