The Fantasy Suites brought forth a devastating split.
Clayton Echard has narrowed it down to his final two women. Tuesday night's episode of The Bachelor, saw its leading man travel to Iceland for Fantasy Suite dates with Rachel, Gabby and Susie, all of which ET is breaking down in the recap below.
Clayton went into the week believing he "might be falling in love with all three of these women, and I also might already be in love with Susie," and his love for all three women grew even more throughout the episode.
He went deep with Rachel, had a dune buggy date with Gabby, and enjoyed a swimsuit-clad adventure with Susie, but one woman broke things off after revealing her biggest deal breaker.
Keep reading for a full recap of episode 9 of The Bachelor.
Rachel and Clayton Deepen Their Love
Rachel landed the first date of the week, which left Susie stewing in uncertainty, as Susie told the cameras, "If I find out that he’s falling in love with other women, or that he has become physically intimate with another woman, that would be devastating.”
Rachel, meanwhile, went into the date with nerves, after hearing her name called last during the rose ceremony the week before. The pair embarked on a scenic helicopter ride full of PDA, as Clayton admitted that he and Rachel have "the strongest physical connection" out of his remaining women.
When they landed, the couple headed 400 feet underground inside an inactive volcano. After discussing their "really good" hometown date, Rachel expressed frustration in a confessional about Clayton not expressing his feelings yet.
"I really, truly feel like I have done nothing but be vulnerable this entire time, and I need him to just give a little bit back," she said, adding that she does "love Clayton" and "can definitely see him being my future husband."
Over dinner, Rachel opened up about how she "genuinely was terrified" during the last rose ceremony. Though it worked out in her favor, Rachel told Clayton that she "cried the entire drive to the hotel because I was like, 'I don’t know where he’s at.'"
Clayton put her fears at ease, telling her, "I’m falling in love with you. I am. I have been. I realize that I have been feeling this way for probably a couple of weeks, if not more. Part of me was scared because I hadn’t felt those feelings for over five or six years, since my last relationship, so thank you for being patient with me."
With that, the pair headed off to the Fantasy Suite, with Rachel's plans to "be very physically intimate."
At the hotel, Susie revealed that that's just what she was afraid of. "If Clayton thinks that it’s me at the end of this and then proceeds to sleep with another woman anyways, I would have a really hard time moving forward with him," Susie said.
The next morning, Rachel and Clayton awoke smiling and kissing in bed, with Clayton telling the cameras that it was "a near-perfect night," and Rachel saying in her confessional that their relationship "is on an entirely new level now."
The couple exchanged I love yous, before Clayton went back to his hotel, where the gravity of the situation hit him for the first time.
"If it was just [Rachel] I would be bouncing off the walls and so excited to see what was going to happen next between us, but it’s not just her," he said in a confessional. "I didn’t know I was going to say that I’m in love with Rachel, but I meant it. That’s why I said it. There’s two other women that I could also wake up feeling the exact same way, because I just don’t know what’s going to happen on these next two overnights. There’s the potential to be in love with all three of them, and it’s like, so, then what? That’s the scary part about it."
Clayton Feels 'So Good' as He Falls for Gabby
Gabby got the next date, and was excited to ride a dune buggy on the beach with Clayton. The pair had an incredible time during their adventurous date, as Clayton told the cameras that he "love[s] so many things about" Gabby, and the nurse said in a confessional that she "can see myself with Clayton for the rest of my life."
After their dune buggy ride came to an end, Clayton gushed to Gabby about how he had "so much fun" meeting her family. Gabby concurred, but admitted to being "very emotional" after the fact, as the seriousness of their relationship became clear to her.
"I’m ready," Gabby told her date of progressing forward. Clayton seemed to feel the same, telling the cameras, "I’m falling in love with her."
It's a sentiment he expressed to Gabby directly over dinner, telling her, "I’ve realized that I’m falling in love with you. I am. I really am. It wasn’t just something I came to today. I’ve had these feelings. I just wasn’t allowing myself to admit, because I was so fearful from my past relationship."
As the pair headed to the igloo Fantasy Suite, Susie continued "spiraling emotionally."
Gabby and Clayton had a night to remember, though, with Gabby telling the cameras, "It didn’t feel like the first time with somebody new. It felt like the comfortability of home. It feels just fun for us, no pressure, we’re able to laugh together. It just feels like everything’s going to work out."
While they ate breakfast in bed, Clayton told Gabby, "Falling in love is effortless with you," adding in a confessional that he's "falling more in love with her, with every moment that we have."
When Clayton reached the car that would take him away, he turned back to Gabby and yelled, "I am falling in love, and it feels so good!"
Once again, though, Clayton came to terms with his actions after the fact.
"Last night, it felt like a dream. The whole night did, the morning did, and then all of the sudden, everything came crashing back in," he said through tears. "I now realize I’ve told two women I’m in love with them. I also know that I could feel that way with Susie. And so now, 1,000 percent, I’m going to absolutely shatter somebody. I just don’t want to hurt anybody, but I’m going to. I wanted to fall in love, but I just didn’t want to fall in love with multiple people."
