S20.E03: Brayden and Aaron B. Go Head to Head

[Lamb18]

Looks like we're getting ready for an elimination challenge between Brayden and Aaron B. Who survives to kiss Charity?

Edited July 11, 2023 by Lamb18

[Lamb18]

Morning at the bachelor house! Brayden is sporting small loops in his ears. Do his earrings grow longer the more lies he tells?

Group of guys discuss Brayden. Then Charity shows up! Good morning, guys!

She fakes them out by saying I can't take this anymore . . . In LA. Everyone's excited about going to Oceanside! And now she just invited Brayden to go with her on a one and one date. In a helicopter. Brayden is still wearing the small loops.

Brayden says he used to be scared of everything and was a big wimp.

[Lamb18]

And they land in Petco Park, San Diego!! After all, Petco Park is the perfect place to find love!

The Padre's mascot walks out bearing gifts. Charity and Brayden are playing catch and he tells a story about how he was playing catch with his dad, and his hit him in the nose with a baseball and broke it. So Brayden throws the ball to Charity and hits her in the nose.

Getting bonked in the nose with a baseball is the perfect way to find love! Followed by champagne in the outfield.

[JenE4]

Get ready to leave this California beach town for the exotic locale of…another California beach town!

Why are Charity and Brayden dressed exactly alike in their light acid-washed denim capris, frosted pink tops, white sneakers, and gold hoop earrings? Did he just throw the ball into her face?!

[LakeGal]

I think less of Charity since she likes Brayden so much.  

[Lamb18]

The guys are discussing Braden when Knock! Knock! Knock! The date card arrives! All the guys are going on a group date except for Warwick. The guys are all, Why is Warwick getting a one and one? He's so quiet! Warwick doesn't know either.

Now for the evening date, still in the  outfield at Petco Park. Brayden talks about his former relationship which ended badly. Charity wonders if he can continue. Brayden says he'll try really hard and tells her she's a good girl. But he didn't pat her on the head.

He looks much better with his glasses off.

And he gets the rose!

[JenE4]

Did Brayden not know what the premise of this show is, or is he expecting Charity to pull a Clare and choose him week 2 of dates? I think he’s “playing hard to get” to get Charity to chase after him. But it’s too much for him to be this insecure and put his “trauma” on her all two times they’ve spoken on dates. She went into this date telling us how she has a history of ignoring red flags and she’s going to do differently now. But she’s obviously reliving her same old patterns.

[Lamb18]

Group date! Charity is wearing Barbie pink and yes! They're all at Barbieland!!! All the guys say Barbieland is the perfect place to find love! In the movie Ken writes a song for Barbie and that's the challenge! They have to write songs to Charity, plus all dress up as Kens. Caleb is Cowboy Ken. Someone's a Birthday Suit Ken. And there's an Ice Skater Ken. There's plaid coat Ken and silver shiny jacket Ken.

Hey there's a pink tank top Ken! And jean jacket Ken, donned by the guy who says he's the perfect Ken.

There's a cheering audience at the premiere of these songs to Charity! Well this will be fun.

[Lamb18]

Shiny silver Ken is actually Astronaut Ken. He's wearing a blond wig. This is Dotun. Aaron is Merman Ken.

Cowboy Ken Caleb can really sing. Sean is double denim Ken. There's a Sugar's Daddy dog walker Ken and Glitter Beach Ken. I thought there was a Skunk Ken for a minute, but he was just wearing something white and fluffy.

And Double Denim Ken won! (Sean) his singing voice is awful but he really went all in singing his song.

Glitter Beach Ken says that Sean is just a pretty boy, stating this while his sequins glitter in the sun.

[Lamb18]

Evening group date. The guys are all sour on Sean. All the guys are complaining to Sean he is so selfish to have the special time with Charity and then steal her right away at the evening date. 

Sourpusses. But now the guys are having their time with Charity, one at a time, and none are bringing up Sean, Brayden or Adrian. Just a bunch of pleasant conversations!

[JenE4]

This was the best movie cross-over they’ve had so far. It’s a great premise for a group date. The costumes were fun. I think I’ll forever call this guy “double denim Ken,” even though he’s down to single denim at this point. Double-denim Ken is very hyped up on himself for looking like Ken. But firefighter Aaron is all if you want a real man who can hunt and fish and waterski, call me. Um, okay, the pink, sparkly crop-top is kind of killing your tough guy vibes, but it seems like we got people lining up to be the next Brayden with the superiority complex. Oh, double denim Ken wins (the title of loser first runner up), walking into the room belting out his greatest hit, Girls Just Wanna Mini-golf. I don’t think we’ve seen DD Ken talk yet, but he’s really coming out swinging and is basically out-Braydening Brayden. John is the anti-Brayden saying he’ll wait forever without attention. But while everyone is busy peacocking, Dayton gets the invite back to the room. And instead of singing his own praises, he’s going out of his way to point out the qualities in Charity he admires. This is how it’s done!

