Rachel Recchia Spills the Real Reason Behind Clayton Echard's Vague Comments and Why They Split (Exclusive)

Rachel Recchia is revealing what the real final straw was for her and Clayton Echard's second attempt at romance.

After their first shot at love on Clayton's season of The Bachelor in 2022 — where he ultimately chose to give his final rose to Susie Evans — the exes reconnected on season 3 of Perfect Match. But just 24 hours into their match, Clayton pulled Rachel aside and ended things, claiming his "intuition" was telling him things wouldn't work out.

Following the show's release on Netflix, Clayton, 32, remained cagey about why he and Rachel, 29, couldn't make it work in the long run.

He said on The Viall Files podcast that there were a "couple" things that influenced his decision, but he didn't want to mention them specifically because Rachel would "feel like they were an attack" on her, which stirred up a lot of interest among fans.

Rachel is now setting the record straight on what really led to her and Clayton's split.

In PEOPLE's exclusive look at the Aug. 13 episode of Amber Desiree "AD" Smith's podcast, What's the Reality, Rachel addresses Clayton's elusive comments.

"I was like, why are you making people speculate like this? This is more evil than just saying what it is. Because now people think I’m doing weird stuff behind closed doors or whatever," Rachel says.

She then reveals "why Clayton feels we are incompatible and that he was so sure is because I am not a gym girly."

"He wants someone that lives a very active lifestyle and goes to the gym and hits the weights and it’s not me. It’s never gonna be me," she continues. "I like to travel and to shop and to sit at the bar. I go on a hot girl walk!"

The lifestyle difference was enough of an issue that Clayton deemed it a dealbreaker, according to Rachel.

In the clip, Rachel emphasizes that her exercise habits are what Clayton said "on the interview was the main reason why our lifestyles will never align."

"He wants to clarify, though — and I will give him this — it’s not that he thinks I have a bad body," she explains. "It’s just that my lifestyle of not liking to hike or go to the gym is not compatible with him. And if you wanna date Clayton Echard, you better be hitting the weights!"

As for why he played coy on The Viall Files, Rachel explains, "He thought if he said that, the public would take it as an attack on my body, or that I’m lazy or something."

She also clarifies that she does "work out," but apparently not the kind of exercises that he seems to want. "I just do not go to the Equinox. Equinox membership needed to date him."

Despite knowing what her ex was referring to, Rachel is still bothered by how he worded things.

"I’m like, Clayton, it would be so much nicer if you just said, 'I don’t like her, I’m not attracted to her. I brought her in the house cause I wanted her to go to next week,'" she tells AD of their time on Perfect Match.

Rachel also reiterates that she's an active person, so his reasoning doesn't exactly add up to her. "If it was a lifestyle thing where I was genuinely lazy ... I don't even know how to explain it. I'm like, Clayton, I do exercise," she emphasizes.

Based on how Rachel explains the conversation she had with Clayton after he made the elusive comments, this seems to be another symptom of their incompatibility: they're not looking for the same thing in a relationship.

"For me, it's just not something I need in a partner," Rachel says as the clip ends. "I want my partner to have their own hobbies. And I think I bring a lot to the table, and I have a full life, and he does too."

She also wonders if things would have turned out differently had this topic come up earlier. "I don’t think we talked about that on The Bachelor, so maybe I wouldn’t have gotten this far if day one, I was like, 'Oh, by the way, hot girl walks and yoga only – no dumbbells.'"

Clayton previously told PEOPLE that he "never had any intention of hurting" Rachel as they attempted to give their love another shot.

"I don't really think there's a specific answer other than it was a feeling," he said of why he ended things. "When I woke up, my heart dropped, and I felt this pit in my stomach and I realized, 'That wasn't the right decision.' At that point, I gave it the day, made sure that that was the correct feeling and that it didn't go away. And it didn't. And so at that point I thought, 'This is hard, but it's only going to be worse if I try to drag it and take more time.'"

The reality star added that he "was very decisive" and knew he "just had to end it."

As for what he hopes to find in his next partner, Clayton said he'd like someone who he "can grow with, that they can support my dreams and I can support theirs equally.” 

“For me, it's important that I have someone with a growth mindset," he said. “I don't want to be normal. I want to be abnormal in the best possible way, and I'm looking for someone that matches that energy that I can wake up next to every day. They look at me and they're like, Let's make s--- happen today. That's the kind of mentality I want."

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Perfect Match season 3 is now streaming on Netflix, and the finale is set to air on Aug. 15. What's the Reality drops new episodes every Wednesday wherever you listen to your podcasts.