Did Clayton Cheat On Susie? Let's Break Down This Messy TikTok Rumor
The receipts don’t lie.
TikTok (ahem, the internet in general) can be an unfriendly place for Bachelor Nation — and Clayton Echard and Susie Evans know it too well. Following the most shocking Bachelor finale ever, the winning couple was facing plenty of criticism online. And recently, things got even shadier. On April 9, a cheating rumor about Clayton went viral TikTok, and the details are messy.
On April 9, TikToker Sasha Narang took to the platform to share a story about her night out on April 8. According to her, she met a previous Bachelor lead at 2 a.m. at The Penny Farthing, a bar in New York City. She went home with him, only to find out later that he was still with his season’s winner. In the comments section, she claimed that the man in question was Clayton... but it’s really not that straightforward.
As a result of Sasha’s since-deleted video, the cheating rumor spread quickly. But that doesn’t mean that it was the truth. On April 9, Clayton took to his Instagram Stories to defend himself, explaining how it was physically impossible for him to have met Sasha in New York City on April 8 since he was in Scottsdale, Arizona that same night.
“People that make these false accusations should be held accountable. Trying to gain clout by ruining a relationship is embarrassing and extremely immature,” Echard wrote alongside a video of him showing that he was at Mountainside Fitness, a gym in Scottsdale, from 7:07 p.m. to 8:12 p.m. on April 8.
Clayton also shared a screenshot of his IG confrontation with Sasha, who at first refused to believe his evidence. “Your proof isn’t proof lmao,” she wrote to him.
When Clayton wrote back, he was blunt. “Ok, well my video shows I was in an AZ gym at 8pm MST, which is 11 pm EST (your time). So even if I hopped right on a private jet, I wouldn’t make it to NY until 3:30am EST (flight from AZ to NY is 4 1/2 hours). So that disproves you saw me at 2am EST,” he explained. Um, is anyone else thinking that Clayton should be a lawyer?
Clayton wasn’t the only one on the defense. On April 10, Susie took to TikTok to address the situation. Sharing screenshots of her conversations with Clayton, she explained that they were on the phone until around 10 p.m. PST, “That would be, like, 1 a.m. EST. Unless he has a spaceship, I don’t think he could get there by 2 [a.m. EST].”
Though Susie wasn’t exactly holding back, she did clarify in the comments section that “no one needs to go to her pages and comment/send hate. Clayton and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. Just trying to clear the air here.” What a class act.
Following Clayton and Susie’s receipts, other TikTokers started having fun with the rumors. One shared a video, claiming, “while we’re on the topic I also ran into Clayton last night in San Francisco around 1 am and I didn’t go home with him but he did challenge me to a pretty intense thumb war and I beat him. Big guy, tiny thumbs. I have no proof and I will be chatting with Reality Steve tomorrow. Also if Clayton denies it he’s a liar.”
The comment section filled with other jokes. “I also saw Clayton in Atlanta last night around 12:47 a.m. and we had a Soulja boy dance off. He won,” one wrote. Another commented, “I saw Clayton at Buffalo Wild Wings last night and he challenged me to a wing eating contest. he won because I had a big lunch.” (Susie replied to the video, “Omg I’m weak.”)
Bachelor Nation also got in on the fun. On April 10, Blake Horstmann posted a photo with fellow Bachelor alums Jason Tartick and Michael Allio. He captioned it, “Just 3 guys frantically trying to figure out how to turn on our location.”
Apparently finding the humor in the situation, Clayton reposted the picture, adding, “😂😂😂 the caption.”
Despite the cheating rumor, it seems like Clayton and Susie actually came out stronger than ever. That said, there was just one thing left for Sasha to do: apologize. At around midnight on April 10, she posted another TikTok to do exactly that. “I am so sorry to Susie and Clayton. I was genuinely under the impression that I was with him, and after getting camera footage, Reality Steve was able to confirm with me that it was not him,” she explained in the video.
“I privately apologized to both of them but obviously I owe them a public apology... I truly thought that I was with him,” Sasha continued. “I want to emphasize that the whole reason I made the video was not with any malicious intent.”
All’s well that ends well, right? Take this as your sign to stop believing everything you see on TikTok — or every guy at the bar who tells you they’re the Bachelor.