Charity Lawson may be the star of The Bachelorette season 20, but one of her potential suitors has singlehandedly stolen the spotlight this season. You know who we’re talking about.
Brayden Bowers, 27, was all charm when he stepped out of the limo and offered Charity a shot of tequila on a silver platter (literally). Their connection was immediate and even led to a one-on-one date that had the nation swooning alongside Charity. However, Brayden’s over-enthusiasm and wariness about marriage rubbed many — including Charity — the wrong way. He may have been open about his feelings, but that doesn’t mean they don’t fly in the face of the show’s format, something one of Brayden’s exes was quick to point out on TikTok.
In a video that has since attracted over 333k views, @kyliescudder sent alarm bells ringing throughout Bachelor Nation when she posted a clip of Brayden and Charity on their one-on-one date with the caption “Charity… girl, RUN! I promise he aint worth it. I hate to see him do to you what he did to me.”
During their date, Brayden opened up to Charity about being in love once before and experiencing the infidelity that came with it, something Charity also went through in her past relationship. “I have been in love once in my life,” Brayden told her. “And it ended terribly.”
“Been in love once?” @kyliescudder said, looking confused in her TikTok video. “You said you loved me.”… [Inset uncomfortable silence].
It didn’t stop there. After an explosive number of comments begging for information, @kyliescudder uploaded an eight-part video series detailing her and Brayden’s relationship from the moment they met in high school to the time they parted ways shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic. That being said, @kyliescudder makes sure to clarify that they were only legitimately together for around four months.
To this day, they remain in contact. @kyliescudder even says Brayden messaged her after the initial video went viral, apparently displeased that she shared it.
During part two of her video series @kyliescudder admits that the topic of marriage came up between her and Brayden on more than one occasion. According to her, Brayden admitted to being unsure if he believed in marriage, which doesn’t exactly sound good coming from a man who signed up for a show about finding his future wife.
“But a lot of my hesitancies with him was that he would repeatedly say to me that he wasn’t sure if he could or would ever get married. And I knew that I wanted to get married and have a bunch of kids. So, it kind of would, like, put a damper on things while we were dating. I would kind of be like ‘Then what’s the point of us dating?’”
Hmm, sounds a lot like the dilemma Charity went through. In parts three, four, and five, @kyliescudder shares more photos of her and Brayden throughout their relationship, many of which were taken while the pair were on vacation in Europe. It was on this trip, as a matter of fact, that Brayden told her he loved her, although she admits to being unable to reciprocate the sentiment at that time.
While in Europe, @kyliescudder explains that she encountered red flags with Brayden, although didn’t fully identify them as such at the time. However, now that they are on full display for the world to see, she is calling them for what they are.
“And this is something I’m seeing him do on TV. Some moments he was really crazy about me and then the next moment he was just really withdrawn and withholding affection and everything. And I can see him doing this on TV where some moments he’s really smitten about Charity and then as soon as something upsets him he’s like ‘I’m packing my bags and going home.’”
“The things that you are seeing on TV about his push-and-pull and being unsure about what he wants, that’s real because I’ve seen it myself,” she said in the eighth and final video.
Brayden may have self-eliminated himself at the end of week four, but the promos for the remainder of the season seem to indicate we haven’t seen the last of him yet, not counting the “Men Tell All” episode that looms in the distance, of course. It’s best you stay thirsty, because this cup of piping hot tea is not emptying any time soon.
New episodes of The Bachelorette air Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on ABC and are available to stream the next day on Hulu.