[JenE4]

It’s time to see whether Warren has a secret personality! Why are they wearing black tie attire to an amusement park? Whelp, so far it seems that Warren does not have a secret personality he’s been holding under wraps. Guess he was cast on cheekbones alone! Wait, is he crying? No, he’s just rubbing his eyes because he’s tired. He bored himself to sleep!

[Lamb18]

Now for Warwick and Charity's date! It's evening and they're at a carnival. They go on some rides and suddenly . . . Silence. You can hear the crickets. They silently eat their ice cream cones. Warwick says he thinks he and Charity are connecting well. Now they're talking about his past relationships. "Well, um, uh past relationships, yeah . . ."  He says he's not a great communicator.

Charity cuts this short and tells him she's not giving him a rose. He says, "OK." He seems relieved. In the car, he tells the producer if he was to stay he'd just be wastimg time. Then he leans back in the car seat and falls asleep.

[JenE4]

Did Brayden have a premonition of his fate?! The previews did have Charity saying to someone something like, “I could snatch that rose off of you right now!” But maybe he told her about the dream and she delivered production a great fake-out line as a joke.

[Kiss my mutt]

Brayden comes across as so insincere. He love bombed her, showed vulnerability, shared his trauma which happened to be Charity’s trauma, showed off his physical agility, hit all the key notes to get a rose and nailed it, but so fake, especially signing the baseball. He didn’t miss a cue.
I felt the same way that Fireman did about Sean. He’s a little punk. I think he’s there to get discovered. 
Poor Caleb, he tries so hard to no avail.

Looking forward to Warwick’s date. He is super dreamy. I hope she keeps him around for me. 

[Lamb18]

Brayden tells the guys about his dream. He dreamt that he was wearing his rose at the rose ceremony and she unpinned his rose and gave it to someone else. Then he goes on to say he doesn't know if he can go one with this, questions getting engaged after dating three other guys.

Guys are muttering about Brayden. Someone's going to be a tattle tale. Xavier knit a shawl for Charity!  It's not a great color but I think it's natural wool (not dyed). It looks well-knit.

Now she's chattimg with Brayden. Oh oh, his earrings have grown!!! Then he expresses his glee with exuberance to a producer.

A somber discussion about Brayden's wrong reasons among the guys. OK, this guy is going to tell all.

Edited July 11, 2023 by Lamb18

[Kiss my mutt]

Welp, so much for Warrick. What a dud. 

[Lamb18]

I think Warwick is from Rhode Island. But I wonder if he's from Warwick, Rhode Island.

[Lamb18]

Ominous music. I think Brayden's dream is going to come true as Charity takes him out of the room.

[JenE4]

Now Aaron B got talked into being the harbinger of Wrong Reasons?! Noooooo! At least she trusts Aaron and hopefully won’t hold it against him. But of course she cares more about talking to Brayden. But she needs to get in line because Aaron is a stand-up guy so he’s going straight to Brayden so there’s none of this someone told me mystery business. But it’s true that he is also telling Charity this himself. I don’t know why somehow Charity doesn’t see it as an issue until someone else tells her what he’s saying. Buuut. I guess Brayden is psychic! Or, I guess he knows he wasn’t being genuine and it was only a matter of time before Charity saw through it and realized he didn’t deserve a rose. Now, will she really snatch the rose back??? 

[susannot]

Brayden may be a d*ck but he is cuter and more interesting than any of the other generic white guys.  As for the black guys, no one likes a snitch, Aaron.

[Lamb18]

Oh oh, here's Jesse.  He tells the guys that Charity's had news that's upset her. Brayden smirks.

[GracieK]

Warwick and the yawning - like bruh sitting on rides requires no work on your part. THIS tires you out?? Never have kids dude. 

Edited July 11, 2023 by GracieK

[Lamb18]

Roses:

Aaron B

Caleb

Xavier

Jerry? Or Cherry?

Michael

John

Sean

(Last rose!)

Tanner

Suspense as Charity walks away, debating whether or not to let Brayden keep his rose.

She's letting him keep the rose. Jesse gave the Say Your Good-byes speech.

