Charity Lawson got to know her suitors better on Monday’s (July 3) episode of The Bachelorette, but things ended a little awkward after her First Impression Rose recipient, Brayden, threw a tantrum.
The episode began with Charity and Aaron B. sharing a one-on-one date at the Hollywood Sign, which celebrated its 100th anniversary this year. During the date, the pair bonded over having parents who served in the military and their desire to recreate the kind of long-lasting marriage their parents had.
However, the episode soon took a more competitive turn after that sweet start. On the first group date, Dotun, Tanner, Adrian, John, Caleb A., Caleb B., Kaleb K., Xavier, James, Aaron S., Sean, and Brayden headed to the beach, where host Jesse Palmer surprised them with a “friendly competition for Charity’s heart” in a game of dodgeball.
Things only got more intense after Charity named Adrian the game’s MVP, which irked Brayden, who thought Caleb B. deserved the title instead. Brayden later calmed down after he chatted with Charity and shared a kiss with her.
But the kissing didn’t stop there. During the second group date, John Henry, Michael, Warwick, Joey, Spencer, and Josh answered a series of questions from former Bachelorettes Rachel Recchia and Gabby Windey. The guy Charity thought had the best responses would attempt to break the franchise’s longest kiss record.
ABC/Craig Sjodin
Charity picked Joey, believing he had the most sincere answers, and the pair smashed Sean Lowe’s previous record, smooching for 4 minutes and 25 seconds. However, again, Brayden was upset about how things went down.
“I feel like they were disrespected,” Brayden said of the men on the second group date, adding that he felt like packing his bags and leaving.
“I felt so bad for those guys,” he later told Charity, who assured him, “It was not coming from a malicious place.”
Things seemed to be smoothed over until Adrian told Charity that Brayden referred to the group date as “classless.”
“To be called ‘classless,’ that’s just not the word that was used in our conversation,” Charity said.
Adrian also told Charity that he thought some of the men were treating the experience like “spring break,” though he wouldn’t reveal specific names.
“Do you feel like their intentions aren’t being here for me?” Charity asked him, to which he responded, “I feel like you’ll be able to figure that out.”
Not letting the issue lie, Charity immediately took her concerns to the group, telling them, “There might be people here treating this like spring break. If that is the case, I don’t want that. I’m not interested in that. I want to make It very clear, my purpose is solely for me finding my person. You all hopefully should be here for that as well.”
Despite these hiccups, Brayden received a rose, as did Dotun, Tanner, Caleb B., Warwick, Michael, Shawn, Xavier, Aaron S., James, and Adrian. That meant John Henry, Josh, Spencer, and Kaleb K. were sent home from the mansion.
The Bachelorette, Mondays, 9/8c, ABC
:quality(85):upscale()/2023/05/11/976/n/1922564/782262e2645d6b967847b4.74342194_.png)
