Episode 3 of 'The Bachelor:' Sycamore's Shanae Ankney battles with fellow contestant

By the end of Episode 3 of ABC-TV's "The Bachelor," it was pretty clear that Shanae Ankney, 29, was not the most popular woman in the house.

After one contestant was removed from the competition at the beginning of the episode, a contestant said, "The poison is gone. Hopefully." Then the camera cut to Shanae, who's from the a tiny village of Sycamore, population 793, in Wyandot County's northwest corner.

A rose ceremony, during with Bachelor Clayton Echard decides which contestants will advance in the competition, followed. Shanae and her nemesis, Elizabeth, each voiced hopes that the other would be sent home. But in the end, each received a rose.

'We wish her a lot of luck and success': Shanae Ankney of Sycamore is on 'The Bachelor'

Neither was included on the week's first group date, and Sarah was selected for the week's one-on-one date.

Elizabeth disses Ohio

While the other contestants lounged around the Bachelor Mansion, Shanae and Elizabeth squabbled over shrimp.

Elizabeth cooked shrimp for everyone, but was incensed when Shanae took eight.

"I don't know what the shrimp portions are like in Ohio, but this isn't a roadside buffet," she said.

"Elizabeth is fake," Shanae told the camera in reply. "It's sad that the girls don't see it. They think she's a likeable person and genuine and means well."

She decided to make shrimp, too, but when she offered them around, the others largely ignored her.

"No one even looked, or talked to me. ... No one (bleep) looked up and acknowledged me," Shanae said, blaming Elizabeth.

Shanae shows off a slow-motion stroll

Both women were invited to the week's second group date, a day at the beach. "Baywatch" star Nicole Eggert put the contestants through a "lifeguard training program" that included a slo-mo run

Shanae turned hers into a slow-motion walk, ending it by leaping into Clayton's arms for a prolonged kiss.

"Don't get in my way, because I want more time with Clayton," Shanae said. "I'm back."

But Eggert selected another contestant, Gabby, to spend more time with Clayton. Shanae steamed.

As the evening portion of the group date began, Clayton sat next to Shanae, but another woman was the first to score one-on-one time with the bachelor. She was followed by Gabby, who applied lotion to his sunburnt shoulders.

'Trust me, I know I have him'

Then it was Shanae's turn. "I'm tired of even trying to be respectful and nice; I'm over it," she said before sitting down with Clayton.

She again turned the conversation to Elizabeth, saying the woman had turned the other contestants against her.

"It's sad to kind of bring up, but I'm here to, you know, be honest with you, and be vulnerable," she told Clayton. "And today, I still had Elizabeth on my back, and I thought we squashed it last week. And it's not squashed."

She told Clayton she didn't want to leave, "because I feel something for you."

She dissolved into tears while talking about the situation, and Clayton comforted her with a long kiss.

"Oh my god, he believed me," she told the camera later, gloating. "I have him. Trust me, I know I have him."

When Shanae returned to the group, Elizabeth led other women away.

"My goal here isn't my relationship with Shanae, my goal here is my relationship with Clayton," she explained.

Bachelor asks about accusations

When Elizabeth spoke one-on-one with Clayton, he immediately brought up Shanae's accusations.

"She's really struggling; she said that, you know, she's feeling bullied right now in the house, thinks she feels like it's a toxic environment," he told Elizabeth, adding that Shanae felt her mental health was wavering.

He asked to hear Elizabeth's side of the story.

She responded that he could ask anyone else in the house, "that is not something that I'm doing." Elizabeth said she had been "super-kind" to Shanae in the house. "What did I do?" she asked, dissolving into tears.

Clayton expressed his confusion, and asked Elizabeth if the two could just "hash it out" so the house could just move on.

The other women rallied to Elizabeth's support, saying Shanae was "digging herself a hole that she's not going to get out of."

After Shanae rejoined the group, she and Elizabeth got into a prolonged shouting match.

Then Clayton rejoined the group and awarded the group date rose to Gabby. Clayton told the women he was frustrated by a situation he had been told about, and said he would address it the next day.

Shanae gloated, predicting Elizabeth would be eliminated in the next rose ceremony.

"No one's bullying you; we just don't like you," another contestant told her. "That's different."

The episode ended without revealing what action Clayton would take — but Shanae was featured prominently in previews of next week's episode.

This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: The Bachelor: Sycamore's Shanae Ankney wars with fellow contestant