The anticipation is real! Bachelor star Clayton Echard has experienced a lot of ups and downs during season 26, which leaves many viewers wondering: Does the leading man get engaged during the finale?
Keep reading to see spoilers about Clayton’s final rose!
It is still unclear who and if Clayton, 28, pops the question at the end of his journey to find love, but he narrows it down to some pretty spectacular contestants.
ABC/John Medland
The Missouri native’s final four women are Susie Evans, Rachel Recchia, Serene Russell and Gabby Windey, according to Reality Steve.
Serene reportedly gets eliminated in the rose ceremony following hometown dates, while the remaining three women jet set off to Iceland with the Bachelor Nation star for overnight dates.
Time will tell if Clayton gets down on one knee with a Neil Lane engagement ring, but many signs point to the former football player finding his future wife among his finalists. He previously revealed that he “did find love” during his journey.
“As far as what that looks like, I think that’s where everyone has to tune in and find out,” he told E! News in December 2021. “Because I’ll just say it was a wild ride and I did find it.”
That being said, The former Bachelorette contestant from Michelle Young’s season previously admitted his journey “wasn’t perfect,” but he did ultimately make a strong connection — a few times!
“I promised myself I wouldn’t fall in love in love with multiple women, but I fell in love with three,” he told People in January. “At that point, I accepted it, but I realized I was going to have to stop using absolutes. I handled it to the best of my ability. It wasn’t perfect! I learned a lot of lessons. And that’s life.”
In the end, Clayton acknowledged that he “followed [his] heart.”
There were plenty of drama-fueled moments throughout the season. Clayton divulged that dating so many women at one time turned out to be much more challenging than he thought.
“You just don’t know what to expect when you step into a role like this,” he explained to E! “You think, ‘Well, OK, I’m mentally mature enough to handle this.’ Then, you get into it and you’re like, ‘How did I think I was going to be able to handle this? Dating this many women at one time.’”
He continued, “There are plenty of those moments. I think just being human, you realize, ‘Hey, I’ve never been through something like this before, so how do I go about it the right way?’ But ultimately, I knew that I could make it through all of this.”