Bachelor: Elizabeth Corrigan Defends Clayton After Drama With Shanae

Elizabeth Corrigan, who was passed over for a rose this week on The Bachelor, has taken to defending Clayton Echard after her surprising exit from the show. Bad blood between Elizabeth and rival Shanae Ankney had built up over the course of several dates and resulted in Clayton making an effort to get to the bottom of their beef prior to the cocktail party. His attempt turned into a fruitless argument between the women and unfortunately did nothing to clarify the situation for him. Frustrated by the outcome of his investigation, Clayton resorted to the now-popular practice of cancelling the cocktail party and going straight into the rose ceremony where Elizabeth was eliminated (much to the disbelief of her cast mates) and Shanae was left to crow about her victory.

Shanae, an Ohio native, had developed a friendship with Cassidy, another woman who was hard-pressed to find allies in the house after commandeering Clayton’s attention on a group date. Cassidy, whose ploy was successful, came home with the group date rose and began advising Shanae on how she might do the same when her opportunity arose. During Shanae’s group date, she stirred things up with Elizabeth in an attempt to gain Clayton’s sympathy and turn the other women against her, but the whole incident eventually devolved into Shanae making fun of Elizabeth’s ADHD diagnosis. Not surprisingly, the women supported Elizabeth and turned on Shanae, immediately confirming her status as villain. The incident, however, flew under Clayton’s radar and he remained in the dark about the nature of their animosity.

Elizabeth’s elimination shocked the other women, but she departed gracefully, leaving Clayton none the wiser about Shanae’s mischief. After becoming aware that Clayton had been receiving hate from viewers who disagreed with his decision, Elizabeth has come to her former suitor’s defense. According to Us Weekly, she took to her Instagram Stories to address the negativity saying, “I realize you want to support me and I appreciate that. But please — we are here to rise above not stoop to. Redirect that anger as love and support for the other girls.” Elizabeth, who has expressed gratitude for the opportunity to raise awareness about mental health issues even offered Shanae support in a follow up post, “Everyone, EVERYONE’S mental health matters. Yes, even Shanae’s.”

Elizabeth, who never truly outed Shanae’s mean girl behavior, left the show with Clayton assuming that the ladies’ feud was just a petty disagreement. Having watched the pivotal episode after the fact, Clayton addressed the situation himself, “I would have sent Shanae home immediately for making fun of you for being neurodivergent, had I known. 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.”

Despite not receiving a rose, Elizabeth has come out of this ugly incident smelling like one. In an era where more sensitivity about mental health issues is required, Shanae made a questionable choice to focus on Elizabeth’s diagnosis and use it as a way to demean her. Not surprisingly, Clayton has also sided with Elizabeth in the aftermath. Countless seasons of The Bachelor have taught its fans that looking at the show as a game to be won, poking fun at others and generally being a jerk are not the way to someone’s heart, but that hasn’t stopped legions of contestants from resorting to such tactics. That said, viewers won’t be shocked if Elizabeth, Cassidy and Shanae all end up in Bachelor in Paradise together.

Source: Us Weekly