This post contains spoilers for the season premiere of The Bachelorette Season 20.
Ladies, if your man isn’t doing backflips or serving you cider and donuts from his mom’s family farm... are you sure you’re even on The Bachelorette?
Over the years, contestants on ABC’s favorite reality franchise have gone to some impressive, often strange lengths to peacock for one another—or just the camera. (The good: Remember JoJo’s unicorn mask? The bad: Remember “Whaboom Guy”?) Thankfully for Charity Lawson, however, this season handed its Bachelorette a secret weapon: her brother, Nehemiah.
Charity first graced our screens earlier this year, during Zach Shallcross’s season of The Bachelor. The 27-year-old from Columbus, Georgia, works as a child and family therapist, and early on in the season, her self awareness stood out. (She credits her master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling with helping her date 25 men, which... I can see it!)
During Zach’s season, Charity also spoke openly about the “emotionally abusive” relationship she shared with an ex, who she says cheated on her multiple times. Although she was never going to find love with Zach (he’s far too basic for her), she did win fans over with her warmth and intelligence, both mental and emotional.
Zach’s Bachelor season ended in misery and woe, but so far some of Charity’s frontrunners are looking pretty dreamy.
First of all, we’ve got a tennis pro in the house; 27-year-old Joey from Hawaii is looking like a safe bet to make it far this season, even if he does struggle to make eye contact. Xavier, a 27-year-old biomedical scientist from Carrboro, North Carolina, snagged the first kiss of the night—and it looked like a pretty steamy one for national broadcast television! Then we’ve got Aaron B., a 29-year-old software salesman from San Diego who wooed Charity with a little keyboard melody about bubble baths and foot massages on piano. (Bold—but evidently, effective! And Charity’s brother apparently likes him.)
In spite of Nehemiah’s snooping, however, Charity does keep one questionable man around: 24-year-old Brayden, another San Diego native who works as a travel nurse. While tending bar in his awful Party City wig and mustache, Nehemiah noted that Brayden got very energized (read: braggy) after kissing Charity during his date.
Alas, Charity can’t deny the passion and winds up giving Brayden the First Impression Rose—a pretty strong predictor for who will be the winner. Here’s hoping Brayden doesn’t prove her brother right, but I’m... not feeling confident.
Even more troubling, however, is Charity’s choice to keep around another guy named Spencer. How does one respond to a man who says “hello” and then immediately transitions into a ball-kicking seminar to keep his competitors at bay? And better yet: How should one respond to that same guy when he reveals he is apparently a father?
Visually, the man presents like a high-pitched laugh—expressive, unpredictable, and unnerving for reasons you can’t quite label. But what would a season of The Bachelorette be without a couple oddballs? (Remember when James “Meatball” Clarke got that surprising redemption arc with Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia last year?) Even if every guy seemed like he was here “for the right reasons,” after all we’ve seen, I’d still be spending a few more weeks under the awning, waiting for the other shoe(s) to drop.
So of course Brayden stayed, and of course so did Spencer. And so did John, a 27-year-old data scientist living in the Big Apple who chose to make a cringe-worthy fortune cookie joke to highlight his Chinese American heritage. This week, we said goodbye to tech operations director Joe, tech recruiter Khalid, HR executive Nicholas, airline pilot Peter (just as well—there’s only room in Bachelorette for one Pilot Pete), and loan officer Taylor.
As for what’s next? That would be “a romantic fairytale for the ages,” according to the season preview. In the past, Charity says, “I’ve sacrificed my own happiness—but not anymore.” That said, this is The Bachelorette—and wouldn’t you know it, our man Brayden emerges in the preview as a villain for this season. Here’s hoping he’s not one of the—ahem—TWO people Charity apparently falls in love with this season. Like the dudes doing backflips and the homemade donuts, this one looks like a Bachelorette tale as old as time.
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