The 'Bachelor' star didn't send the villain home on Monday night's episode.
Clayton Echard is speaking out. After Monday night's episode of The Bachelor saw its leading man opt for villain Shanae over Elizabeth, the medical sales rep took to Twitter to apologize for his actions.
"I'm sorry, Elizabeth, for what you're going through," Clayton wrote. "I wish I could have seen what was happening when I wasn't there. I obviously knew y'all weren't in a good place with each other, but I thought at the time that it was, solely, petty drama."
The drama between the women began when Shanae, seemingly inexplicably, turned against Elizabeth, mocked her for having ADHD and claimed to Clayton that Elizabeth had made her feel "bullied" in the house.
On the latest episode of the series, after the women fought in front of Clayton, the leading man awarded Shanae a rose and sent Elizabeth home. Shanae went on to cause drama in the house by showing up uninvited to an after-party and trying to turn Clayton against three other women -- Gabby, Sierra and Genevieve.
"I would have sent Shanae home immediately for making fun of you for being neurodivergent, had I known," Clayton wrote, referencing Elizabeth's ADHD.
The situation between Shanae and Elizabeth is just one reason Clayton has not enjoyed watching his journey play out on TV.
"Overall, the experience for me watching hasn't been fun, simply because I'm seeing all the damage that I caused. I really meant well, but my actions weren't always the best as I now can see the repercussions from my decisions," he wrote. "I can promise you I'm learning from the mistakes though and am doing everything in my power to come out the other side a better man."
As Clayton watched Monday's episode, and became privy to how Shanae lied to him and behaved around the women, he tweeted, "I'm looking forward to having an open and honest discuss at the ["Women Tell All"] with what all happened. It's important to hold people accountable, including myself."
"I'm ready," Elizabeth tweeted in response.
Despite the situation, on her Instagram Story, Elizabeth spoke out against people who are sending mean messages to Clayton and Shanae in an effort to support her.
"It's come to my attention that some of you are sending @claytonechard hate messages. I realize you want to support me and I appreciate that. But please -- we are here to rise above not stoop to," she wrote. "Redirect that anger as love and support for the other girls. Everyone, EVERYONE's mental health matters, Yes, even Shanae's."
Shanae has yet to respond to Clayton or Elizabeth's posts.
When ET spoke with Jesse Palmer, the Bachelor host said he tries not to take sides during the show's feuds, though he did offer one caveat in the case of Shanae and Elizabeth.
"In those situations, I'm really trying to kind of stay back and my focus obviously is trying to help Clayton and to help him navigate how drama potentially impacts his decisions moving forward," he told ET. "I will say specifically to Shanae and Elizabeth, I don't think it's ever OK for anyone to talk down about someone's mental health."
Even with the drama that's played out thus far, Jesse promised that there's much more to come.
"The theme of this season is going to be there are no rules on The Bachelor. Clayton will do whatever it takes... He's going to take chances and risks to get what he wants and to find love," he said. "... I promise there are a whole lot more firsts coming up this season that people have not seen in 20 years of watching The Bachelor."
Clayton Echard's season of The Bachelor airs Mondays on ABC. ET has got you covered throughout the entirety of his season with all of our Bachelor content.
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