Next werk: bungee jumping!! Hall brawl between Aaron and Brayden next week!

Tasty tidbit: Brayden likes to make coffee when he gets home, then go into the bathroom and sit on the toilet, drinking his coffee.

[Diana Berry]

Brayden is good for entertainment value.  Plus he is pretty cute.  He’s a nurse so he must be smart. 

[JenE4]

Of course she didn’t snatch the rose back! Here she is constantly saying that she ignored red flags with her ex and Brayden reminds her of those red flags… Now is this the epiphany moment in Charity’s life where she realizes negative patterns in relationships, figures out the inner child garbage making her pick that up until now, and then instead make a healthy decision for someone with opposite qualities? Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s enough time for her to put that all together. But maybe her next relationship after this show. The sad thing is she’s a family therapist, so she should know better already!!

[SallyAlbright]

Okay, week three and my love for Xavier is still going strong. He sat on that bus and knit her a scarf! Also really like Dotun, John and Joey. The Barbie date was hilarious.

Warwick's date had me cracking up too, he's also struggling with the 9pm start time! 😂 He looked like a toddler who just wanted to go to sleep and didn't care about anything else. Charity's reactions were also great. 

Brayden isn't even a good villain for me because he's more annoying than actually mean or malicious. I just don't find him attractive in the slightest so can't understand what Charity possibly sees in him - but I guess they are low on drama this year and he brings a bit of it! 

 

[Madding crowd]

When the guys whine about not getting time with her I want to yell “go talk to her then”. I can’t stand guys who make no effort than complain. Also think they should stop the tattletale stuff; let her find out on her own. I don’t think Brayden has done anything bad besides the awful earrings. I think he is handsome too so I get why she is keeping him. The guys who insist they are ready to propose after spending a few minutes with her are lying, period.

[GracieK]

16 minutes ago, Diana Berry said:

Brayden is good for entertainment value.  Plus he is pretty cute.  He’s a nurse so he must be smart. 

He’s such an obnoxious dick but he has that 90s bad boy look and attitude down and I’m a teenager of the 90s so I can’t help but find him hot. 

[Kiss my mutt]

I may have to check spoilers to see if I have to put up with this meatball all season. 
Has Charity not learned anything?

[ECM1231]

20 minutes ago, Madding crowd said:

When the guys whine about not getting time with her I want to yell “go talk to her then”. I can’t stand guys who make no effort than complain

^^^This, x 1000!

Brayden may be an ass, but I find him incredibly good looking. Just wish he'd ditch those dangly earrings.

 

Who was the 3rd guy sent home along with fireman Aaron and lawyer James?

[tinkerbell]

Funniest moment tonight: 

Aaron S still in "glitter ken" costume, talking about Charity picking Sean who's just a boy, while he, Aaron, is a MAN who can hunt, fish, camp, ski, etc. A real MAN. And then he stretches his arms up to reveal GLITTER covering his real-man armpits.

[Arkay]

I think Brayden is here for the joke, the exposure, and all the other wrong reasons. 
 

He’s not planning to get engaged at the end, meanwhile Charity is here for an engagement, her HUSBAND IS IN THIS ROOM, she finds out from trustworthy Aaron that Brayden doesn’t want to get engaged. She does all the stürm und drang about ripping off his rose, never been done before but she’s willing, and lo and behold, she keeps Brayden anyway. To me that makes her an idiot. 
 

What would she tell a client in therapy who continually makes the same mistakes?

 

Warwick——well, sure, we always wear a tux and faux fur to an amusement park! But him yawning and dozing off in the reject vehicle was pretty amusing. 

Edited July 11, 2023 by Arkay

[Lamb18]

I was wondering who they could pick to be The Bachelor from this group of guys. All I can think of is who they won't pick - Warwick, also Spencer!

[phlebas]

3 hours ago, Lamb18 said:

I was wondering who they could pick to be The Bachelor from this group of guys. All I can think of is who they won't pick - Warwick, also Spencer!

From what we've seen, they might be better off picking from Rachel/Gabby's season.  Anyone know if Aven is seeing anyone?

[tinkerbell]

I have always wondered why the lead can't  make sure they use the time to get to know all of the guys. Sometimes the guys who are quieter, who aren't pushy, who believe in taking turns, are good catches. The format of the show is skewed toward the guys who are extroverted,  but also pushy, arrogant and have big egos.

[JenE4]

16 hours ago, Lamb18 said:

Looks like we're getting ready for an elimination challenge between Brayden and Aaron B. Who survives to kiss Charity?