Susie Reveals Her Devastating Deal Breaker
As Susie finally got her turn, Clayton told the cameras that the wedding videographer "was really the first person I started to have feelings of love for."
Despite Susie being "in a dark place" and "struggling emotionally," she enjoyed their date, where they donned swimsuits and ran from hot to cold rooms.
"To finally see Clayton and feel his energy, this guy that I’m falling in love with, I just feel so reassured in my connection with him and how strongly I’m feeling for him," Susie said in a confessional. "... I could see Clayton as somebody to start a family with and spend a life with... At this point, I’m so all in with Clayton."
Clayton reciprocated those feelings, telling the cameras that his love for Susie "is on another level," something he expressed to her over dinner that night.
"It’s no longer about me falling in love with you," he said. "I am in love with you."
While Susie told Clayton that she did "adore" him, she also noted that "there are things I feel like I can’t compromise," before asking him, "I know you just told me that you feel like you’re in love with me, but do you feel that same way with somebody else? Or have you slept with another woman?"
If he were to answer yes, Susie said, it'd be "impossible to move forward toward an engagement."
Clayton expressed confusion at Susie's question, noting that she had encouraged him to explore other relationships. Still, though, he was honest, telling her, "To answer your question, yes, I have slept with someone else here. And yes, I’ve expressed feelings toward someone else of falling in love."
"If you feel like you’re in love with me, it doesn’t make sense to me to sleep with somebody else," Susie replied. "... I thought that certainly if he knows or hopes, has an inkling of a feeling, like, 'I hope that it’s Susie,' I hoped that you would protect me in that."
"To hear you say you don’t know if you can continue forward, it’s the worst thing I could’ve heard," Clayton said. "... I can tell you that, right now, I am the most in love with you. I really felt it like, this could be it."
Susie was struggling, telling Clayton that she "really didn’t want to give you an ultimatum... but this is something very big to me. I don’t think I can get past those things. I just don’t think I can."
Clayton went on to question why Susie hadn't brought this up before, telling her, "Had I known how important that was to you, that it was literally a deal breaker, I would’ve changed the way that I approached things, because I know what we have."
"I’m sorry that I went and did that. I ask for your forgiveness, because I don’t want to throw something away that we have that I feel so sure about," he said. "I do love you. I’m not expecting you to say it back, but I would hope that what we have is something worth fighting for."
He next went on to defend his decision to sleep with someone else, before admitting that it was actually two someone elses that he got intimate with.
"Me sleeping with both was because I’ve somehow fallen in love with three women and it makes zero sense to me," he said. "... This scares me, but at the same time, I’m finding what I’m looking for here, and if I just continue to push forward with the relationships I have, I will walk out of here with one person, because they were the best person for me."
Susie wasn't budging, and Clayton told her that the situation was "shattering" him.
"After everything we went through, after all the feelings, the experiences we had, how can you just straight up say, 'I can’t move forward after all of this?'" he asked, before Susie walked away in tears.
As the pair processed their conversation apart, Susie told a producer, "I understand everything he’s saying and I believe him. I don’t know what to do," while Clayton fumed, "This is exactly what I was afraid of. I don’t believe in anything anymore. Everything is literally invalidated."
They eventually met back up and Susie said, "I probably should’ve had that conversation just about what sex means to me earlier on, but I didn’t know that you were feeling so strongly... My hope was that you wouldn’t have done that this week. That we would be able to leave here and I would feel total clarity... I feel like I just f**ked everything up. I don’t know how I could’ve done it better, but I just know that I feel awful about this whole thing."
Clayton grew angry at that point, telling Susie she "just invalidated everything that we had," adding, "I don’t even know who I’m looking at anymore... You just dropped a bombshell on me. I don’t agree with it at all, how you went about this. I think it’s BS. I’m done."
After an apology for raising his voice, Clayton began to walk Susie out, and she offered an apology of her own.
"I’m genuinely so sorry for the pain I’ve caused you," she said. "I promise you, every ounce of this has been real and genuine. I actually feel awful about how this has gone down tonight in every way."
"Because of my faith, I believe everything happens for a reason, and I’m just going to take that and move forward in my life and realize that I had to go through this," he said in response. "At some point I’ll find somebody who will stick through it and understand me for who I am and who will fight for me as much as I fight for them. I thought you were that person. You’re not that person. This is how it’s supposed to end. I’m done."
In the car, a crying Susie said, "I thought he would’ve had more compassion for me in the end, to be honest, regardless of what kind of love at this point, I just thought he would’ve been better at getting through that conversation kindly."
Meanwhile, a distraught Clayton told the cameras, "Everything is invalidated to me at this point. My heart’s not in it anymore. My heart’s out. It’s out. It’s done. It’s over. It’s over."
Clayton Echard's season of The Bachelor will air its two-part finale Monday, March 14, and Tuesday, March 15. ET has got you covered throughout the entirety of Clayton's season with all of our Bachelor content.
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