Bachelor Blowup: Twice in One Night, the 'Villain' Lies to Get Ahead -- Is Clayton Still Falling for It?

Could he finally rid himself of villains this season? It started with Cassidy and then her seeming protégé Shanae took it up a dozen or so notches to emerge as the season's dastardly villain so over-the-top she's clearly a producer plant and little more than a cartoon character.

Clayton as much as admitted that he was forced by producers to keep her around longer than he might have otherwise. We may never know if she was coached at all in her behavior. She certainly was doing everything in her power to build a reality TV brand that she can hopefully parlay into being perhaps a social media celebrity or even make her way to other reality shows.

She wasn't close to done yet, either, as Clayton set up a surprise Two-on-One with Shanae and Genevieve. Sure, Genevieve has had her issues with Shanae -- who hasn't -- but she was never one of the ones who had the biggest problems with her.

The problem could be, though, that Shanae had successfully outlasted the two women who did have major beef with her and weren't afraid to be upfront about it. She proudly touted that she expected to make it "three bitches" going into this Two-on-One.

When Clayton pulled the ladies aside, he started with Genevieve, who opted not to talk about Shanae at all. Instead, she focused on her own relationship, apologizing for her walls and saying that she's doing everything she can to be as open and vulnerable as possible with her.

Then, it was Shanae's turn, and she was stoked, excited and prepared. She'd apparently spent the night creating her next whopper. She went so far as to say that she heard Genevieve say she was going to go home last night and was going to pack her bags.

Shanae said she was surprised to even see Genevieve this morning, expecting that she would have quit already and that Shanae and Clayton would have just enjoyed a private One-on-One date. What was this based on? Absolutely nothing.

And just for fun, she added that Genevieve is an actress and has been lying to Clayton this whole time. Shanae even mustered up some fake tears that even she was proud of.

Clayton confronted Genevieve, asking if she was an actress, leaving the bartender stunned for a moment before she denied it. When Clayton came back, he gave the rose to the one who said helped him see the truth -- Genevieve.

Now, this all but confirms that this was producer manipulation all this time keeping Shanae around, because what did Genevieve do to help him see the truth about Shanae? Is it just that he believed her? We suspect he's known the truth about Shanae for quite awhile. The question is, is this the truth about Shanae, or was she coached to this level of insanity?

In the end, the house was overjoyed to see Genevieve come back with a rose and Shanae's bag go out the door. They cheered, teared up and toasted champagne -- which is as euphoric a reaction as we've ever seen on this show for someone going home.

The Rose Ceremony was almost a non-event, except that producers needed another juicy talking head to fill time, and apparently to fill the "villain" edit now that Shanae is gone. Enter Mara, who's been growing more and more frustrated that she's not had a One-on-One.

The difference, though, is that Mara doesn't come across as someone who's a little psychotic and a manipulative liar so much as she comes across as someone who's insecurity and fear is getting the best of them after weeks of not getting that special One-on-One time.

Her confessionals just weren't that explosive, making us wonder if there aren't similar confessionals for every woman in the House. It would be as simply as asking them what's frustrating them right now, how they feel about this girl getting more time than them. But apparently, we were just getting started.

As Mara was getting warmed up for her time in the producers' spotlight, Clayton said goodbye to two more women. Hunter and Marlena did get to let their personalities show a little bit, but only a little bit. But at least we're at the stage where we're remembering who these people are before they go.

As for Mara, she was frustrated that her time with Clayton was cut short at the cocktail party, and later frustrated that she got the last rose of the night. Do we think any of that was producer manipulation? Too much harmony among the ladies makes for a dull show, yes?

Once they'd settled into Croatia, Clayton crashed the girls' hangout to steal Teddi away for a One-on-One, which everyone was happy about except for Mara because that's her edit now. Her frustration and fears are growing as other women's relationships are progressing ahead of hers. Maybe the problem is that she's just not as funny a "villain" as either Shanae or Cassidy were.

