It’s safe to say Clay Harbor and Nicole Lopez-Alvar never would have lived happily ever after. The former Bachelor in Paradise couple got into a heated exchange on social media weeks after their split.
The drama started after Clay, 32, who met Nicole, 26, on season 6 of BiP, threw shade at the ABC dating spinoff in the comments section of John Paul Jones’ Instagram earlier this month.
“Some things just take time,” JPJ, who found love with Tayshia Adams on the series, captioned a photo on October 10.
“I learned engagements aren’t supposed to,” the former football player replied, referring to Nicole’s decision to breakup with him after he revealed he wasn’t ready to propose.
While Nicole, 26, initially joked that “not everything can take as long” as Clay’s “gym sessions,” she slammed her ex again after an Instagram user named Meg called her a “moron.”
“He straight-up went on two shows where the sole purpose is to find The One and then he’s out here ‘confused’ when he applied for these reality dating shows himself (which are accelerated—it’s literally in the synopsis of said shows),” Nicole commented before dragging Clay’s ex Angela Amezcua into the decision. “And then led Angela and I on because he’s scared of commitment and won’t settle down until he’s in his 40s because he’s The Bachelor of Chicago™ and did these two shows for clout to see if he’d gain 15 minutes of fame and get back into his failed NFL career, but OK, Meg.”
Nicole added that Clay never called her after the series wrapped despite claiming he wanted to date post-show.
Days after the remarks made headlines, Clay, who was drafted during the fourth round of the 2010 NFL draft, fired back in a lengthy Twitter rant on Tuesday, October 15.
“I wasn’t even gonna respond to the comments but what I will say is my failed NFL career was 3 times the average career length,” the athlete, who was on five different NFL rosters over the years, began. “I’m extremely proud of the work I put in to accomplish that goal of playing NFL football for the better part of a decade. For a poor kid from the sticks of Dwight Illinois that wasn’t even supposed to go to college. I was able to change mine and family’s entire situation. That’s what motivated me, and that’s what I did.”
Clay then addressed Nicole’s claims about him not reaching out to her after the show ended. “I was going to reach out but after finding out she had a boyfriend a couple of weeks after the show, I decided not to,” he wrote. “I was happy for her and didn’t wanna intrude.”
After acknowledging that he “will not be pressured into something as powerful as an engagement,” Clay referenced his split from Angela.
“As far as Angela is concerned, Angela and I met and dated completely off camera and we decided to break up,” he explained, referring to the pair’s April breakup. “Everyone on the show has broken up otherwise they wouldn’t be on the show. A big reason I decided to end things was not to waste her time or lead her on. (I was also told she wouldn’t be in paradise but that’s another story.)”
While Angela did indeed appear on Bachelor in Paradise season 6 alongside Clay and Nicole, she left the beach solo after a brief fling with Chase McNary.
Bachelor in Paradise will return to ABC in 2020.
