Clayton Echard revealed why he told his final two women he was in love with both of them.
The next rose ceremony on The Bachelor may be the show's most dramatic ever. In a preview that aired at the end of Tuesday night's episode, host Jesse Palmer ominously states, "Welcome to the rose ceremony from hell."
Jesse's words may not be far off, as it's during that upcoming rose ceremony that Clayton Echard tells Rachel and Gabby, his final two women, that he's in love with -- and was intimate with -- both of them.
When ET spoke with Clayton ahead of the episode, he assured fans that there was a reason he came clean in that way, noting that it "felt justified based off of what all had occurred."
What occurred, as fans now know, is that Susie left the show after learning the truth of Clayton's feelings and intimacy with the other two women. Still, Clayton knew his decisions likely wouldn't go over well with America.
"I will not have 100 percent of people on my side. I don't know if I'll have 50 percent. I don't know if I'm going to have even 25 percent. And I'm not looking for everybody to side with me, because I just did what I thought was best," he told ET. "I navigated a really, really sticky situation that I don't want to ever be in again."
"I went there because I allowed myself to open up and be vulnerable and give all of the relationships a chance and why I said what I said felt justified," Clayton added. "I hope people see it for what it was and understand that, 'OK, he said this because of this reason.'"
Clayton went on to admit that he doesn't "feel optimistic about it as far as how it's going to be received."
"I think it's going to foster a lot of discussion. There's going to be a lot of opinions. I just hope that people understand that I did what I did with the best of intentions and that I'm not a bad person," he said. "I just followed my heart, but unfortunately doing that led me down a very unfavorable path that made things extremely challenging."
"I hope people have grace and understand that... 'Hey, it's a lot. And I don't think we can peg this guy as a bad guy from just what happened... He had a lot on his shoulders,'" Clayton continued. "But again, I accept full responsibility for everything I did. So people will decide to cast judgment on my character when it's all said and done and they have the right to do that."
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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