Regardless, we'll leave her standing there and fuming as Clayton and Teddi had a whirlwind adventure ... walking on the streets. Seriously, where is that vaunted "Bachelor" budget that you couldn't spring for something special for them to do? They went shopping in the rain under an umbrella, visiting various street vendors and wow, what incredible memories they're creating! Yawn.

That evening, Teddi opened up to Clayton about being a virgin and never having been in love. She's not saving herself for marriage, but rather for the first person she falls in love with. We immediately got a little worried for her when Clayton said he was weighing the seriousness of that.

To his credit, he seemed more to be considering the heaviness of making sure it was real with her for her sake if he was going to be her first in so many things. Ultimately, he decided that their connection was worth it and she secured the One-on-One rose, continuing his streak of kissing every girl he gets close to and giving all of his One-on-One dates a rose. Clayton just likes 'em pretty and they're all pretty, which is why it's just so damned hard!

The ladies were treated to a male and female Croatian knight for a competition that was pretty lame, overall, while also gleaning entertainment from having Americans try foreign foods that they find gross. We don't know if pig's brain, cow's stomach and pig's liver are normal fare in Croatia, but they're certainly normal enough somewhere in the world.

Regardless, the girls puked and powered through that phase of the challenge, with Serene and Mara having the most luck keeping everything down. They were the apparent front-runners heading into the final challenge, which was a knight's creed to Clayton.

Once again, Mara was our talking head narrator for most of this, dissing the efforts of the other girls -- which were all fine, really -- and setting herself up for disappointment by declaring that she knew she was going to win.

Without the edit, we'd have just enjoyed that she came up with a fun and slightly naughty poem to declare her feelings for Clayton and this journey. With her voiceover commentary, we were set up to think she was trying to hard, and then feel a little vindication when she lost to Serene. Certainly, she was frustrated.

That frustration escalated into the evening portion of the date, when she started to wear her "villain" hat a little more firmly. She was still speaking like someone who was insecure and afraid, but it became more and more about throwing other women under the bush.

As the oldest woman there, Mara has apparently decided she's the most ready to settle down, and the youngest women are not. The trigger for her was finding out that it was Sarah who got the next One-on-One date -- her second while Mara has not yet had one.

So she bluntly accused Clayton of targeting all the wrong women, women who aren't ready to settle down, women who are just here to have fun. She had no real basis for any of this other than the fact that they're in their mid-20s and she certainly wasn't ready to settle down then, so why would they be?

It sounded like sheer desperation, but with Sarah's One-on-One looming the next day. At 23 years old, Sarah is the youngest in the competition, so Mara's words were definitely a sabotage maneuver, and hey definitely appeared to work.

We don't even know if there was a day portion to Sarah's One-on-One, because we moved right into the dinner portion where Clayton basically dumped Mara's words all over her, leaving her shocked, defending herself and in tears of frustration because -- as with Shanae -- it was lies with no basis in fact.

We felt bad for her that it looked like her entire date was her defending herself, then her crying in frustration to a producer while Clayton walked off to think about what he wanted to do, and then more tears of relief and still frustration when he finally did give her the rose.

The encouraging thing for all the women is that Clayton appears to finally be paying a little more attention to what's going on now that Shanae is finally gone. Before, he was just making out with Shanae and believing everything she said, sending sincere women home.

Tonight, the liars went 0-for-2 with both Genevieve and Sarah coming home with a rose. But we don't get to see what happens when she walks in. Instead, we got a "To Be Continued..." which makes us think a fired-up Sarah might have a few words to say.

Does that mean Sarah is not so sweet and innocent? She certainly got a fairly innocent edit tonight, even if she does have some cockiness. But she's 23 and has had two One-on-Ones, of course she's going to be a little confident. And she's definitely justified in being upset at whoever threw her under the bus and ruined this One-on-One.

The teaser for next week, though, shows one of two things happening. Either Sarah becomes a bit of a monster with her confidence, or the green-eyed monster starts to create even more Mara's jealous of Sarah's time with Clayton. Things are going to get worse before they get better.

We get that producers will do anything to build drama, and we've seen contestants crash visit the leads before, but tonight, one of the contestants who was on the Group Date appeared to create her own One-on-One date with Clayton, complete with a cryptic date card.

