Why Clayton took back Cassidy's rose on 'The Bachelor': ‘It makes me sick to my stomach’

A contestant from Arizona seems to have made “Bachelor” history this season.

Cave Creek’s Cassidy Timbrooks is potentially the first person in the reality TV show’s 20-year history to be sent home despite receiving a rose.

Cassidy had earned bachelor Clayton Echard’s rose during a group date in Episode 2, meaning she was safe for the week. However, after contestant Sierra Jackson came forward with new information about Cassidy’s sex life, the bachelor wavered in his decision.

“Weird question, but has anyone ever taken a rose back before?” Clayton asked the show’s new host, Jesse Palmer.

The answer, apparently, was “Yes.”

Week 2 recap: Cassidy wasn't here to make friends (except with Hilary Duff)

How Cassidy earned a villain role on 'The Bachelor' Season 26

Things were going well for Cassidy during Week 2, which aired on Jan. 10. Though she didn’t make any friends by pulling Clayton for private time on a group date, she “got to make out with Clayton twice,” she giddily told the camera.

As she explained to the other women who were ostensibly setting up a child’s birthday party during the date, "I’m not here to build a dollhouse. I’m here to build a relationship."

Such unsportsmanlike behavior caused the other women to suspect that she was not here for the right reasons — which is, of course, one of the worst accusations one could receive on “The Bachelor.” But Clayton was pleased by her advances and rewarded her with a group date rose.

"Today, you were going out of your way to come talk to me. Again, you're making every effort. And I love it," he told Cassidy.

Unfortunately, Cassidy’s “Bachelor” career only went downhill from that moment.

‘Obviously she’s not here for you’

As the Episode 2 rose ceremony approached, Sierra took it upon herself to make Clayton aware that his rose recipient was not completely forthright with him.

"Cassidy is not entirely the person that you think she is, and she has a friends-with-benefits that she's had for a long time, and she was FaceTiming him right before she met you,” Sierra told him. "Obviously she's not here for you and to have love with you."

In flashback footage, Cassidy told some other contestants about “one guy that I’ve been hooking up with on and off for a while” who called her while she was quarantined prior to production. He told her that they could watch the show together when it aired, she explained to Sierra.

It appears that they’d forgotten that the cameras are almost always rolling while filming a reality show.

Though Sierra told Cassidy that she’d tattled, Cassidy appeared confident in her relationship with Clayton.

“I have a rose. He clearly likes me. What’s he going to do?” Cassidy asked a group of women ahead of the rose ceremony.

In Episode 3, viewers found out what Clayton did with Sierra's information.

More: 'Bachelor' Clayton Echard dishes on living in Arizona

Cassidy and Clayton's relationship goes sour

Clayton went to the source to learn about Cassidy's relationship status prior to their meeting.

“Were you seeing someone up until the point that you came here?” the bachelor asked after pulling Cassidy away from the group.

She denied having a relationship since 2019.

“Clayton, I have not spoken to a guy who I have any interest in a relationship with for a very long time. Do you not believe me?” she asked.

After Clayton asked specifically about her FaceTime call before filming, she explained, “There’s a friend of mine who does not want a relationship. He thinks it’s cool that I’m taking this risk and he supports me.

“He was like, ‘If it doesn’t work out, I still want to be friends,’ and whatever. But I had no interest in resuming that relationship because I knew it wasn’t going anywhere.”

After Clayton seemingly walked away, Cassidy tearfully made her way to an upstairs bathroom — where cameras don’t usually go inside — as the crew followed to capture the drama from every angle.

“I can’t believe this is happening. I didn’t do anything,” she said.

Meanwhile, the other contestants gossiped about how Cassidy was “mean,” on the show “to get followers” — another cardinal sin on the show — and “calculated."

‘I didn’t think I was going home tonight’

Clayton followed Cassidy upstairs and joined her at the edge of a tub in the contestants' shared bathroom.

“There's a guy I slept with a few times over the course of the past few months who knows I'm here. But from the minute I met you all I have done is gush about how I'm already falling into something with you,” Cassidy told Clayton.

“I’m struggling with our trust already being shaken,” Clayton replied. "My biggest fear coming into all of this was falling for somebody that wasn't here for the right reasons. At this point, I just feel like there's too many concerns."

When it became apparent that her exit from the show was imminent, Cassidy’s tears returned.

"I don't see anybody else in the house who, like, glows as soon as they walk away from you. Like, there's no one as excited about you here as I am.

“I haven’t even packed my stuff. I didn’t think I was going home tonight,” she said.

For subscribers: Why so many Arizonans are cast on reality shows

Clayton: ‘It makes me sick to my stomach’

Clayton, who later explained that he had concerns with her being “dishonest,” led Cassidy to a waiting SUV as the women relished in her departure.

“The wicked witch is gone,” Kate said.

“I had to send Cassidy home tonight. It was very tough to do, to take back the rose. It makes me sick to my stomach because when I hand out these roses, they mean a lot,” Clayton told the women at the rose ceremony.

As her SUV led her away from the “Bachelor” mansion, Cassidy lamented the end of their brief relationship.

“I just thought he liked me. This keeps happening. Everything’s going so well and then it’s over out of nowhere,” she tearfully told a producer in the car.

Though Cassidy’s journey was not as successful as fellow “Bachelor” villain from Arizona, Season 7 winner Courtney Robertson Preciado, hopefully, the story of her reneged rose will be passed on and will serve as a warning for future contestants.

Who went home on Episode 3 of ‘The Bachelor?’

Ency, Kate and Tessa’s names were not called during the Week 2 rose ceremony, and the three women met the same fate as Cassidy.

"The Bachelor" airs on Mondays at 7 p.m. MST on ABC (Channel 15).

Reach the reporter at kimi.robinson@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @kimirobin and Instagram @ReporterKiMi.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Cassidy from 'The Bachelor' Season 26's historic elimination: Recap