@Lamb18 thanks for starting the thread! Are you able to edit the title for it to read as Episode 3 rather than 2? Thanks!

[dleighg]

Brayden's vocabulary could use an upgrade.

"this is frickin amazing"

"this is so nuts!"

"this is frickin amazing"

"this is SO frickin amazing"

[Crashcourse]

I don't think Brayden is hot. *

That's all I got. 🤷‍♀️

* I think he's creepy-looking and I wouldn't get in a car with him.

[dleighg]

wondering about those costumes. Were they all the same size? 'cause the guys are not! and birthday suit Ken HAD to be worn by a light-skinned guy! (That was truly creepy!)

[tinkerbell]

Does anyone know which guys were eliminated?

[phlebas]

I am still holding out for a non-boring conversation out of anyone.  It was a bad move to have Jojo there, because it just reminded us that you can be a lead and have a personality.

[dleighg]

I am NO fan of Brayden- I think he's a bit of an intellectual lightweight at least as he presents himself, and I HATE the dangly earrings, but..... I do think he's being more honest than the rest of these guys who have seen a pretty face and think they see their future wife, even if they haven't really spent any serious time together. And these guys don't seem to consider the fact that it's not just getting chosen by her; SHE has to get chosen by them. It's a two way street. 

Edited July 12, 2023 by dleighg

[dizzyd]

I didn’t watch the 1st 2 episodes but checked in on the 3rd to see how things were going. I ff’d through it and as predicted, I found it boring and didn’t find anyone likable including the lead. She’s already cut 25 to 10 in 3 episodes so is this a super short season? They only have 5 episodes listed online and no finale date posted but at this pace it can’t be more than 10 episodes unless they add more contestants. I’ll probably only watch another episode if the recap indicates it was worth it. The altered time slot has definitely not made it worth watching as it airs for me. Been watching Bachelor Australia on YouTube which through the 2.5 seasons posted so far has been so much better and has success stories on 5/10 seasons so far but then this show was also good in the beginning.

Edited July 12, 2023 by dizzyd

[After7Only]

On 7/10/2023 at 10:23 PM, GracieK said:

He’s such an obnoxious dick but he has that 90s bad boy look and attitude down and I’m a teenager of the 90s so I can’t help but find him hot. 

He reminds me of a cross between the lead singer from Color Me Bad and the tall dude from the Backstreet Boys 

Edited July 12, 2023 by After7Only
Got my boy bands mixed up

[leocadia]

I've known a guy like Brayden in real life and the attractiveness literally disappeared with every conversation we had.  He just seems so self-absorbed.  Every ounce of energy he has is devoted to thinking about what other people are thinking about him.  Have we seen him talk to Charity about anything that was just about her?   It could be editing, but the attitude and outfits just scream "look at me."  I'd understand if it was the producers that were making her keep him, but it seems like she's super into him.

[Andromeda]

On Brayden's side here. If those men aren't asking themselves whether they'll be ready to propose (and stay engaged and marry and be a husband) to a woman they just met, and can't admit they're jealous when she spends time with the other guys, they're the dishonest ones. Aaron is clearly threatened by Brayden, as all of them should be, and he's showing it. Why is Charity so ready to trust Aaron, who obviously has an agenda? Seems pretty silly to me. Especially since she and Brayden already talked about this same stuff!

Edited July 13, 2023 by Andromeda

[tennisgurl]

The Barbie date was so much fun, now this is the kind of goofy date/corporate synergy that I can get behind! It actually looked like everyone was having fun and we got to see more of the guys personalities. I forget who it was, but I loved when astronaut Ken was questioning the logic of his costume. How can astronaut Ken breath in space? 

On 7/11/2023 at 10:49 AM, tinkerbell said:

I have always wondered why the lead can't  make sure they use the time to get to know all of the guys. Sometimes the guys who are quieter, who aren't pushy, who believe in taking turns, are good catches. The format of the show is skewed toward the guys who are extroverted,  but also pushy, arrogant and have big egos.

I totally agree, there needs to be more time for Charity to really get to know everyone and not just the really extroverted guys. I would love it if she would dedicate a certain amount of time getting to talk to every single person for a certain amount of time, no "can I steal you?" interruptions allowed. She's possibly going to lose out on a lot of good guys because they're on the quieter side or aren't into cutting in line. I know that the line from a lot of Bachelorette is that they want someone to "fight for them" but there are lots of ways to show that beyond being the loudest person in the room. 