In the middle of the night, she slipped a note under his door asking him to meet her at the clock tower. The cameras were certainly along for the journey, but this felt like a pretty blatant chance to give her a leg up on the competition.

It also sets a pretty dangerous precedent that anyone can just orchestrate their own date if they're feeling insecure. That's all Susie said to justify creating this special time for just her. Now, for Clatyon, it means he gets to make out more with one of these hot women, and we know he's all for that.

Susie also took the chance -- since she didn't during that evening portion of the Group Date -- to tell Clayton she's falling in love with him. Honestly, if she winds up winning this whole season (and she's a front-runner to go far), it's going to tell other contestants to just ignore all the rules and do whatever you want to get time.

This show will become even more chaotic than it is now.

• “Shanae’s playing the game. She’s a puppeteer. I would just hate for Genevieve to be collateral damage in all of this.” --Mara (about Two-on-One)
• “I don’t trust her, how can Clayton trust her?” --Shanae (who hates all the other girls about Genevieve)
• “Like, what about poor me, literally?” --Shanae (during Two-on-One)
• “The Genevieve situation, it is hard to trust her … Last night I heard her saying that she wants to go home and she’s packed her bags. … When I woke up, I was expecting we’re gonna have a One-on-One today. So to see her here, I’m a little confused.” --Shanae (laying it on thick with the lies)
• “I was like, come on, Shanae, cry! And I did!” --Shanae (applauding herself for tearing up while talking to Clayton)
• “Getting this rose tonight is going to feel better than sex.” --Shanae
• “Are you an actress and are you lying to me?” --Clayton (to Genevieve)
• “Shanae, am I an actress? I think you are an actress. And honestly, I’m not engaging in this. That’s f------ insane.” --Genevieve (after Shanae tells her what she told Clayton)
• “We made it, we beat out evil.” --Gabby (after Shanae’s bags are taken)
• “Cheers to finally curing the herpes outbreak.” --Marlena
• “He chose an actress over me. Weird. Like, f--- that guy.” --Shanae
• “I think I’m gonna get a rose tonight just based on our connections. So yeah, let’s fast-forward to Hometowns.” --Sarah
• “You have no idea what I’m feeling right now.” --Rachel (to Clayton)
• “I think I have somewhat of an idea, because I’m feeling the same way.” --Clayton
• “Is that what you’re saying?” --Rachel
• “Yeah.” --Clayton
• “What was that, a total of three whole minutes? Are you kidding me?” --Mara (interrupted almost immediately)
• “It feels so good not to be a loser.” --Sarah (after getting rose at Rose Ceremony)
• “It’s a bittersweet situation, I hope they have a great time -- not too great.” --Mara (about Teddi’s One-on-One)
• “Some of the other girls are more girlfriend material.” --Mara
• “It was awkward. I found out I was getting my second One-on-One while I was with girls who might never get one.” --Sarah
• “It’s your moment. Enjoy it.” --Mara (to Sarah)
• “He’s literally going for the youngest girl in the House, who I couldn’t imagine is actually ready to get engaged.” --Mara (about Sarah)
• “I don’t think you have any idea how I feel. I am falling for you.” --Rachel (the first woman to tell him this)
• “You’ve been adamant about saying you’re looking for a wife and looking for children and long-term … But the roses that are given out, the One-on-Ones that are given out don’t reflect that. To see that somebody is getting a second One-on-One where I have yet to get my one.” --Mara (to Clayton about Sarah)
• “Sarah’s about to go on her second One-on-One, and now I’m feeling insecure about losing him, or losing the chance to be with him.” --Susie (creating her own One-on-One)
• “I do feel as though I’m falling in love with you.” --Susie (to Clayton)
• “I’m f------ done. What the f---? Who the f--- said that?” --Sarah (in tears after Clayton confronts her with what Mara said about her)
• “Karma is a bitch. Someone thought that they could take my relationship down and it’s probably gonna take theirs down Congratulations, that’s what you get for being a liar.” --Sarah (after getting a rose)