Does Clayton Echard Regret Becoming The Bachelor?

Clayton Echard has been one of the most talked-about stars of "The Bachelor." However, it hasn't always been for positive reasons. The former football player first made headlines when it was rumored that he had been chosen as ABC's new leading man before fans ever even met him on Michelle Young's season of "The Bachelorette" (via Heavy). During "The Bachelorette," viewers were confused why Echard was the one who was chosen to head up the next season of "The Bachelor." As time went on, fans became less and less thrilled with the possibility. Some even questioned whether or not he was ready to tackle the role, per Screen Rant.

While speaking to Us Weekly before his season began airing, Echard admitted that fans were going to be in for a wild and chaotic ride while watching the episodes. He also confessed that he made some mistakes along the way while looking for his future wife, including confessing to being intimate with two contestants. "I definitely was not perfect. I did some things wrong, but I did everything under my volition and what I thought was best. And so for that, I'm like, you know what, you stay true to yourself, and you developed some battle scars along the way, but that's just what life is," Echard told the outlet.

Now that "The Bachelor" is in full swing and Clayton Echard has wrapped filming the reality dating series, he's speaking out about the challenges that go along with being ABC's leading man (via People). While appearing on former "Bachelor" star Nick Viall's podcast, "The Viall Files," Echard spoke candidly about what he's been through on "The Bachelor." When asked if he regretted signing up for the show, Echard replied, "I think the first three weeks of the show airing, I definitely thought that, because you just don't know what to expect going into it."

The former football player also confessed that he wasn't prepared for the amount of criticism he got from fans. "I thought, 'This is going to be great. Everyone's going to come around, start seeing my personality,' and people weren't," he said. "It seemed like no matter what they showed, even when they showed my personality, showed me being goofy, people would still say, 'He has no personality.' It's like, what more do you want to see?" Echard continued.

"To me, I just wasn't ready for the magnitude of criticism I was going to face," he added. "It doesn't matter at this point to me, because I'm happy with people I have in my life and that's ultimately what's pushing me forward," Echard declared, revealing that he "handled" the role to the "best of his ability" and learned a lot of lessons along the way.