I don't like Brayden at all. Not only does he seems completely insincere, I don't find him attractive at all. He looks like the guy who dances up on you at the club when your just trying to dance with your friends and wont take a hint that your not down to grind with him, then gets pissed when you tell him to back off. I wouldn't trust this guy as my Uber driver, let alone my future husband. You can tell that he's just telling Charity what she wants to hear.

Warrick is cute, but he was so on don't give a fuck mode throughout that date, it was at least an easy choice for Charity. It was both painfully awkward and hilarious watching poor Charity desperately try to engage with this guy while he's about to pass out on their salad.

[ljenkins782]

On 7/14/2023 at 12:43 PM, tennisgurl said:

I don't like Brayden at all. Not only does he seems completely insincere, I don't find him attractive at all. He looks like the guy who dances up on you at the club when your just trying to dance with your friends and wont take a hint that your not down to grind with him, then gets pissed when you tell him to back off. I wouldn't trust this guy as my Uber driver, let alone my future husband. You can tell that he's just telling Charity what she wants to hear.

Oh, he's definitely that guy in the club. But he does seem to have just enough personal charm one-on-one that it could trick someone into thinking they could be the one to make him settle down and that's what Charity is seeing. 

And honestly, he's not wrong when he says that nothing he's saying in the house should be surprise to her because it's the same stuff he is saying to her. So these tattletale moments should be carrying a little less weight in this case and I'd kind of like Charity to be like "yeah, I know, he told me that already" and burst the bubble of the tattletale because it really isn't a good look. And frankly, it seems like the fast track to the friend zone. Charity laid her head on Aaron's shoulder the same way she would with her brother. 

Also, I noticed that she quietly dispatched last week's tattletale, Adrian, in the rose ceremony. Granted, he was a sourpuss and has a kid at home, so there was probably more to that, but the tattling didn't do him any favors and Aaron's tattling wasn't a good look either. 

Quote

Did Brayden not know what the premise of this show is, or is he expecting Charity to pull a Clare and choose him week 2 of dates? I think he’s “playing hard to get” to get Charity to chase after him. But it’s too much for him to be this insecure and put his “trauma” on her all two times they’ve spoken on dates. She went into this date telling us how she has a history of ignoring red flags and she’s going to do differently now. But she’s obviously reliving her same old patterns.

I do think he's doing this to make her chase him and sadly, I think that when men pull this needy jealous routine with women, it often draws them in whereas when women do it to men, they run for the hills from the stage-5 clinger. It's a double standard, but it seems common.

Quote

Warrick is cute, but he was so on don't give a fuck mode throughout that date, it was at least an easy choice for Charity. It was both painfully awkward and hilarious watching poor Charity desperately try to engage with this guy while he's about to pass out on their salad.

I felt sorry for Warwick, between the guys forgetting his existence, and his inability to make small talk. It was giving me painful memories of bad first dates and job interviews I've been on, where the other person is working very hard and I just can't seem to meet their level even though I might want to. 

I think part of him falling asleep at the end was not exhaustion from the park, it was mental exhaustion over the whole thing. I can't imagine being in a house full of extrovert attention-seekers, having to go on "dates" where writing and performing song might be a requirement, and having camera crews all around all the time. He really should never have tried out for this.

I was sorry to see firefighter Aaron go, he was amusing me. His "are you an only child?" when Double Denim Ken came skipping into the room singing his own song just cracked me up. And I liked that he handled that quickly and directly by pointing out what an idiot DDK was being. And it did seem to penetrate DDK's otherwise clueless facade, he appeared to realize he was being a jackass in that moment. 

The relationship with Dotun is about the only one that I see having any type of future potential. He's not the most physically attractive one there, IMO (he looks like this actor I remember from Murder She Wrote and some other old shows, Brock Peters) and he's not crazy extroverted, but he seems very genuine and likable. 

Outside of him, Charity's tastes seem a bit suspect between the ongoing Brayden thing and her choice of Double Denim Ken for the group date win.

 

[Kerri Johnson]

On 7/11/2023 at 9:19 AM, phlebas said:

From what we've seen, they might be better off picking from Rachel/Gabby's season.  Anyone know if Aven is seeing anyone?

 

Yes, he's on Paradise and has been with Kylie from Zach's season since Day 1.

 

On 7/10/2023 at 9:19 PM, Madding crowd said:

When the guys whine about not getting time with her I want to yell “go talk to her then”. I can’t stand guys who make no effort than complain. 

They can't. Producers control who has access to the lead. It's been this way since Season 1. No one can talk the lead without permission. 

Edited July 15, 2023 by Kerri Johnson