Clayton Echard claims that there is more to the story regarding his whirlwind Perfect Match partnership with ex Rachel Recchia.
“I actually really enjoyed it. I journaled throughout the process, and when I left the show, I was super grateful,” Clayton, 32, began on the Thursday, August 7, episode of “The Viall Files” podcast. “Unfortunately, I’m not too happy with the edit. I’m not going to sit here and dodge responsibility, but I just thought it went differently. I thought it could have been portrayed differently.”
He added, “We understand that they only have so much time to use when they air these episodes, so there’s always missing context.”
On the first day of season 3, Clayton matched with Siesta Key alum Juliette Porter. After realizing that they didn’t have a romantic connection, he pursued Rachel when she entered the villa. (Rachel, 29, was famously one of Clayton’s finalists on his season of The Bachelor. He broke up with her and fellow runner-up Gabby Windey after having sex with both of them because he wasn’t over eliminated contestant Susie Evans.)
“Maybe I’m naive, but I genuinely did not expect her to walk through the door,” he explained to host Nick Viall. “When she walked in, it was a rush of emotions. All the feelings that you once had, they come back up.”
Clayton internally realized that so much had “changed” between him and Rachel, and he wanted to see whether Perfect Match season 3 was the “right timing” for the two Bachelor Nation exes. Clayton asked Rachel to pair up that night, only to backtrack the next day, vaguely explaining that his “intuition” kicked in, and he realized they weren’t the right fit after all.
“How I got to that point was through the conversations we had [and] my intuition, the things that I’m looking for in life, prior experiences, the conversations her and I had [and] there were things that were said that I said, ‘Yeah, this isn’t going to work,’” he said. “I know what it is I’m looking for, and things have changed. We’ve changed.”
Clayton, who alleged that he didn’t kiss or cuddle Rachel at all outside of the group kissing contest, cited their different “lifestyles” as a major factor in his decision. (Rachel, for her part, told Nick, 44, in a separate “Viall Files” interview that Clayton didn’t make an effort to get to know her during their off-camera time on the show, claiming he only asked about how production styles between Netflix and ABC were different.)
“I’ve taken a pulse on the interaction. I’ve listened to what you’ve had to say, the way you say things, your mindset, where you’re currently at and your lifestyle,” Clayton said. “Ultimately, I said, ‘Look, my vibe and your vibe are not matched.’ Three years later, I wanted to see … will our vibes match? I’ll say this, the lifestyles that we have wouldn’t match, and that was part of it.”
Clayton also claimed that there were “a couple other things” that weighed into his decision, which he didn’t feel comfortable disclosing to Nick or Rachel herself.
“I don’t think I can [tell her] because I don’t think she would receive them well,” Clayton said. “I think she would feel, like, they were an attack if I were to say it coming from me. It will be something that she’ll understand over time.”
Clayton further stressed that he and Rachel, who later matched with Love Island UK alum Scott-van-der-Sluis on the show, ended production on amicable terms. Rachel, for part, teased on “The Viall Files” earlier this week that she started talking to another former contestant after the Netflix Summer Break press event in July.
Perfect Match season 3 is currently streaming on Netflix. New episodes drop Fridays.
