Rachel Recchia decided to give Clayton Echard another chance after he broke her heart at the rose ceremony during the March 14 episode of The Bachelor. Unfortunately, that was only the beginning of Rachel’s heartbreak. During part two of the show’s finale on March 15, Clayton ended things with Rachel (as well as Gabby Windey) for good in an attempt to make things work with Susie Evans.
Things went well when Rachel met Clayton’s family. However, he couldn’t stop thinking about Susie, who he previously eliminated during her fantasy suite date because she said she couldn’t move forward with their relationship knowing that he was in love with two other women. Clayton convinced Susie to at least think about giving him another shot, and then had to have tough conversations with Rachel, as well as Gabby, about where he stood.
Clayton told Gabby and Rachel that he was breaking up with them at the same time. Gabby stormed out, and Clayton had a one-on-one convo with her. Then, he addressed Rachel, who was in tears. “What you put us through at the rose ceremony, and then me choosing to stay — I was the ONLY one who chose to stay there [without you having to plead],” she sobbed. “You told me you were willing to fight for this and that moving forward it would make us stronger and I believed you.”
She continued, “I continued to fight for you with your parents when I was heartbroken and telling them how much I loved you. You put me in this car today, and I’m not going to just stop loving you. I promise that when you look back at this, this is going to haunt you.”
Clayton continued to apologize and Rachel made sure to remind him of the fact that she “fought” for their love every single day. “I did feel the connection, I did see a future with you,” Clayton said. “I had those thoughts. I won’t take anything back that we had. I hope you know that I did fight for you. I really fought as hard as I could until I realized that my heart wouldn’t allow me to go anywhere else. I can’t continue to try to love you when I can’t be 100 percent in it.”
Rachel heard enough at that point and she let Clayton walk her out. In the car, she was in tears as she realized that Clayton didn’t even shed one tear during their conversation.
On After the Final Rose, Rachel admitted that she was fully blindsided by Clayton and said she didn’t feel like she had the opportunity to stand up for herself because she was so caught off guard. She confirmed that she no longer had any feelings for Clayton. Then, she got a chance to speak to Clayton face-to-face for the first time since the breakup. “I don’t feel like he deserves to talk to me,” Rachel admitted. “I feel like he’s been pretty selfish this whole journey and I feel I deserve the chance to speak up for myself because I couldn’t before.”
When Clayton came onstage, Rachel said her piece. “None of these emotions are for you or about you,” she said. “It has nothing to do with any lingering feelings. I became collateral damage in your journey for love. That was the most completely selfish journey. Watching that back, there was no empathy at all for me or Gabby. You not shedding a single tear and watching myself…I can’t even imagine how you could do that. I just think it’s so disrespectful.”