BURBANK, CALIFORNIA: At the Men Tell All special, 'The Bachelorette' villain Brayden Bowers acknowledged game-playing and manipulation. Brayden soon established himself as the bad boy on Season 20 of the ABC dating show, and he was chastised by his co-stars and viewers alike.
The Men Tell All reunion episode of 'The Bachelorette' brings a unique type of anguish. Fans wait weeks for the "villains" and other obnoxious contenders to be eliminated, only to see them given another two-hour exposure on the MTA. But, of course, the major story of the night is Brayden, the season's unambiguous villain. Let us see what happened in the studio!
Did Brayden Bowers 'manipulate' his Bachelorette co-stars?
During the August 14 episode of Men Tell All, the California native appeared to disclose his approach to the show. "I have to be smart. I have to play a game," he explained. "I got to manipulate everyone."
Later in the episode, Charity and Brayden met to discuss his assertion that she wasn't completely honest with him during his time on The Bachelorette. "I feel like I was my 100 percent authentic self to you the whole time," she appeared to tell him. An earlier excerpt revealed considerably more conflict between them.
Charity was seen in the episode seated alongside host Jesse Palmer. Jesse got right to work, asking Charity what she wanted to say to Brayden. "Honestly," she said to Brayden, "I do not like how you decided to navigate our relationship, and our connection on the show." "I feel like I was 100% my authentic self to you the whole time. I don't think I ever put on for anybody in this house."
Brayden looked to be attempting to clear himself of any responsibility for their relationship's demise. "From the very beginning, I wasn't sure if the environment was the best environment for me," he quickly said. "The only thing that I took out of it is that I really liked you. There was that spark that you want when you meet someone."
Bachelor Nation called out Brayden's behavior
Fans took to Twitter to slam the contestant, "Me the entire time Brayden’s in the hot seat ." Slamming the network for giving Brayden the platform, viewers wrote, "WHYYyyyYyyyyyyYyyyyyy are spending soo much time on Brayden?! And giving him more air time … I’m not understanding." Others wrote, "I wish Aaron B was here so we could have that confrontation with him and Brayden." A fourth user asked, "Did they actually just send Aaron B to Fiji so he couldn’t go to the Tell All and scream at Brayden some more."
One user tweeted, "Brayden is one of those people who think being “real” and “honest” excuses everything you say even when its shitty or mean or dickish. It doesn’t. Knowing when to modulate your tone and words is maturity. Blurting everything out is childish." Another person chimed in, "I’m so sick of the Brayden showwwww."
Who is Brayden Bowers on 'The Bachelorette'?
Charity had a positive first impression of Brayden, a 24-year-old travel nurse from San Diego, California, despite her brother Nehemiah's warnings about his red flags. Brayden was often the center of attention because of his extravagant fashion choices, which featured enormous, dangling earrings.
He is a traveling mental nurse at the moment, but he wants to go back to school. He had originally planned to enroll in medical school, but he has since changed his mind and wants to be a nurse practitioner instead.
'The Bachelorette' airs Mondays at 8 pm ET on ABC.
